How to disable Customise Chrome

[andyt57]

One of my schools has about 90 Chromebooks and is having a problem. The children have worked out that if they open a new tab in Google Chrome then an icon appears at the bottom right entitled "Customise Chrome". This enables them to change the colours on the screen and play around instead of doing the work that they should be doing.

 

I have searched but I can't find any way of disabling this in the Google Admin console.

 

Does anyone know how to disable it?

 

Andy

[jthompson]

If this is for Windows machines, Group Policy might do it. Just looking in the Google Chrome administrtive templates and I can see a setting named "Configure the color of the browser's theme" which if configured will lock users out of changing the colour. There's also a setting named "Allow users to customize the background on the New Tab page".

 

If managing the browsers from the cloud, the equivalent options are "Admin > Devices > Chrome > Settings > User and browser settings > General > Custom theme colour" and "Admin > Devices > Chrome > Settings > User and browser settings > Start-up > New tab page background".

[andyt57]

If this is for Windows machines, Group Policy might do it. Just looking in the Google Chrome administrtive templates and I can see a setting named "Configure the color of the browser's theme" which if configured will lock users out of changing the colour. There's also a setting named "Allow users to customize the background on the New Tab page".

 

If managing the browsers from the cloud, the equivalent options are "Admin > Devices > Chrome > Settings > User and browser settings > General > Custom theme colour" and "Admin > Devices > Chrome > Settings > User and browser settings > Start-up > New tab page background".

 

I had found the first setting, but not the second. I've now set it and see what happens.

 

Thanks.

 

Andrew

[andyt57]

If this is for Windows machines, Group Policy might do it. Just looking in the Google Chrome administrtive templates and I can see a setting named "Configure the color of the browser's theme" which if configured will lock users out of changing the colour. There's also a setting named "Allow users to customize the background on the New Tab page".

 

If managing the browsers from the cloud, the equivalent options are "Admin > Devices > Chrome > Settings > User and browser settings > General > Custom theme colour" and "Admin > Devices > Chrome > Settings > User and browser settings > Start-up > New tab page background".

That worked.

 

Thanks very much.

[Koldov]

Which setting actually worked, or did you need both?

 

Just out of interest the first setting: Configure the color of the browser's theme

 

"This policy allows admins to configure the color of Google Chrome's theme. The input string should be a valid hex color string matching the format "#RRGGBB".

 

Setting the policy to a valid hex color causes a theme based on that color to be automatically generated and applied to the browser. Users won't be able to change the theme set by the policy.

 

Leaving the policy unset lets users change their browser's theme as preferred.

 

Example value: #FFFFFF"

 

Did you set that, or did it not matter (and if you did what did you set it to?).

 

I presume 'Allow users to customize the background on the New Tab page' is just set to 'disabled'?

 

Edit: Also, are these OK to be set as 'Computer' Configurations and not 'User'?

Edited November 14, 2023 by Koldov

[jthompson]

I've not configured them, but if they're available as computer configurations, that would lead me to think that they'd work as such. The administrative templates do differ in what options are available under computer or user configuration.

[Koldov]

Thanks, yes I've always worked on the premise that if the setting was actually there then you could use it!

 

Don't even know why I asked really, just got a lot on my mind and second guessing everything!

[Lucindasmith]

To disable the Customize Chrome option on Chromebooks, you need to use the Google Admin Console. First, sign in to the Admin Console with your administrator account. Next, go to Devices and then Chrome to find User & Browser Settings. Here, you can manage Chrome settings for users. Look for the User Experience section and find the setting for Browser customization. You can disable the option that allows users to customize the browser. This should stop the students from changing the colors and playing around on their Chromebooks.

[jthompson]

To disable the Customize Chrome option on Chromebooks, you need to use the Google Admin Console. First, sign in to the Admin Console with your administrator account. Next, go to Devices and then Chrome to find User & Browser Settings. Here, you can manage Chrome settings for users. Look for the User Experience section and find the setting for Browser customization. You can disable the option that allows users to customize the browser. This should stop the students from changing the colors and playing around on their Chromebooks.

 

Try that again but in the style of Jar-Jar Binks.