Setting Google Chrome as Default Browser (Windows 10/Server 2016) using Group Policy
Let’s learn how to set Google Chrome as the default browser for all users using Microsoft Group Policy!
I’m not sure why this has become less straightforward as it was in the past on previous iterations of Windows, maybe it’s me? Maybe not. I found many different posts across the internet of people recommending different things, all of which inconsistently accomplished setting Google Chrome as the default browser. On the small possibility that it’s not my ignorance in question here, I wanted to just very briefly document this to help someone else.
On Windows 10/Server 2016, in order to properly set Chrome as the default browser, follow these steps:
1. Create a DefaultFileAssociations.xml
This .xml file is what’s responsible for defining your default file associations.
- Create the file based on your existing configuration using the following command in an elevated command prompt:
Dism.exe /Image:C:\test\offline /Import-DefaultAppAssociations:C:\NickDefaultFileAssociations.xml
OR use create a blank file with an xml extension and use the following content. I’ve highlighted in bold the specific content that pertains to this chrome default excercise:<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<DefaultAssociations>
<Association Identifier=".3g2" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.3G2" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".3gp" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.3GP" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".3gp2" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.3G2" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".3gpp" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.3GP" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".aac" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.ADTS" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".adt" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.ADTS" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".adts" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.ADTS" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".avi" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.AVI" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".bmp" ProgId="PBrush" ApplicationName="Paint" />
<Association Identifier=".dib" ProgId="PBrush" ApplicationName="Paint" />
<Association Identifier=".flac" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.FLAC" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".gif" ProgId="PBrush" ApplicationName="Paint" />
<Association Identifier=".htm" ProgId="ChromeHTML" ApplicationName="Google Chrome" />
<Association Identifier=".html" ProgId="ChromeHTML" ApplicationName="Google Chrome" />
<Association Identifier="http" ProgId="ChromeHTML" ApplicationName="Google Chrome" />
<Association Identifier="https" ProgId="ChromeHTML" ApplicationName="Google Chrome" />
<Association Identifier=".jfif" ProgId="PBrush" ApplicationName="Paint" />
<Association Identifier=".jpe" ProgId="PBrush" ApplicationName="Paint" />
<Association Identifier=".jpeg" ProgId="PBrush" ApplicationName="Paint" />
<Association Identifier=".jpg" ProgId="PBrush" ApplicationName="Paint" />
<Association Identifier=".m2t" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.M2TS" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".m2ts" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.M2TS" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".m3u" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.m3u" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".m4a" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.M4A" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".m4v" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.MP4" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".mkv" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.MKV" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".mod" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.MPEG" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".mov" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.MOV" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".MP2" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.MP3" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".mp3" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.MP3" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".mp4" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.MP4" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".mp4v" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.MP4" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".mpa" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.MPEG" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".MPE" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.MPEG" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".mpeg" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.MPEG" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".mpg" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.MPEG" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".mpv2" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.MPEG" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".mts" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.M2TS" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".png" ProgId="PBrush" ApplicationName="Paint" />
<Association Identifier=".tif" ProgId="PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Tiff" ApplicationName="Windows Photo Viewer" />
<Association Identifier=".tiff" ProgId="PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Tiff" ApplicationName="Windows Photo Viewer" />
<Association Identifier=".TS" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.TTS" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".TTS" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.TTS" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".txt" ProgId="txtfile" ApplicationName="Notepad" />
<Association Identifier=".url" ProgId="IE.AssocFile.URL" ApplicationName="Internet Browser" />
<Association Identifier=".wav" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.WAV" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".website" ProgId="IE.AssocFile.WEBSITE" ApplicationName="Internet Explorer" />
<Association Identifier=".wm" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.ASF" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".wma" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.WMA" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".wmv" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.WMV" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
<Association Identifier=".WPL" ProgId="WMP11.AssocFile.WPL" ApplicationName="Windows Media Player" />
</DefaultAssociations> - Place file in a unified location that is accessible by all computers you plan on applying the policy to. The best case is typically using the SYSVOL directory in the specific group policy folder. In the lab I built, this location is: \\cr.lab\SYSVOL\CR.LAB\Policies{33913F07-3E77-4699-8C20-0CF179C9C5B9}\Machine
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2. Create a GPO to apply XML
- Open the GPMC console, and create or edit an existing Computer group policy that’s applied to your target machines (double check that security filtering is correct).
- Go to Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Template > Windows Components > File Explorer, and double-click Set a default associations configuration file.
- Set to Enabled
- Give it the path you’ve defined when creating the file. In our lab example, the file location is: \\cr.lab\SYSVOL\CR.LAB\Policies{33913F07-3E77-4699-8C20-0CF179C9C5B9}\Machine
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3. Logoff/reboot and make sure new group policy is applied.
If it works correctly, users should, without interaction or without even a first-run of Chrome, be assigned Chrome as their default browser.
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Some other additional tips:
- Use Chrome For Enterprise here: https://cloud.google.com/chrome-enterprise/browser/download/
- Chrome for Enterprise will work with their GPO templates.
- Chrome for Enterprise will automatically install for all users into the machine side configuration (.\ProgramFiles,etc) instead of AppData
- If a user already has Chrome personal installed, if Chrome Enterprise is installed, Chrome personal ed. will automatically uninstall.
- If deploying Chrome centrally, here is Google’s formal deployment guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iu6I0MhyrvyS5h5re5ai8RSVO2sYx2gWI4Zk4Tp6fgc/edit#