Hi!
I have installed chrome normaly to (win7):
%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome
and have moved/copied
User Data
to:
"%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Chrome\User Data"
Also have modified shorcut on desktop to look like this:
%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
-user-data-dir="%appdata%\Chrome\User data" --disk-cache-size=20971520
(disk cache size is decreased because we have fast Internet, no need for
caching and Big roaming profiles)
Then chrome starts with user data from roaming profiles direktorij which is
normaly synced to file server, when user logons or logoffs.
The problem is, when user changes it's PC, it must again install chrome to
local appdata directory, but desktop shortcut and user data (chrome
profile) persists in romaing directory and it works.
If you move chrome application also to roaming profile dir - it does not
work at all., so this is my solution for now..
Still hoping that chrome will have MSI installer and install to program
files , with user data to user roaming profile directory (as normaly IE and
Firefox) does..
Kind regards!
The Google Chrome downloaded with Google Pack (http://pack.google.com) will
install Chrome to C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome and so will the MSI
version just released (http://www.google.com/chrome/eula.html?msi=true) but
both of these options still seem to use Local Settings for the User Data
I'm definately with Blooze! I am an application packager (MSI/APP-V) and
for multiple clients we have found this was a showstopper.
Another problem with hkusulja's solution is opening .html docs will start a
session without parameters.
Question, one the advantages of an MSI installer is manageability and
flexibility (PROPERTIES). The MSI released just uses the MSI as a wrapper,
none of the default functionality is used. Why?
Yes, problem with my solution is to not open user profile, when
auto-opening URLs or HTML files...., maybe the solution is to search in
reagstry and change that to start with parameters..
If Chrome is your default browser, the compatible extentions should be
pointing to: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ChromeHTML.
Add the parameters to the open command and you're done. With a Program
Files install of Chrome it should look something like:
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ChromeHTML\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe\"
-user-data-dir="%APPDATA%\Chrome\User data" --disk-cache-size=20971520 --
\"%1\""
I prefer a solution that combines local caching and roaming data but this
might be the next best thing.
The problem about caching is , because Chrome caches to profile dir, so if
this is a big directory, you will always have to sync it becouse your
roaming profile.
Cache should be outside roaming profile in local folder, but this is not
possible with chrome 5/6.0 for now. :(
Thnx for reg key :)
Thanks for the registry key. That helps but it still doesn't solve the
problem of the Cache being to large to realistically keep in a roaming
profile. The solution is to have the Cache in the local profile and the
settings in the roaming profile. For now I will still have to use my logon
/ logoff batch files.
Comment #18 on issue 2423 by tfar...@chromium.org: Windows Roaming Profile
support
http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=2423
(No comment was entered for this change.)
This really should be showing up in your list of known enterprise issues.
Roaming profile support is required in most terminal server environments.
http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/list?can=2&q=Feature%3DEnterprise
This really is a fail on Chromes part. It is crazy to store all the
settings under the local appdata. I was excited about rolling out the new
Chrome msi, but it is useless when it doesn't store its data in roaming.
This really goes against basic Windows guidelines... The user data should
be stored in Roaming and not Local.
How do I take advantage of this "feature"?
It would be nice to hear a response from Google on this.
Is a resolution in the works ?? This has been an issue for over 2 years
It feels like I'm dealing with an Adobe product on this matter
Hi there,
I have discovered that there are administrator policies that will allow you
to use Chrome with Roaming Profiles. Please see the link below.
http://dev.chromium.org/administrators/policy-list-3#UserDataDir
nice work sooky! Thanks!
Please note that there are known issues with UserDataDir on network shares,
so please configure the aforementioned policy to point a local volume. For
more information on the network issues, see #84045.
The real problem with the UserDataDir policy, is that is stores _all_ user
data in that directory. You'll probably don't want to have the browser
cache in the roaming profile, as it can grow pretty large.
What you really want to be in the profile directory are bookmarks, cookies,
settings, extensions, etc.
Well, that is why we are introducing the DiskCacheDir policy which allows
you to store the cache to a different location than the profile. I think
this policy is going to be available in Chrome 13.
