Force-install external extensions

[Ambareesh Balaji]

Hi,

I have developed an extension which I want to load automatically and also have force-installed such that it cannot be disabled or removed by the user. I have tried using https://developer.chrome.com/apps/external_extensions, but I could not get it work in the first place unfortunately. I have found another way to auto-load an extension, using the --load-extension command-line flag, which gets the job done for auto-loading.

I have a policy json file under /etc/chromium/policies/managed with the "ExtensionInstallForceList" key containing the id of the extension. But whenever I open chromium, I get a dialog box saying "Failed to load extension from: /path/to/extension. (extension ID) is blocked by the administrator. ". This only happens when the id is set under ExtensionInstallForceList, and removing it from the list means it's not protected from removal. Is there a way I can achieve what I'm trying to do?

Thanks

[Alex Feinstein]

"I want to load automatically and also have force-installed such that it cannot be disabled or removed by the user"

I highly doubt this is possible via a Chrome API, as an API which let an extensions install other extensions which cannot be removed could lead to massive security problems for obvious reasons. Even if you found some hacky way to go about implementing this, your extension would almost certainly be flagged by the Chrome Web Store as unwanted software (they now flag extensions for content scripts alone). I suggest that you find another way to implement your desired functionality.