Google Chrome → Chrome Extension Blocked By Admin? Try this…

Tony Mucci

Published in

Code Kings

3 min readAug 10, 2021

NOTE: You will need Local Admin Privileges on your Windows Machine and access to RegEdit.exe

THE INTRO

So this is an interesting one. In my previous post, I found that the IT Dept. blocked the ability to use Chrome Dev Tools, what I didn’t realize is that they also blocked the ability to add extensions from the webstore. A couple of my colleagues needed other extensions to perform their jobs well. So I wrote this for them :)

THE PROBLEM

IT Dept. blocked the ability to add Chrome Extensions to my Windows Machine.

THE SOLUTION

Go to https://chrome.google.com/ and find the extension you want to use. In this case we will be use uBlocker as an example.

2. In the URL, you want to look for the ID of the extension. As of this blog post, the ID of the Chrome Extension can be found here in it’s URL

3. Save this ID for later, you will need it in a bit.

4. Press WIN +R to get to the Run Dialog Got to RegEdit.exe

DISCLAIMER

Now, before we go on, I can’t stress the importance of how powerful RegEdit.exe is. RegEdit is essentially the scalpel knife and this is essentially doing brain surgery on your computer. One wrong move, and you can break a lot of stuff, so please follow this guide EXACTLY to prevent any unwanted issues with your computer.

Ok, Moving on…

5. Go to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome\ExtensionInstallWhitelist

6. Right click and select New → String Value

7. Check the rest of the Names in the List and name your new value the next corresponding number in the list. For example, if the greatest number in the list is 16, then your new String name should be 17.

8. Next, right click and click Modify

9. In the dialog that pops up, you will see a place to enter Value Data. This is where you will place the ID of the Chrome Extension we saved from before.