Google Chrome Homepage Set and Not Prevent the User from Changing It

[Genesys-AJ]

Hey all,

Just wanted to bring this up — generally, our Chrome settings configured via a configuration profile are working as expected. However, we now have a requirement to allow users to change their homepage, which isn't possible with the current enforced config profile setup.

I've tested a few different methods, including manipulating Chrome’s ExternalPolicyDefaults.json, but haven’t had success getting the homepage to remain changeable by the user.

The only method that partly worked was using an XML-based configuration like the one below. This does set the homepage and opens a second empty tab, but unfortunately, it still locks the settings, preventing user modifications:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<!-- Set Chrome to open specific URLs at launch -->
<key>RestoreOnStartup</key>
<integer>4</integer> <!-- 4 = Open a list of URLs -->

<!-- List of URLs to open -->
<key>RestoreOnStartupURLs</key>
<array>
<string>https://yourhomepage</string>
<string>chrome://newtab</string>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>

Has anyone found a way to meet all of the following criteria?

• Set a default homepage (e.g., company portal)

• Open a second empty tab (chrome://newtab) at launch

• Allow users to change or remove these settings later

There are a few threads on Jamf Nation about this, but I haven’t seen a solution that satisfies all three conditions. Would love to hear if anyone has found a reliable approach.

Thanks!

[XuHao]

The configuration information in Chrome clearly indicates that setting a homepage means users will not be able to modify the homepage address directly.

[XuHao]

Reference Address

[AJPinto]

Looks like your question has already been answered, but I wanted to provide a tip. If you open Chrome and go to chrome://policy/ you can click Show policies with no value set to see all the policies you are applying to Chrome and all the policies that can be applied to Chrome. This is a good way to see what you may be missing in your configuration, it also tells you if a policy is errored (i.e. configured wrong). This works for all chromium browsers, like edge://policy.

[pete_c]

Note that "Reload Policy" may or may not cause all defined keys to take effect - drove me bonkers when trying to apply hardening to Edge, at least, so maybe Chrome isn't afflicted.