Keep Favorites Synced between Internet Explorer and Edge NOT available in Edge Chromium

AakashShah 

I've been trying to wrap my head around the RoamingProfileSupportEnabled policy in Chrome while it is not yet fully available in Edge. And even though I said that it would solve all of our problems and do exactly what we want I'm reading about more and more red flags the more I look into the whole thing.

Damaged profiles are a serious issue, but https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1024814 suggests that there will be an improved "auto-healing" functionality starting in v81.

But the biggest issue I have with roaming profiles is the following statement: "We recommend that users never run simultaneous Chrome sessions when they use Roaming User Profiles." on https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/7349337

While this is probably not much of an issue for 90%+ of our users (they only have access to one machine (at a time)) we have plenty of users (including me) who are working on 2, 3 or even 4 machines in parallel. I've done some preliminary testing and it was quite easy to get two browsers on two machines sharing one roaming profile to go out-of-sync .. and I actually was unable to get them 100% synced again. One machine now has 1 more bookmark than the other machine. I've only tested with bookmarks though, since thats what our users will be focusing on the most.

But either way, in regards to the RoamingProfileSupportEnabled policy .. will be be getting the two very important improvements Google is currently implementing for Chrome in the newer Edge builds too?

- https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=649062 talks about the ability to actually select which items will be synced in the profile.db file with the ability to keep certain items local while still roaming things like bookmarks

- https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1013546 is talking about limiting the number of writes to the profile.db file, supposedly targeted for release with v82 (I guess v83 now).

The more time I invest into digging into this the more I wish the good old days of an individual file-based favorites folder back, like IE gave us. None of that JSON/database stuff.

Is there a remote chance that we could be getting an Edge-exclusive feature that allows us to utilize the old IE-style individual file-based favorites folder again? Something like two policies:

- "FavoritesMode" = "IE|Chrome" ("IE" = individual files, "Chrome" = singular 'bookmarks' file)

- "FavoritesLocation" = "\\path\to\somewhere" (Configure an alternative location for the bookmarks. Default value "$systemdrive$\Users\$username$\AppData\Local\Microsoft\$EdgeVersion$\User Data\$profile$\")

Wishes over wishes.

nivlacckw

It's there as of v82, you can test it if you install the Dev channel now.

lforbes

When RoamingprofileSupportEnabled Chrome creates a small profile.pb for roaming. If Edge Chromium brings this back would be welcome. 

How other products keeping Edge settings without using profile.pb

https://www.avanite.com/blog/roaming-edge-chromium

Citrix Chrome example using  profile.pb

https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2018/04/18/running-google-chrome-on-citrix-xenapp-and-xendesktop/

nivlacckw

We have to obey privacy laws for health care and government. We absolutely cannot have anything going to the cloud, no logins, no names, no data of any form.

Chrome (and possibly Edge Chrome) creates 1GB of junk per PERSON to run a simple browser. Chrome is the most bloated piece of bloatware out there. We have enough problems with it filling up harddrives on computers where we have 1000 health care workers logging in in a month We don't need that roaming around. We just need the few KB of the bookmarks file stored on the users home drive and redirected via Group Policy. Every other setting we enforce in Group Policy so it is not needed to roam.

This can be completely avoided if Edge team did not remove RoamingProfileSupportEnabled in the first place. It is also bad that Edge team did not provide UE-V template and the community has to figure out themselves.

Deleted 

I recognize that Edge Chromium is based on the Chromium project, but it appears that Chromium's implementation for Roaming Profiles has some limitations.  If Microsoft can help address/solve those for Edge, especially in a Windows environment, that would be very helpful.  Here are some potential improvements based on my reading of https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/7349337 (I assume these same limitations would apply to Edge Chromium when implemented):

• If cloud sync has not otherwise been disabled, allow the user to continue to sync with the cloud, in addition to backing up the favorites to the specified RoamingProfileLocation path.  Based on the link above, it indicates that if RoamingProfileSupportEnabled is enabled, that cloud sync would no longer work, which is not something we want to explicitly disable in our environment since we want to allow users to continue doing this if they choose to, but still allow us to backup this data.
  
  
• Support for more than one profile.  The link above indicates that with the RoamingProfileSupport option enabled, the user cannot use more than one profile, so if this can be addressed, that would also be very helpful too so that we don't have problems with power users, or developers in our organization who may be using Edge Chromium.
  
  
• It's not clear to me if profile.pb is damaged, whether the user will get a notification about this damage, but the article does indicate that future profile changes won't be synchronized.  It would be helpful if the user were made aware of this so that they can report the problem to local IT, so that we can address this problem for the user, and not find out months later after their computer may have crashed, that their favorites were not backed up, and that we don't have the latest backup.

In our environment, our primary goal is to ensure that we have a backup of the user's bookmarks in case the computer crashes, and to allow them to see these favorites regardless of what domain computer they log into.  Also, if the user chooses to also sync with the cloud, we also don't want to prevent that.

Thanks!

Tequila 

You can use a group policy pref to create the folder on first logon and as prefs apply before logon scripts it usually works. We have logon scripts and logoff scripts that can copy the file around but I find it ironic in 2020 we are still having to use Windows NT 4.0 technology from 1996 to "hack" Microsoft products to work like they did with Windows 2000 and XP.

"There is no Cloud, it is just someone else's computer"

Following this too. I get MS wanting to ditch IE 'sync' but we need to be able to redirect bookmarks.

lforbes 

Nope.

They don't belong to Microsoft because they belong to Akamai technologies which is a different company.

they are the CDN servers that Millions of clients use and Microsoft is just one of them. Akamai CDN is bigger than you think.

