Chrome Managed Policies

Kasm administrators may wish to have certain configurations be automatically set when launching new instances of Google Chrome in a Kasm Workspace.

This document will go over the details for adding Chrome configuration to an existing Kasm image and makes use of settings from Chrome Policies.

As an example we will be editing the Kasm Chrome Dockerfile, but any Desktop Dockerfile that installs Chrome can be used.

For instructions on how to build a Kasm image please see the Building Image Documentation.

Managed Bookmarks

To build bookmarks into the image’s bookmarks bar we will make use of the “ManagedBookmarks” Chrome Policy.

1. Create a file called ‘bookmarks.json’ with the following contents:

{
    "BookmarkBarEnabled": true,
    "ManagedBookmarks":[
        {
            "toplevel_name":"Managed Bookmarks"
        },
        {
            "name":"Google",
            "url":"google.com"
        },
        {
            "name":"Youtube",
            "url":"youtube.com"
        },
        {
            "name":"Chrome links",
            "children":[
                {
                    "name":"Chromium",
                    "url":"chromium.org"
                },
                {
                    "name":"Chromium Developers",
                    "url":"dev.chromium.org"
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

2. Edit the following line just before the “End Customizations” line in the ‘dockerfile-kasm-chrome’ file.

COPY ./bookmarks.json /etc/opt/chrome/policies/managed/bookmarks.json

3. Build the image using the instructions from the Building Images Documentation.

Managed Extensions

To build extensions into the image we make use of the “ExtensionSettings” Chrome Policy.

1. Find a chrome extension you want to add to an image, in this case we will use “UBlock Origin” from the Chrome Web Store, making a note of the URL.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock-origin/cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm?hl=en

2. Create a file called ‘extensions.json’ with the following contents, note the Extension ID is copied from the Chrome Web Store URL.

{
    "ExtensionSettings": {
        "*": {
            "installation_mode": "blocked"
        },
        "cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm": {
            "installation_mode": "force_installed",
            "update_url": "https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx",
            "toolbar_pin" : "force_pinned"
        }
    }
}

2. Edit the following line just before the “End Customizations” line in the ‘dockerfile-kasm-chrome’ file.

COPY ./extensions.json /etc/opt/chrome/policies/managed/extensions.json

3. Build the image using the instructions from the Building Images Documentation.