If I want to install the Chrome App Launcher and navigate to https://chrome.google.com/webstore/launcher , then click the only button over there, that page will install Chrome App Launcher shortcut to my Windows taskbar without any confirmation from the operating system whatsoever.
If I use a different browser, other than Chrome, I get redirected to the Chrome Webstore, with a message "You will need Google Chrome to install most apps, extensions and themes." showing. I guess, Chrome is able to place a shortcut from within a web page to my Desktop/Taskbar via its inner methods, as it's a general executable and may do "a lot" on its own.
How can I add my (any) shortcut from within a web page rendered in Chrome the same (or another) way the Chrome App Launcher has been installed?
Sorry, the webstore has special powers in chrome which regular web sites don't get. This is how it can also install extensions and apps, see whether you have particular extensions and apps installed, etc. You can see API by which it gets these special privileges here.
This API is made available by chrome just to the webstore.
Related
I am developing an extension that uses chrome's Native messaging. After setting the key value in my extension (for native messaging) chrome goes bananas and deletes my files after closing chrome. Turning off sync extensions somehow keeps my files in tact, but it still removes the extension from itself every reboot. I can't figure out if this is some bizarre bug I've stumbled upon or this has to do with not being able to install non web-store extensions
Problem
As you can read on google forums (productforums.google.com), posted on 04.09.2015, new versions of Google Chrome will automatically disable extension that are have not been installed from Chrome Web Store. There is no option to change this behaviour.
Some extensions come bundled with others, which causes Chrome to ask
whether you want to install them (or not). However, bad actors have
abused this mechanism, bypassing the prompt to silently install
malicious extensions that can override browser settings and alter the
user experience in undesired ways.
...
Since these malicious extensions are not hosted on the Chrome Web
Store, it’s difficult to limit the damage they can cause. This is why
we announced in November that as part of our continuing security
efforts, all extensions for Windows users must be hosted in the
Chrome Web Store.
Solutions
1. Use a different browser. For example, Opera (version > 15) and SRWare Iron browsers extensions are 100% compatible and they don't get disabled on each browser startup. All the tools from Google Chrome are available in these browsers.
2. Pack the extension (idea taken from this url). Open the extension page, activate "Developer Mode"; Click "Load unpacked extension..."; Search trough your directory tree for the directory where you unpacked your extension and click OK; Disadvantages: Chrome nags you to disable the extension at each start up
If you are copy/pasting an installed extension that no longer exists, you can modify the manifest and remove:
the key
the update_url
Then load it again and it will work and assume you are developing it.
We built a chrome extension to be used only inside our company by selective people. We do not want to publish this on chrome web store. We could do this before by just drag & drop the crx file in the extensions page.
But in the latest version of chrome(i use 35.x), we are not able to do this anymore. Whenever we try to install the crx file, chrome automatically disables it and shows a message
"This extension is not listed in the Chrome Web Store and may have been added without your knowledge"
with a link to https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/2811969 where it says
"You're seeing this notification because one or more of your Chrome extensions has been turned off to make Chrome safer. The extensions didn't come from the Chrome Web Store or were installed without your permission."
So, Does this mean we can never install crx file from now on? No workaround?
I know we can install using Group Policy method, but is that the only way we can do this?
Thanks in advance.
Yes, this has been disabled as a protection against malware.
The only workarounds I'm aware of are:
turn on Developer Mode and have users install as an unpacked extension after unzipping the CRX
publish unlisted or to a Google Group: https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/2663860?hl=en
I have a packaged app, but I want to distribute it through my own website - outside of the Google Chrome Web Store. So when user lands on my website, they receive the dialogue box to 'install' my app, and can install it, independently of the Chrome Web Store.
Is it at all possible?
Thanks in advance -
There is a way to do it without --enable-easy-off-store-extension-install -- it's just a little bit trickier for users. You will have to tell your users to do the following:
Download the .crx file from your website.
Navigate to chrome://extensions.
Drag the .crx file from the file explorer onto the extensions page.
This will install the packaged app into Chrome completely independently of the Web Store.
I've written an extension for Google Chrome that will be released with the next version of our product. I want to understand what properties, paths for extraction, registry entries, etc. should I provide the installer of my product so that the end user doesn't have to install the extension on their own manually, and the installer does the complete job of installing the extension, and also notifies the user that the extension has been installed. As of now, the code that I have written is placed in a folder, and I use the "Load Unpackaged Extension" to load the extension. What should I do to achieve the aforementioned task?
Google's current policy on installing extensions via the registry (for Windows machines) is this:
Only extensions from the Google Extension Gallery (or Chrome Web Store - CWS) can be installed via the registry.
See this link - https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/external_extensions - for information on how this can be done. Keep in mind the following:
-This technique will still pop-up a msgbox to the user. its not completely silent.
-When using this technique, if the user subsequently removes the extension from her Chrome, the extension gets "blacklisted" on that chrome and will not re-auto-install until the user re-install it
manually. refer to Auto-installing a google chrome extension won't work ! for details.
Chrome has a couple ways of installing extensions programmatically:
http://www.chromium.org/administrators/pre-installed-extensions
Edit: yes, this policy has changed by now, as FuzzyAmi points out.
If you're using GNU/Linux, this is how you pre-install an extension from the chrome web store for all users:
/etc/chromium/policies/managed/yourextension_policy.json
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
{
"ExtensionInstallForcelist": [
"yourextensionuniqueidentifiersup;https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx",
"yourextensionuniqueidentifiersup"
]
}
Reference
metamask-chrome - AUR
I'd like to self host a chrome extension on my own site but would like the install experience to be the same as on the chrome web store. Specifically, I'd like to have a "add to chrome" button which asks the user to install the extension with one more click. Currently on self hosted extensions you have to confirm the download and then confirm the install.
Here's an example of the web store: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/olnconaknblgbkfgknkfmmfhhbebkekd
The only reason I'd like to self host is so that they can stay on my site while installing the extension.
I'd be perfectly fine hosting on the chrome webstore as well if that helped with the experience (i.e. a special link from my site to the chrome webstore that would start the download immediately).
Any ideas?
Chrome webstore has special treatment, you can't reproduce it.
To save you trouble of self hosting, you can provide a direct link to crx file hosted on webstore which has the following format:
http://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx?response=redirect&x=id%3D<EXTENSION_ID_HERE>%26uc%26lang%3Den-US&prod=chrome
Users would still need to confirm 2 times, but at least you don't have to host it and users won't leave your site.
UPDATE
Chrome 15, that was just released into stable branch, has Inline Installation, which seems like exactly what you are looking for.
Chrome now has inline install that enables a one-click install on your site but downloading from the store.
See here for more details.
Add something like this to your meta-data
<link rel="chrome-webstore-item" href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/you-chrome-id">
Add this any where:
onclick="javascript:chrome.webstore.install()"
Chrome no longer supports in-line installation of extensions.
https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/inline_faq
When your site calls chrome.webstore.install(), Chrome will no longer trigger a dialog immediately but will instead open a new foreground tab to the details page of the Chrome WebStore