To appreciate the significance of the offline installer, one must first understand what the WebView2 Runtime is and why it has become a cornerstone of modern Windows development. WebView2 is a control that allows developers to embed web technologies (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) directly into their native Windows applications. Unlike its predecessor, the WebBrowser control (which relied on the outdated Trident engine of Internet Explorer), WebView2 is based on the modern, evergreen Microsoft Edge browser, which itself is built on the open-source Chromium project.

Microsoft provides the WebView2 Runtime offline installer in two primary flavors, each targeting a different architecture:

Distribute your app and the WebView2 Runtime - Microsoft Learn

Offline deployment * Download the Evergreen Standalone Installer from Download the WebView2 Runtime to your development machine. .

Another challenge is . WebView2 has two distribution mechanisms: the “evergreen runtime” (installed per-machine, auto-updates) and the “fixed version runtime” (a static, application-local copy). The offline installer discussed here is for the evergreen runtime. Some developers mistakenly think the offline installer provides a fixed version, leading to confusion about update behavior.

Key technical characteristics: