Google Chrome CC3 Network Install

Hi,

We have installed Google Chrome on our network using the google network package for Chrome. It has gone on well and been assigned to rooms and users, however we are having a few issues at the moment with actually locking it down to our homepage.

1) Google chrome is quite annoying as it places a shortcut on the desktop once it has been run. This of course defaults to google as the homepage. Does anyone know how to delete / hide this shortcut that is placed on the users desktop?

2) I have created a shortcut to Chrome and assigned it in a folder on the start menu which contains the string;

Target: "C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --homepage ****://***.******.**.**/--disable-extensions --in-process-plugins --start-maximized --disable-new-tab-first-run --disable-web-resources --no-default-browser-check --no-first-run

Start in: "C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application"

The problem is that once on the users machine, google seems to ignore and lose and lose on some machines the instructions I have enclosed in the short cut.

So as a result I would like to create a bit of VB script (or something similar) that will basically be a small .exe package that I can install on the network and it will simply run the above chrome command line. This would ensure that Chrome is not able to lose this when it carries out its automatic updates.
Can anyone help me on how to write this simple bit of script as I have no idea how to do this.


It would be great if someone could help with this as we really would like to get google Chrome out on the network to increase the choice for students.

Chrome is, unfortunately, not very domain environment friendly, so I will warn you now that you will find you haven't got your bookmarks etc being shared between PCs, annoyingly (at least, it didn't work for me...). Also, I wouldn't rely solely on the shortcut to do everything for you, it's not hard for someone to run an application through other means (Wordpad, I believe, can do a lot more than you'd expect, and they could also just create a shortcut in their documents folder if they knew what they were doing). You're not going to be able to lock down Chrome by any means, but perhaps making the shortcut on the desktop using GPO therefore reducing the chance of that shortcut resetting? I don't think you can actually stop it from making it completely...

The more I read on here about people trying out Chrome and having problems with locking it down and such, the more I want to start up a project for a roaming profile and GPO friendly branch of Chrome. :rolleyes:

So how would I go about writing this script?

I have very limited knowledge of writing this type of code as most of my knowledge I have to admit is around basic PHP.

Bookmarks are not that much of an issue to be honest, however what is a real pain is the fact that when the shortcut works which I created above, its perfect and a great application, however when it doesnt it just becomes a pain in the backside. I just get the feeling that if I can create that command string in another application that google couldnt change, then it would solve all my current problems.