Ability to install Chromium Edge Extensions through the Registry

[mmiky123]

Hello Dear insider team,

I have been using Chromium Edge for a long time now and looking forward to getting the new Chromium Edge as an update. One thing that will, however, disrupt working with it is the fact that after switching from  the old version to the Chromium one that I am not able to install Extensions using the registry. Google Chrome and Chromium do have this feature and can download and install Chrome extensions without any problem. It also is really handy to get a notification about an extension being installed and giving the user the choise if they want to enable them or not. This would be a game changer as I manage multiple machines owned by my Family where I just need to apply the correct registry change and boom they have the extensions they want.

[#2]

@mmiky123 Thanks for the feedback! I'll loop in the extensions devs and let you know if they have any additional thoughts.

Fawkes (they/them)
Project & Community Manager - Microsoft Edge

[#3 · Accepted solution]

@mmiky123 Yes, you will be able to install extension using registry in the same way as you can on Chrome. 

[#4]

@ashishpoddar 

Thank you for the response. And thank you for clarifying this point. It really gives me the confidence to let the update to chromium edge happen.

[#5]

@ashishpoddar  So I tried installing an extension using a similar structure to google chrome but the results still vary greatly.

On one hand i can see an extension availability information in the browser but that seems to disappear really quick.

The other thing is that with multiple users I only can see the information that an extension is available with any edge browser user other than the current one.

I think this might need some adjustment.

Also do you have a documentation page where extension installation using those different methods like through registry is described?

Many thanks

P.S. To see the behaviours described you need to update to the new chromium edge without any additional Chromiumedge from Canary, Dev or Beta channel. Installation when the beta, dev or canary version were installed previously works fine but 99% of the users won't have those browsers installed. 

[#6]

@mmiky123

I didn't get this part, could you please explain?

The other thing is that with multiple users I only can see the information that an extension is available with any edge browser user other than the current one.

I think this might need some adjustment.

Are trying to test this with Edge Stable and not Edge Beta/Dev/Canary? 

[#7]

@ashishpoddar 

Sorry for the rough explanation.

Yes, I am using the stable version of Chromium Edge.

I have updated from the old Edge to the new Stable version of Chromium Edge.

This has been performed on two cases: 

 - A machine with only one windows user

- A machine with three windows users

I tried adding the mentioned extensions to The Stable chromium edge using the registry approach.

The results for the above mentioned cases (one and 3 users) are as follows:

-  1 user: the extension gets installed, but the notification for enabling the extension appears for a very short timeframe.

- 3 users: After upgrading to chromium edge with user 1 of 3 I do not seem to get the extension installed on browser profile 1. If i however switch to browser profile 2 or 3 the extension gets installed and i get the enablement notification for said extension.

Hopefully this explanation helps out.

[#8]

@mmiky123 Thanks for the details. We are tracking this using Bug ID: 25178764 - will keep you posted on the updates

Thanks!