HotCakeX 

Oh hey, by the way, those URLs don't even belong to Microsoft:

Yes they 100% do. They are the CND servers that Microsoft uses to deliver Microsoft APP update content. If you block them in the firewalls then the Microsoft Apps don't auto update.
Also you can easily use Wireshark to see what they are doing.
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/0da75b5c-f2bc-4c99-8741-1029e08f0a61/windows-10-continuously-downloading-content-akamai-and-cdns?forum=win10itprogeneral

beerdini 

somebody should teach those "powers" that how technology works.

scsmartt 

I feel the same

lforbes 

I'm following this because I am looking for a similar solution, but wow what a painful read.  Last year when my organization upgraded from Exchange 2010 to 2019 on premise I remember posting questions and would be met with the replies "why don't you just go to O365"?

Its like... Yes, I know it exists... Yes, I know it will do what I'm asking for help with the on-prem solution, but you know what, the business leaders have rules and concerns that are above my pay grade and influence, so even though you can do something like sync browser favorites between systems using a cloud service, my business policy doesn't allow it so lets just drop the discussion of why I should use solution B instead of A because the powers that be have decided that solution A is the way to go and that is the world that I have to live with.

scsmartt Thanks for sharing your voice, and welcome to the Microsoft Edge Insider community. I can confirm that this is top-of-mind for our Enterprise team, and that they are actively considering different solutions.

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

This was a painful thread to read through but I wanted to throw my hat in because we have the same concern and will be monitoring this thread for the new GPO options to be added.

lforbes 

Oh hey, by the way, those URLs don't even belong to Microsoft:

https://www.whois.com/whois/akamaiedge.net

What is Akamai Tech? basically a CDN that a lot of softwares and services use.

What is CDN?

What is Edge server?

An edge server, in a system administration context, is any server that resides on the "edge" between two networks, typically a private network and the Internet.

lforbes 

is there an online official documentation to use as a reference for reading this part of the Canadian law?

lforbes 

So why are you using Symantec then? it sends data to their servers, for communication, updates and more.

the IP addresses can mean anything.

that doesn't even prove they are originating from Edge.

edit: btw not every domain name containing the word "edge" means they are somehow related to the Edge browser. I've seen domain names before from Microsoft having the word edge in them and yet they didn't have anything to do with the actual Edge browser.

cjc2112 

We have 86,000 workstations in hospitals from the rural north to the big cities. They run software for CT scans and Medical Equipment that can be up to 15-20 years old that costs upwards of millions to replace and most of the software won't run on 64bit. So we still have Windows 7 and 7 32bit running IE because they run unsigned ActiveX that are 10+ years old.

However, with the cost of extended patching service being expensive we are trying to upgrade them all to Windows 10 as soon as possible. However, that means we need a standard browser that works on Windows 10 and supports newer websites AND the older IE mode ones at the same time. New Edgium seems to fit this but for the case here of the favorites we are focussing on Windows 10 only which is about 50,000 workstations now. 

We have distribution SCCM servers in each remote area and within each subnet they use Branch Cache. We use a 10.x.x.x subnet which is internal. Branchcache is very efficient for Windows Updates and rollups etc and it works fine.

The problem comes with not having an Internal SCCM solution for Modern Apps. Delivery Optimization, the ONLY solution for Modern App Updates is 100% cloud based and requires registration with Microsoft servers outside of Canada which as I mentioned is banned for privacy reasons via Federal and Provincial Law.  As IP addresses are considered Private Information even under the GDPR https://eugdprcompliant.com/personal-data/ and cannot be collected.

HotCakeX 
So I have wireshark data that proves that Microsoft Servers in the United States are constantly communicating and collecting data from our Canadian BC Windows 10 workstations TO US Microsoft servers. I have the IP Address' to show it. See the attached document. It is about 50-100MB per 30 min per machine.
In Canada, where we operate, Federal and Provincial laws dictate that NO communication or data from Health Care and Government machines can be sent from computers within Canada to servers outside of Canada. Period end of story. No getting around Federal law. 
Note this is with Telemetry and all "collection" services disabled, Windows Defender disabled (we use Symantec) SCCM providing all Windows Updates and the Apps set to not update, and the Windows Store blocked in GPO.  Even with privacy locked down as tight as it can go the chatter is excessive. 

So we need to stop this data chatter with US servers and have an internal solution.

Deleted 

@HotCakeX @lforbes @narutards @simsoo 

"We’ve heard the feedback loud and clear for a need to manage on-premise favorites sync in the new Microsoft Edge, and I know that it is a deployment blocker for many of you. I’m part of a team that is looking into how we can support this as soon as we can. For example, we are evaluating the pros and cons of Chrome’s RoamingProfile* policies as a starting point.

HotCakeX lforbes narutards simsoo Thank you all for your valuable input. We've been actively discussing this behind the scenes, and I have an update to share from Scott, a senior program manager from the Microsoft Edge Services team.

"We’ve heard the feedback loud and clear for a need to manage on-premise favorites sync in the new Microsoft Edge, and I know that it is a deployment blocker for many of you. I’m part of a team that is looking into how we can support this as soon as we can. For example, we are evaluating the pros and cons of Chrome’s RoamingProfile* policies as a starting point.

simsoo 

Google's business in based on data mining, Microsoft's business is based on providing services, that explains everything.

simsoo 

I have opened a ticket/call with Microsoft about the whole issue and informed them about the "RoamingProfileSupport" possibility in that call.

They do have plans for an on-premise sync but its slightly overkill. No answer back on the "RoamingProfileSupport" policy yet though. Haven't heared back from them in 2 days, so lets see what they say when they get back to me.