How to Fix Microsoft Edge Blocking Downloads After Intune Device Compliance Restored

How to Fix Microsoft Edge Blocking Downloads After Device Compliance Is Restored

When you use Intune’s Conditional Access (CA) policies with Microsoft Cloud App Security (MCAS), you trust that once a device meets compliance rules, it can immediately access resources like file downloads in Edge. In practice, Edge sometimes holds on to an old “non-compliant” state internally and keeps blocking you even after Intune says you’re compliant again. This deep-dive guide explains why it happens and walks through comprehensive steps to resolve it and prevent it from recurring.

Why Edge Keeps the Old Compliance Status

1. Conditional Access and MCAS Workflow
   • Intune marks devices compliant or non-compliant based on policies (patches, disk encryption, antivirus status, etc.).
   • CA policies use that compliance flag to grant or block access to applications like SharePoint, Outlook Web App, or file downloads in Edge.
   • MCAS ties into this flow, enforcing real-time compliance checks on the browser.
2. Edge’s Local Compliance Cache
   • Edge stores a snapshot of your device’s compliance state in its local user profile.
   • If the device goes out of compliance (for example, missing a security update), Edge caches that non-compliant flag.
   • After you fix the issue and Intune updates compliance, Edge doesn’t always refresh its cached state immediately. It may continue to think the device is non-compliant, keeping downloads blocked.
3. Sync Delays Between Intune and Azure AD
   • Intune writes compliance changes to Azure AD.
   • Browsers like Edge rely on Azure AD tokens to reflect compliance.
   • Until Edge requests a new token or clears its cache, it may keep using the old token that labels the device as non-compliant.

Step-By-Step Resolution

1. Clear Edge Cache and Cookies

Clearing cache and cookies forces Edge to drop old session data and prompts it to fetch fresh compliance tokens.

1. Open Edge and click the three dots ➔ Settings.
2. Go to Privacy, search, and services.
3. Under Clear browsing data, click Choose what to clear.
4. Select Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files.
5. Click Clear now.

After clearing, restart Edge and attempt your download again. If downloads still fail, proceed to a full profile reset.

2. Reset or Delete the Edge User Profile

When simple cache clearing isn’t enough, resetting the entire user profile ensures Edge rebuilds all local state—including compliance info.

1. Close Edge completely.
2. In File Explorer, navigate to:
   %localappdata%\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\
3. Locate your main profile folder (usually named Default).
4. Rename it (for example, to Default_Old).
5. Restart Edge. It creates a fresh profile and prompts you to sign in.
6. Sign in with your work account so Edge revalidates compliance with Azure AD and MCAS.

This clean-slate approach forces Edge to treat your session as brand new and pull the correct compliance status.

3. Manually Sync Device Compliance

Even after fixing the issue, Intune may not immediately push the new compliance flag to Azure AD. Trigger a sync:

• Via Company Portal App: Open the app on the device and tap Sync.
• Via Intune Portal: In Microsoft Intune admin center, go to Devices, select the device, and click Sync.

Once the sync finishes, Edge’s next authentication request will carry the updated compliance token.

4. Review and Fine-Tune Conditional Access Policies

Misconfigurations or overly strict settings in your CA rules can delay unblocking. Audit your policies:

1. In the Intune admin center, navigate to Endpoint security > Conditional Access.
2. Open each policy that applies to browser-based resources.
3. Check the Grant controls—ensure compliance is sufficient to grant access without additional filters.
4. Look for any Session controls or continuous access evaluation settings that might enforce delays.
5. Adjust compliance grace periods, if configured, so devices don’t stay blocked longer than necessary.

5. Set Up Proactive Monitoring and Alerts

Prevent surprise blocks by keeping tabs on compliance health:

• In Intune, go to Devices > Monitor > Device compliance.
• Create an alert rule for when devices fall out of compliance.
• Configure email or Teams notifications for IT admins.

Regularly review dashboards to catch and fix compliance gaps before users start reporting blocked downloads.

Best Practices to Prevent Recurrence

• Educate Users: Advise them to clear their browser cache or restart Edge if they hit unexplained blocks after updating their device.
• Automate Compliance Sync: Use scripts or Intune Proactive Remediations to force sync at login or network reconnect.
• Optimize CA Policies: Avoid overly aggressive session caching in CA; enable continuous access evaluation to shorten the window between compliance changes and policy enforcement.
• Limit Profile Residue: Encourage use of roaming profiles or managed user data to reduce stale local state that can persist across sessions.

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By understanding how Edge caches compliance status and by combining browser resets with Intune syncs, policy reviews, and proactive monitoring, you can ensure that once a device meets your Intune requirements, Edge immediately lifts any download blocks. This approach keeps your users productive and minimizes helpdesk tickets related to stale compliance states.