Multi tool use

Disable developer mode extensions pop up in Chrome

Since the latest release of chrome (34.0.1847.116) last week, I have been receiving the “Disable developer mode extensions" when running automated tests using watir-webdriver.

This seems to be the offensive extension but it doesn't make sense to me that this is a potentially hazardous extension given its used by the chromedriver.

Anyone that has found a fix for this, as i am unable to roll back to the previous version or find an installer for an older version to roll back to and this is playing havoc with my tests.

Robot robot; try { robot = new Robot(); robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER); // confirm by pressing Enter in the end robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER); } catch (AWTException e) { printStackTraceToString(e); }

14 Answers
14

While creating chrome driver, use option to disable it.
Its working without any extensions.

Use following code snippet

ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions();
options.addArguments("chrome.switches","--disable-extensions");
System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver",(System.getProperty("user.dir") + "//src//test//resources//chromedriver_new.exe"));
driver = new ChromeDriver(options);


options.AddArgument("--disable-extensions");

options.AddArguments("chrome.switches", "--disable-extensions --disable-extensions-file-access-check --disable-extensions-http-throttling");

The official way to disable the popup seems to be like this:

Pack your extension (chrome://extensions/, tick at 'Developer mode', hit 'Pack extension...') and install it via drag-and-dropping the .crx file into the chrome://extensions page.

chrome://extensions/

.crx

chrome://extensions

(you'll get an "Unsupported extensions disabled" popup if you try restarting Chrome at this stage)

Then for Win7/8:

http://dl.google.com/dl/edgedl/chrome/policy/policy_templates.zip

[zip]windowsadmxchrome.admx

c:windowspolicydefinitions

[zip]windowsadmx[yourlanguage]chrome.adml

c:windowspolicydefinitions[yourlanguage]chrome.adml

c:windows[yourlanguage]

nmgnihglilniboicepgjclfiageofdfj

Start

Run

gpedit.msc

<ENTER>

User Configuration

Administrative Templates

Google Chrome

Extensions

Configure extension installation whitelist

Enabled

Show...

OK

That's it!

As of May 2015 Chrome beta/dev/canary on Windows (see lines 75-78) always display this warning.

I've just patched chrome.dll (dev channel, 32-bit) using hiew32 demo version: run it, switch to hex view (Enter key), search for ExtensionDeveloperModeWarning (F7) then press F6 to find the referring code, go to nearby INC EAX line, which is followed by RETN, press F3 to edit, type 90 instead of 40, which will be rendered as NOP (no-op), save (F9).

Simplified method found by @Gsx, which also works for 64-bit Chrome dev:

Enter

F7

F3

F9

patch.BAT script

patch.BAT

Of course this will last only until the next update so whoever needs it frequently might write an auto-patcher or a launcher that patches the dll in memory.

Hiew Demo doesn't support NE/LX/LE/NLM/ELF/PE64 files

Target not found

Can't be disabled. Quoting: "Sorry, we know it is annoying, but you the malware writers..."

Your only options are: adapt your automated tests to this new behavior, or upload the offending script to Chrome Web Store (which can be done in an "unlisted" fashion).

I was suffering from the same problem, and I tried the following:

A few things to note:

When I reopened Chrome, I got a popup that told me about the new packed extension, so I rebooted Chrome to see if it would do it again, and it did not.

I hope this solution worked!

