Deploy Google Chrome silently with no shortcuts

Deploying applications is as easy as ABC when there is no need to repackage them. But then you get a request that requires some changes that should be easy. To deploy Google Chrome silently with no shortcuts is one of them and is not as easy as you might think.

To begin with, download the Google Chrome Enterprise package and the ADMX files from Google. This will give you the best base to stand on and settings can be applied though GPO when deployed.

https://enterprise.google.com/intl/en/chrome/chrome-browser/

Then we need to create a master preferences file that contains the settings. The one used is quite simple since all other settings are applied with GPOs.

{
 "distribution": {
   "skip_first_run_ui": true, 
   "show_welcome_page": false, 
   "import_search_engine": false, 
   "import_history": false, 
   "do_not_create_any_shortcuts" : true,
   "do_not_create_taskbar_shortcut" :true,
   "do_not_create_desktop_shortcut" :true,
   "create_all_shortcuts": false, 
   "do_not_launch_chrome": true, 
   "make_chrome_default": false,
   "system_level": true
   }

As you can se in the file above I have chosen to remove all shortcuts and decided to hide some of the elements that occur on the first run of Chrome.

Save this file as “master_preference” in the same folder as the MSI. (Without file extension)

Next step is to create a wrapper for the installation. In this case I use a simple *.bat file with the following lines:

msiexec /qn /norestart /i "%~dp0googlechromestandaloneenterprise64.msi"
if exist "c:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\" copy /y "%~dp0master_preferences" "C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\"
if exist "c:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\" copy /y "%~dp0master_preferences" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\"
reg add HKLM\Software\Policies\Google\Update /f /v AutoUpdateCheckPeriodMinutes /d 0
del "C:\Users\Public\Desktop\Google Chrome.lnk"

The wrapper starts with installing Google Chrome silently without any reboots. Then, depending on architecture, copies the preferences file to the installation folder.
The last step is to remove the default desktop shortcut from the Public desktop. This will ensure that no shortcut is created when a new user starts Chrome, master_preferences file, and the default shortcut is removed.

Save the file as “Install_Chrome.bat” together with the master_preferences and MSI.

Structure in folder

Then deploy the application in the same way as you normally do with SCCM or other deployment solution.