Issue 96400 has been merged into this issue.
still not working properly. 2 problems:
1. You can't use variables like %USERPROFILE% in the GPO. (given an error,
as seen in the attached file)
2. Even when writing the exact path, (which isn't really possible, because
there'er different users) it's still not working, when it's a network path.
pity that it's taking YEARS to solve. I wanted to transfer my enterprise to
chrome for 2 years now. But it's not possible when the BASICS are not
supported.
Attachments:
error.jpg 13.8 KB
It doesn't help, but see 95051 about the variable names "${local_app_data}"
and "{roaming_app_data}".
Something like this must work, but as you said the BASICS are not working
for YEARS and Chrome suxxx in Enterprise aka cannot deployed.
After one hour testing I need to say this case may has been fixed in
version 15.
I tried this on Friday to ready for SCCM deployment and the issue was still
not fixed. How are you setting the user-data-dir? Through GPO or shortcuts.
I'm using the policy for setting below values. Have not tried the shortcut
options.
1. Set disk cache directory ${local_app_data}\Google\Chrome\User
Data\Default
2. Set user data directory ${roaming_app_data}\Google\Chrome\User Data
Maybe the cache directory on a network drive makes Chrome still broken?
Have you set the cache to local app dir? Can you verify this? I also
deleted both user data dir and cache dir to make sure it's clean before I
started Chrome...
Do we have any sort of ETA?
At the moment, it's not even clear whether a fix is possible at all, from
what we know, it's due to some weirdness between the Chrome sandbox and Win
network sharing. Even if that were resolved, you'd still have the issue
that only one Chrome instance could run off the same profile directory at
any given time (which may or may not be a problem depending on your setup).
Wow, so no chrome for enterprise any time soon. We have students asking for
it nearly everyday (University of Portsmouth) and we dont want to put a
very old version. Seems that this is a major issue for chrome.
I have more users that confirm it works on their Windows XP machines. But I
also have first feedback that Plugin installation is still broken. See
attached screenshot. It's German, sorry. It means something along the lines
like:
"Cannot extract extension. For extracting extension you need a path to your
profile that starts with a drive letter and is not a link, mount point or
symbolic link. YOu profiles does not contain such a path."
This is correct, but it's a bug. Redirected app data is on an UNC path.
Attachments:
ChromeAddon-InstallFails.png 55.5 KB
This issue really needs to get fixed. We are using Google Apps Premier for
our business and things just work better in chrome (Obviously). How do i
sell my users on chrome and the whole google package if i can't deploy a
functioning version for my users?
I am trying to make this available to an entire University and have come
across the exact same issue. I cannot understand why Google are not giving
this a higher priority.
This feature fix seems that it is going to be resolved in version 18 of
Chrome. I got this reference from Google Enterprise support:
I'm concerned that the gravity of this problem isn't coming across and
that's why it dates back to Sept 2008. I know this is free software and
all, but it's clear that it's a very invested project and valuable to a
wide audience.
<soapbox>
At the risk of alienating those who own and will ultimately resolve this
issue, it's worth saying out loud that this is absolutely a fundamental
issue that's so disruptive as to make Chrome unusable.
The decision to select roaming profiles + folder redirection (or any other
variation of keeping user profile data on a network share) is such a
fundamental one in businesses above a certain size (50+?) that it will
never be undone to support Chrome.
The alternative is to sync data at session start and end for all users -
that leads to Helpdesk calls about login/out performance which ultimately
trace to Chrome as the cause. That's expensive and bad for reputations.
I sense that there's a lot of IT Pro's on this thread representing hundreds
(or even thousands) of potential installations. My guess is they would also
tell you that being able to save profile data to a network share would be
very, very high on their list of must haves for any user-facing/desktop
product.
Someone made the choice to provide the MSI installer and it was a good
choice. The same arguments of making Chrome enterprise-ready apply to
supporting profile data on a network share. It's critical and (IMHO) I
think you'll see a measurable change in world-wide deployment over a short
period if you fix it.