(In reply to Antony Hatchkins)

This is the current, literally official way to set Chrome policies:
https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/187202?hl=en

The Windows and Linux templates, as well as common policy
documentation for all operating systems, can be found here:
https://dl.google.com/dl/edgedl/chrome/policy/policy_templates.zip (Zip file
of Google Chrome templates and documentation)

Instructions for Windows (with my additions):

Open the ADM or ADMX template you downloaded:

Once you're done with this, continue from step 5 of Antony Hatchkins' answer. After you have added the extension ID(s), you can check that the policy is working in Chrome by opening chrome://policy (search for ExtensionInstallWhitelist).

chrome://policy

The disable extensions setting did not work for me. Instead, I used the Robot class to click the Cancel button.

import java.awt.Robot;
import java.awt.event.InputEvent;

public class kiosk {
public static void main(String args) {
// As long as you don't move the Chrome window, the Cancel button should appear here.
int x = 410;
int y = 187;

try {
Thread.sleep(7000);// can also use robot.setAutoDelay(500);
Robot robot = new Robot();
robot.mouseMove(x, y);
robot.mousePress(InputEvent.BUTTON1_MASK);
robot.mouseRelease(InputEvent.BUTTON1_MASK);
Thread.sleep(3000);// can also use robot.setAutoDelay(500);
} catch (AWTException e) {
System.err.println("Error clicking Cancel.");
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}


For anyone using WebdriverIO, you can disable extensions by creating your client like this:

var driver = require('webdriverio');
var client = driver.remote({
desiredCapabilities: {
browserName: 'chrome',
chromeOptions: {
args: [
'disable-extensions'
]
}
}
});


1) Wait for the popup balloon to appear.

2) Open a new tab.

3) Close the a new tab. The popup will be gone from the original tab.

A small Chrome extension can automate these steps:

manifest.json

{
"name": "Open and close tab",
"description": "After Chrome starts, open and close a new tab.",
"version": "1.0",
"manifest_version": 2,
"permissions": ["tabs"],
"background": {
"scripts": ["background.js"],
"persistent": false
}
}


background.js

// This runs when Chrome starts up
chrome.runtime.onStartup.addListener(function() {

// Execute the inner function after a few seconds
setTimeout(function() {

// Open new tab
chrome.tabs.create({url: "about:blank"});

// Get tab ID of newly opened tab, then close the tab
chrome.tabs.query({'currentWindow': true}, function(tabs) {
var newTabId = tabs[1].id;
chrome.tabs.remove(newTabId);
});

}, 5000);

});


With this extension installed, launch Chrome and immediately switch apps before the popup appears... a few seconds later, the popup will be gone and you won't see it when you switch back to Chrome.

--enable-automation

Ruby based watir-webdriver use something like this:

browser=Watir::Browser.new( :chrome, :switches => %w[ --disable-extensions ] )


I'm not sure if this is still a problem for people or not. However, I read through this post and several others and finally played around with this and was able to make it work in C# using this code. I derived it all from this post and possible some posts linked to this post.

I hope this helps, it certainly solved my problems in C# console application.

Using version 52.0.2743.116 m of Chrome
Selenium 2.9 Server Driver

var chromeService = ChromeDriverService.CreateDefaultService(@"C:SeleniumInstalledServerDrivers");
var options = new ChromeOptions();

options.AddArgument("--disable-extensions");
IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(chromeService, options);

driver.Url = "http://www.google.com/";


For AngularJS and Protractor: (not explained anywhere else here)

Edit conf.js, add a capabilities section:

capabilities

exports.config = {
...
capabilities: {
'browserName': 'chrome',
'chromeOptions': {
// Prevent warning about dev tools, which breaks some tests, in Windows at least.
'args': ['--disable-extensions']
}
},


(based on this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/33113360/694469 about something a bit related but different)

Unfortunately I cant automate setting it to developer mode because of restrictions in width using the browser in iphone mode. I have found a dangerous workaround for now, install the dev channel version of chrome. It does not have the warning message, but im sure it will cause me more problems in the long run when problems are introduced. Still will hopefully give me a few days to find a workaround.

Restrict-AddIssueComment-EditIssue

Using selenium with Python, you start the driver with extensions disabled like this:

from selenium import webdriver
options = webdriver.chrome.options.Options()
options.add_argument("--disable-extensions")
driver = webdriver.Chrome(chrome_options=options)


The popup 'Disable developer mode extensions' will not pop up.

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