Chrome Deployment

[petben]

Hello, can anyone tell me how they have deployed Chrome w.r.t updates and bookmarks?

 

I know Chrome has many minor updates in the background but how is that going to work with MSI deployment?

 

Do you install the latest version you can, prevent updates and periodically deploy a new version.

or

Do you install a version, hardly ever change this and allow updates. Then would that work if you ever needed to uninstall Chrome?

 

The documentation says Bookmarks are difficult to manage how do you deploy these?

 

Thanks

[caffrey]

Not sure about bookmarks, but I just install a version and let chrome update itself. Not been a problem for years

 

Only thing I update regularly are the ADMX templates (They come as part of the enterprise install now)

[bknaggs]

@petben

 

I download the MSI when there is an update and deploy using GPO so it is installed on PC startup.

 

There's a GPO setting Managed Bookmarks that allows you to push bookmarks out. What else would you want to manage regarding bookmarks?

[Arthur]

The documentation says bookmarks are difficult to manage how do you deploy these?

If your users have G Suite accounts, managed bookmarks are very easy to deploy.

 

You can also have different sets of bookmarks for each G Suite OU.

 

https://wpsit.blogspot.com/2014/08/how-to-push-bookmarks-to-users-in.html

[synaesthesia]

What I'm doing (or about to) is a logoff script to copy user saved bookmarks to their home folder, and logon script to copy them back into the chrome default profile. (no gsuite, managed bookmarks are great but this is more of a personalisation thing)

[petben]

Not sure about bookmarks, but I just install a version and let chrome update itself. Not been a problem for years

 

Only thing I update regularly are the ADMX templates (They come as part of the enterprise install now)

 

 

 

Thanks, so do you ever update the deployed msi chrome version?

[caffrey]

Only when I've got new PC's to install then I'll update to the latest enterprise version

 

https://enterprise.google.com/chrome/chrome-browser/

[dhicks]

I just install a version and let chrome update itself. Not been a problem for years

 

We do the same - we have an MSI that gets installed at machine imaging time, which we update maybe every 6 months, but otherwise we just leave Chrome to do its own thing with background updates, which it seems to do extremly well.

[synaesthesia]

Chrome's updating is so unobtrusive and transparent we've never worried about it; in fact until we Windows 10'd this year, for the last 5 years we've been installing the chrome enterprise MSI from 2012 on all new builds and it updated itself and worked absolutely perfectly with no interaction or even acknowledgement from the end user.

[DavR]

What I'm doing (or about to) is a logoff script to copy user saved bookmarks to their home folder, and logon script to copy them back into the chrome default profile. (no gsuite, managed bookmarks are great but this is more of a personalisation thing)

 

Bit late to this party, but for info, you can now tell Chrome to store Bookmarks in the user's roaming profile / appdata, if you're using that - https://getadmx.com/?Category=Chrome&Policy=Google.Policies.Chrome::RoamingProfileSupportEnabled&Language=en-gb

 

Interesting to see that people are letting Chrome self update. I always turn off updates, but that's just by habit.

[Mujja]

Same here, installed in the task sequence and let it auto-update. Only homepage, startup and new tab behaviour is managed through group policy. Browser (plus other applications) set as default using defaultfileassociations.xml in the task sequence or group policy where needed.

 

We advise users to sign in with a Google account if they want to backup and sync their bookmarks.

 

Last place I worked at Chrome was updated monthly. Updates deployed to existing clients and the task sequences updated.

[Carm01]

I do chrome defaults for all users with a combination of a master preference file and a few reedits ( GPO ) as Google like to break things and not make them work correctly like enable flash for all users. the GPO does not work correctly after like 6 or 8 month ago and we had to wipe it from our machines.

 

master_preferences (that is its name exactly ) file looks like this:

{
 "homepage": "https://www.yourorg.edu", 
 "homepage_is_newtabpage": false, 
 "browser": { 
   "show_home_button": true,
   "check_default_browser": false
 }, 
 "session": {
   "restore_on_startup": 4,
   "startup_urls": [
     "https://www.yourorg.edu"
   ]
 },
 "bookmark_bar": { 
   "show_on_all_tabs": true 
 }, 
 "sync_promo": {
   "show_on_first_run_allowed": false
 },
 "distribution": { 
   "skip_first_run_ui": true, 
   "import_bookmarks": false,
   "import_bookmarks_from_file": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\bookmarks.html",
   "import_search_engine": true, 
   "import_history": false, 
   "suppress_first_run_bubble": true,
   "create_all_shortcuts": true, 
   "do_not_launch_chrome": true, 
   "suppress_first_run_default_browser_prompt": true,
   "make_chrome_default_for_user": false,
   "make_chrome_default": false,
   "require_eula": false,
   "system_level": true    
 }, 
 "first_run_tabs": [ 
   "https://www.yourorg.edu"
   ] 
} 

 

this file lives where the chrome exe lives

The bookmark file i would just make and export to use and reference it.

 

I apply the following regedits ( GPO; you do not need to install the admx files if you know where they go )

 

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome]
"DefaultPopupsSetting"=dword:00000001
"DefaultBrowserSettingEnabled"=dword:00000000
"DefaultCookiesSetting"=dword:00000004

 

Chrome like to break things as well like in the master pref file there is something in regards to the make chrome default set to false does not work on Windows 10.

First runs work great until you do a second lauch then Google shoves the another tab down your throat.

 

I have an automated silent installer I wrote that downloads the latest version from google and applies all my settings automatically which saves a tome of time.

 

Hopefully this helps some people.

[petben]

thanks, but how do you direct bookmarks to a network location. we would set a few but users can also add their own. the bookmarks need to then follow them to any computer.

 

I also cant get rid of the 'import bookmarks' prompt on the bookmark bar.

 

 

any ideas?

Thanks

[jmak]

I use the ADMX and deploy by GPO; are you trying to avoid that?

 

Using the templates you have the choice for defaults (I use for staff) and preset which I use for pupils.

[petben]

No I want to use GPO but I need to redirect bookmarks to the users network folders. Like folder redirection for favourites in IE GPO.

[DavR]

As far as I know, there is no supported method of redirecting bookmarks to a network location. Google have built Chrome under the premise that users will take their data and settings with them by being logged into the browser - something which is at odds with how schools work!

 

The ability to redirect bookmarks to the roaming profile AppData is the only concession they've made that I'm aware of. You could then re-direct AppData to a network share I suppose, but that would probably open up a whole can of worms and isn't recommended.

[DavR]

I also cant get rid of the 'import bookmarks' prompt on the bookmark bar

 

Using the Chrome policy templates, there are a bunch of entries under User | Policies | Admin Templates | Google | Google Chrome that deal with importing settings from another browser. I'd disable everything that starts with "Import.....", but your key one is "Import bookmarks from default browser on first run".

[Sheridan]

I got around this by simply running two scripts, one at login and one at log off which copies their local Bookmarks file to and from their network home share, it’s worked pretty well for a couple of years and has the benefit of their bookmarks being included in our backups!

 

They’re pretty small files so I haven’t had any issues with the copy process causing any delays

[free780]

There are two methods of storing a profile via GPO to roam bookmarks and settings. The issue is that you can experience corruption when users change the version of chrome they are using. You can control the updates and push out a new version but you most likely won't be able to get your whole environment on the same version overnight. I couldn't find a silent command line to force updates. Also Google gradually push updates and turn on features. I assume if you sync via gsync accounts you don't hit this issue. Or have 1:1 devices.