</soapbox>
Thanks
Matthew
I'd just like to add my voice to this issue. We use roaming profiles +
folder redirection too in our organisation. I agree wholeheartedly with
Matthew in comment 64. This issue is causing great consternation and
difficulties within our organisation. We are currently deciding whether to
migrate to Google mail and consequently there is some considerable pressure
to get Chrome working for our pilot users. I have just tried version 18
beta, but it is STILL NOT FIXED! Yes, the sandbox issue is fixed, so apps
can now be extracted into the users temp directory, but there is no
resolution for folder redirection issue.
Regards
Paulo
comment #64... I agree also. Please fix this issue. I can't deploy chrome
without this issue fixed. It simply isn't possible.
This is listed as "available" - but where? It doesn't work on the latest
version on Win 7! (XP is OK)
#67 Available is about the "issue" itself. When it is marked "Fixed"
its "available" for users to use it. Now it's only "avaiblable" for the
coders to fix it so it works.
I'm shocked to see this still not fixed in v18. It's meant my organization
have dropped Chrome completely in favor of Firefox.
We map user directories to H:
I want all Chrome data saved to H:\ChromeData - the folder is there and
created, yet when I now set the data to be saved in that directory using
the "Set User Data" option it doesn't work in Windows 7 (fine with XP)
Have the latest Chrome ADMX files (including the bug fix) and Chrome 18
(latest)
This is also stopping us from using Google as Cookie's are not saved.
Google is redirected here for E-Safety so it defaults to safesearch etc.
As Chrome can't save any Cookie's using Roaming Profiles and Win7 (even if
the Set User Data option is left blank) Google fails to load!!!
See issue 84045 for related info - AFAIK, Chrome doesn't support saving to
network drives.
There's commitment to fix it, but it's a 3 and a half year old issue - draw
your own conclusions.
I know. I love Chrome - but am going to have to pull it if things do not
change.
jcrack,
I've had to install Chrome in an enterprise environment across both XP and
Win 7 platforms and have gotten the installation to work with network
drives. I've found the fixes I use for XP will not work on 7 and vice
versa.
In order to get Chrome to work across the network on Windows 7 you must use
links in the user's profile folder. For example, I used a batch file in
DOS:
@ECHO OFF
IF EXIST "%LOCALAPPDATA%/Google/Chrome/UserDataDir" (
exit
) ELSE (
IF NOT EXIST "%LOCALAPPDATA%/Google/Chrome" (
mkdir "%LOCALAPPDATA%/Google/Chrome"
)
mklink
/D "%LOCALAPPDATA%/Google/Chrome/UserDataDir" "%APPDATA%/Google/Chrome"
exit
)
I then pointed the Chrome UserData directory using the ADM
to %LOCALAPPDATA%/Google/Chrome/UserDataDir. Our %APPDATA% directory would
be our user's profile folder on the network. For example (network
drive):/Users/(username)/Google/Chrome
Give this a try to see if it helps!
I should also mention that I call that above batch file on user login.
This way when I add a new users, or the users switches machines, the link
is created if it doesn't already exist
Hi
I tried the batch file. I found that when the user logged off, items like
Bookmarks/other user data were not saved to the profile. In fact the
directory was not created.
We do have roaming profiles here - I did play with the script a little and
got everyone sharing the same cookies! However, in its current format it
is not working for us.
Interesting that Chrome doesn't even create a folder in the apps data for
the roaming profile.
That's not the word I was thinking of.
jcrack,
Was the link "%LOCALAPPDATA%/Google/Chrome/UserDataDir" being created for
you? You may need to edit the script to customize to your network setup.
In Windows 7, the link should be created under
C:/Users/(username)/AppData/Google/Chrome. It will then point to whatever
you have set as your %APPDATA% directory. This could be your network share
(it is in my network). In a command prompt, do a 'echo %APPDATA%' This
should tell you where the link is pointing to. You may need to
change "%APPDATA%/Google/Chrome" to be something
like "H:/%username%/Google/Chrome.