Question:

I am facing a problem with the Edge sidebar that shows errors in the status fields on the edge://sidebar-internals/ page. The errors are: Version: Blank, Storage: kJsonParsingFailed, and Fetcher: kURLNoResponseInfo. Here is a screenshot of the errors: https://ibb.co/7vSvmmZ >
> I have deployed all devices using Autopilot and applied configuration profiles based on CIS Benchmark and extension management. However, the sidebar only works if I remove and reapply the configuration profiles. This does not make sense to me, as I would expect the configuration profiles to affect the sidebar regardless of when they are applied. >
> I have discovered that the cause of the problem is the CIS recommendation to disable the feature to download assets from the Asset Delivery Service. This breaks the sidebar if it is disabled during deployment. >
> Does anyone have an explanation for this behavior? How can I fix the sidebar without disabling the CIS recommendation? Is there any documentation available for the status fields on the edge://sidebar-internals/ page?

Answer:

How to fix the Edge sidebar errors caused by the CIS recommendation

The Edge sidebar is a useful feature that allows you to access various web apps and extensions from the side of your browser window. However, some users have reported that they encounter errors in the status fields on the edge://sidebar-internals/ page, such as Version: Blank, Storage: kJsonParsingFailed, and Fetcher: kURLNoResponseInfo. These errors prevent the sidebar from loading and displaying the web apps and extensions properly.

The cause of these errors is related to the configuration profiles that are applied to the devices using Autopilot. Specifically, the CIS recommendation to disable the feature to download assets from the Asset Delivery Service (ADS) breaks the sidebar if it is disabled during deployment. The ADS is a service that provides web assets such as images, fonts, and scripts to the Edge browser and its features, including the sidebar. By disabling the ADS, the sidebar cannot download the necessary assets to function correctly.

The reason why the sidebar works if the configuration profiles are removed and reapplied is that the ADS feature is enabled by default in Edge. Therefore, when the configuration profiles are removed, the ADS feature is restored to its default state, and the sidebar can download the assets again. When the configuration profiles are reapplied, the ADS feature is disabled again, but the sidebar has already cached the assets, so it can continue to work. However, this is not a reliable solution, as the cache may be cleared or corrupted at any time, and the sidebar errors may reappear.

The best way to fix the sidebar errors without disabling the CIS recommendation is to create an exception for the ADS feature in the configuration profiles. This can be done by using the Allow features to download assets from the Asset Delivery Service policy under the Microsoft Edge – Default Settings (users can override) category. By setting this policy to Not configured, the ADS feature will not be affected by the configuration profiles, and the sidebar will be able to download the assets normally.

Alternatively, you can also use the Asset Delivery Service URLs policy under the same category to specify the URLs that the ADS feature can download assets from. By adding the URLs of the web apps and extensions that you want to use in the sidebar, you can allow the sidebar to download the assets from those sources, while blocking the assets from other sources that may not be trusted or necessary.

As for the documentation of the status fields on the edge://sidebar-internals/ page, there is no official documentation available from Microsoft at the moment. However, based on some unofficial sources and experiments, here is a brief explanation of what each status field means:

• Version: This field shows the version number of the sidebar feature. If this field is blank, it means that the sidebar feature is not installed or enabled on the device.
• Storage: This field shows the status of the local storage of the sidebar feature. This storage is used to store the settings and data of the web apps and extensions in the sidebar. If this field shows kJsonParsingFailed, it means that the storage file is corrupted or unreadable, and the sidebar cannot access the stored data.
• Fetcher: This field shows the status of the network fetcher of the sidebar feature. This fetcher is used to download the web assets from the ADS or other sources for the web apps and extensions in the sidebar. If this field shows kURLNoResponseInfo, it means that the fetcher cannot connect to the source URL or receive any response from it, and the sidebar cannot download the web assets.

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hope this article has answered your question and helped you fix the Edge sidebar errors. If you have any further questions or feedback, please let me know. 😊