Installing Google Chrome with system wide automatic updates on Microsoft Windows

Google Chrome can be an an excellent browser for locked down public terminals, as the Windows version keeps itself and its integrated Adobe Flash plugin up to date automatically and completely transparently.

Using the normal download page, Google Chrome will install itself to the current user's home directory. Not a very good idea unless you want to install Chrome on a machine you don't have admin rights on. For a system wide installation in the %Program Files%folder, which keeps itself up to date using Google Update's scheduled background tasks, one could previoulsy use Google Pack, which now has been discontinued.

The intent of this question is finding an answer to if and how Google Chrome can be installed system-wide now that Google Pack is defunct.

nybergh

Posted 2011-09-08T01:09:14.687

Reputation: 395

I have insufficient reputation to answer my own questions immediately. I'll post an illustrated answer to my question in 7 hours. The answer will be based on my research here: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Chrome/thread?tid=3fa243c2ee782d73

– nybergh – 2011-09-08T01:13:09.190

Answers

The official way to use Google chrome in the enterprise is to download the MSI from here. Google has some documentation on how to deploy and configure Chrome policies.

Zoredache

Posted 2011-09-08T01:09:14.687

Reputation: 18 453

I certainly wasn't aware of the MSI option. I guess this would be the best way to install Chrome on a lot of even standaloneish systems, terminal server come to mind. – nybergh – 2011-09-08T11:31:10.740

The are some issues with Chrome that haven't been fixed yet. Right now it doesn't really work with roaming profiles or redirected folders. – Zoredache – 2011-09-08T15:16:19.097

Chrome can still be installed system wide with automatic, unattended upgrades. You can chose a regular system wide installer or a full MSI package and proceed with the download to receive a version of Chrome with the system wide updater.

To clarify, when installed this way, Google Chrome will keep itself current and safe, even if only limited users ever are logged on to Windows. Google Update is a service, which runs regularly with System privileges as a Scheduled Task to check for updates.

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nybergh

Posted 2011-09-08T01:09:14.687

Reputation: 395