Re-enable extensions not coming from Chrome Web Store on Chrome v35+ (with enhanced security)

109

19

Does anybody know how to re-enable your own extensions after they were disabled by the Chrome v35 update?
(Mostly greasemonkey scripts in my case, thus simple .js files previously drag-n-dropped in to the extension windows. )

When I started up Chrome today I got the warning that some non-ChromeWebStore extensions were disabled.

More info was giving on this link:

Extensions disabled by Chrome

You're seeing this notification because one or more of your Chrome extensions has been turned off to make Chrome safer. The extensions didn't come from the Chrome Web Store or were installed without your permission.

For your protection, you can only use Chrome extensions that you get from the Chrome Web Store.

To see a list of your extensions:

  1. Click the Chrome menu Chrome menu on the browser toolbar.
  2. Select Tools.
  3. Select Extensions.

Extensions that have been disabled are grayed out and you won't be able to re-enable them.

I was hoping I could still enable them by activating developer mode for my extensions but still no luck.. Any tips anyone?

P.s. this is not a duplicate from Activating a Chrome extension that is not from the Chrome Web Store as this is related to the chrome v35 update

AardVark71

Posted 2014-06-11T08:11:53.957

Reputation: 1 277

4Short story: you can't since google wants users to use their web store, so they can track them, they can show 9999999 ads, etc... It's about making money, not user experience. Imho. it's better to forget that browser for eternity. – inf3rno – 2015-06-20T20:47:07.170

It's unfortunate because I use to turn to Google to avoid these issues. To Chrome's defense, even Firefox is deploying a similar constriction now - I suppose one could argue the gained "safety" aspect of this rule enforcement. – S1r-Lanzelot – 2017-08-04T13:40:39.320

Answers

38

There are really only a couple of options open to you as the ability to run the extensions has been programatically disabled with no plans to re-enable it (or at least none made public)

You can try installing from the canary channel or the developer channel releases which may allow you to still run these extensions as mentioned in Google Chrome help forum:

What if I want to run non-web store extensions?

Advanced users can continue to use our Dev & Canary channels to run any extension. Please note that these channels are updated very regularly, and may contain features and bug fixes that are actively being developed.

Alternatively, I have heard that quite a few people install Tampermonkey which then allows the running of user scripts.

Might be worth a look.

Fazer87

Posted 2014-06-11T08:11:53.957

Reputation: 11 177

@Cybertox I got that to work briefly but periodically when I restart Chrome (usually on reboot) Chrome disables the crx extension again, forcing me to repeat the process. – stevemidgley – 2014-09-29T03:04:33.143

Alternatively you can also work with Ninjakit extension from the chrome webstore(https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ninjakit/gpbepnljaakggeobkclonlkhbdgccfek?hl=en) a similar extension like Tampermonkey..

– Lucky – 2014-10-11T09:20:16.007

4

Just FYI, Google just pulled this functionality from Canary and Dev, you have to use the method in the below answer, or load as a script through tampermonkey / similar.

Source: https://blog.chromium.org/2015/05/continuing-to-protect-chrome-users-from.html

– Arthur Kay – 2015-05-15T02:52:23.447

4Thanks. Tampermonkey was indeed the way to go for my use-case (manually added userscripts). I couldn't just re-enable it with tampermonkey though. I really had to find the .js file in %localappdata%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions and copy-paste the contents – AardVark71 – 2014-06-11T12:00:07.737

3I got TamperMonkey to work with my script by going to TamperMonkey Settings, and clicking the "New Script" tab (leftmost tab), and pasting the text of the script into the editor there. When I clicked the save button, my extension started working again. Thanks for the help! – dacoinminster – 2014-06-11T23:15:50.217

Am I the only one who was able to get userscripts to work by packing them into crx files and dragging them into the Extensions page. – Shazvi – 2014-06-12T09:44:43.930

My extensions were in a "Profile 1" folder, not a "Default" folder. %localappdata%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Profile 1\Extensions – Matthias – 2014-06-13T17:48:24.910

54

You can't re-enable them. You need to workaround this issue using any of these alternatives (I will list them for grade of difficulty):

Install other Chromium-like browser

Since Chromium is opensource, there are several forks of the project. I'm not sure if Chromium has the restriction in place but other project may not.

Moving from Windows/OSX altogether

This restriction is put in place for Windows and OSX due security concerns of the entire OS. Linux builds are not affected. You could give any Linux distribution a try.

Braiam

Posted 2014-06-11T08:11:53.957

Reputation: 4 526

Note that to use the Developer mode installation with current CRX files, you have to delete _metadata (and potentially other folders/files starting with underscores) from the extracted folder – Aurimas – 2014-10-16T18:44:23.810

Just an FYI for those coming in from google that as of today, developer channel chrome will no longer accept a non-store CRX. You must unpack it with 7-zip or similar then re-pack it and load it as a loose extension. – Arthur Kay – 2015-05-15T02:30:17.897

@ArthurKay "Download the crx file and unpack the extension using your favorite decompresser." such thing was already included in the post? – Braiam – 2015-05-15T02:31:12.240

Right, I'm saying that the method of using dev or canary is no longer valid.

