How to push a Google Chrome extension & configure that extension

stevenjklein
Contributor II

We've been asked to make all browsers show our intranet page for new browser windows and tabs.

That's easy for most browsers, but Chrome is a bit odd.

It provides no method to customize the "new tab" or "new window" behavior. (It does let you specify the page to show on launch, but people rarely quit their browsers.)

I've found a Chrome extension that will do what we want:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/replace-new-tab-page/cnkhddihkmmiiclaipbaaelfojkmlkja

But I'm struggling with how to push that using JSS, and how to configure it once it's been pushed.

I'm pretty sure it involves customizing the ExtensionInstallForceList (which I think I've figured out), but also the local storage file for that extension. The problem is that Chrome supports profiles, so that path to the local storage folder isn't consistent. For example, mine looks like this:

/Users/sklein/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Profile 6/Local Storage

Notice that it's "Profile 6" for me, but the profile # can be different for other users. (And users can have more than one profile.)

Any suggestions about how to tackle this?

1 REPLY 1

chris_hansen
Contributor

I think you might be able to enforce your change natively
Check out https://dev.chromium.org/administrators/policy-list-3#Homepage

Try writing the values you want to a file on your desktop like this untested example

defaults write ~/Desktop/com.google.Chrome HomepageLocation "https://my.intranet.page"
defaults write ~/Desktop/com.google.Chrome HomepageIsNewTabPage true

Then import the file on your desktop to a configuration profile. (Can't remember if it has to be a user profile or computer)
I used this method to enable SPNEGO in an AD environment, not a homepage, but principle seems the same.