ED, source: https://blog.chromium.org/2015/05/continuing-to-protect-chrome-users-from.html

– Arthur Kay – 2015-05-15T02:48:47.500

@ArthurKay exactly how is not valid? You can still unpack the extension and use it in Canary/Dev, are you not? – Braiam – 2015-05-15T02:51:58.070

2Right, I'm referring to the section below that saying Canary and Dev are not prevented from installing non-store extensions is no longer valid. Google juuuust took that away. – Arthur Kay – 2015-05-15T02:54:04.913

The "Developer Mode Route" no longer works in Chrome Stable 55 (at least for the one extension I am using). Does it work in Canary or other builds? – Michael Liquori – 2017-01-23T16:22:11.200

@mliqu according to this, it should be there.

– Braiam – 2017-01-23T17:13:12.737

1I am a little perplexed, 4 machines running 35.0.1916.153 m (standard non-Dev/Canary) and 2 of the machines do not disable the extensions with developer mode enabled, added by dragging the crx file (& not unpacking first), but the other 2 continue to disable them on re-launch. I have even tried the master_preferences and again only of the two computers does it disable on re-launch. – codemonkee – 2014-06-15T19:07:51.297

@Spero.ShiroPetto give it time... it will reach you, maybe in 36.0. – Braiam – 2014-06-15T19:22:40.833

@Braiam: +1 good answer, you should add the option of using Tampermonkey extension to manage all userscripts.

– Amro – 2014-06-16T18:59:41.450

@Amro my answer is oriented to real extensions (those that comes in the .crx way) – Braiam – 2014-06-16T21:45:06.950

26

There's another option (at least on Mac) -- there's Google's own Chrome Apps & Extensions Developer Tool (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-apps-extensions-de/ohmmkhmmmpcnpikjeljgnaoabkaalbgc/details) which allows you to re-enable any extension installed.

Stan-O

Posted 2014-06-11T08:11:53.957

Reputation: 369

This worked for me on Windows 7 with Chrome v45. – corvec – 2015-11-09T18:03:03.260

1@Braiam OSX seems to be affected as of Version 46.0.2490.86, and this fix worked. – Alex Gittemeier – 2015-11-11T05:43:59.207

8Not working on Windows in 47.0.2526.106 m. "Enable" mark becomes unchecked right after you check it – janot – 2016-01-15T15:43:01.290

4Worked for me on OSX. This answer need more upvotes! It sure beats switching to Linux, for god's sake. – letitbee – 2016-03-10T14:07:56.703

2Not working on OSX with chrome 52.0.2743.82 – xi.lin – 2016-08-02T02:28:40.193

Works for me on MacOS 10.12.3 with Version 58.0.3016.0 canary (64-bit). – Max von Hippel – 2017-02-19T03:54:21.703

It did not work for me in Win 10 Chrome 59.0.3071.115 (Official Build) (64-bit). – Ryan – 2017-06-30T22:21:19.890

Does not work for me Win 10 Chrome 75 (Official Build) – Ajay – 2019-07-10T15:47:54.763

2

I used the procedure exactly as described here in a Google forum. permalink

https://productforums.google.com/d/msg/chrome/9NlMAr6uEVc/ambkrcKpi1cJ

It basically involves moving, whitelisting the extension ID into the Group Policy Editor.

John McDermott

Posted 2014-06-11T08:11:53.957

Reputation: 31

3Doesn't work. After restarting chrome extensions are again disabled (Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit). Apparently this workaround doesn't stick for Windows Home editions. – DavidPostill – 2014-09-11T17:06:17.370

This worked perfectly for me (Windows Vista 32bit). – Casper – 2015-02-13T15:37:41.267

2

The whitelist procedure ExtensionInstallWhitelist works fine on computers participating in an AD domain. You do not have to actually set an administrative template policy, using the registry is okay. But it does not work on non-domain computers (this would include Home versions), I figure Chrome is ignoring policy for nonAD computers (sadly).

– William – 2016-02-02T14:12:57.590

-2

  1. Add the --enable-easy-off-store-extension-install flag when you start chrome (create shortcut, edit target, append the flag).
  2. Navigate to chrome://extensions/ in the browser.
  3. Drag 'n drop the .crx to the browser, installing the extension.

You'll need to do it every time you launch the browser.

JornC

Posted 2014-06-11T08:11:53.957

Reputation: 1

3The --enable-easy-off-store-extension-install flag makes no difference on Chrome 36.0. The non-store extension I installed is still disabled. – EM0 – 2014-08-22T22:55:01.623

Asked: 2014-06-11T08:11:53.957

Viewed: 265 498 times

Active: 2019-07-19T19:42:12.003