DThis is a three-part article about web browsers in a Multi-user system such as Citrix Server VDA or Remote Desktop Services (RDS). This article explains how to deploy and configure web browsers so that they function as smoothly as possible in these environments. The most common browsers I encounter at client sites are Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and so this is a three-part article.
Please keep in mind that things may vary between browser versions, so you should test with each version.
This is the Part Two via Google Chrome.
Note
This article is about deploying and configuring web browsers in multi-user environments, not about whether the browser is the best, fastest, coolest, or whatever.
About Google Chrome
Google offers a range of online services, so optimizing Chrome for them makes sense and may be the reason why Chrome is used. Google Chrome comes in two editions: Work and Enterprise. The latter is the one businesses want, and here is the link to it https://www.google.de/chrome/business/browser/admin Google Chrome can also be configured using Microsoft Group Policy, which is always a plus for me. The current Group Policy templates can be found at the following URL http://dl.google.com/dl/edgedl/chrome/policy/policy_templates.zip Always make sure to use the same versions of Group Policy and Chrome. Google frequently makes minor changes to Chrome—and not necessarily for the better—so you can never be entirely sure what will still work after an update. In addition, some features seem to stop working, and for me, it was the master_preferences File. The main drawback for me is that Avatar/Profile/Account Icon which could be removed in previous versions but can no longer be done in the current versions. Another problem is that Chrome can cause user profiles to become extremely bloated, thereby Registration times lasting several minutes may take some time.
Google Chrome – Avatar Icon
Deployment
Google Chrome Enterprise is available as an MSI file googlechromestandaloneenterprise.msi and can therefore be installed using the standard MSI parameters. There is an additional Chrome option that should be set, and it is NOGOOGLEUPDATEPING=1
The command line for an unattended installation:MSIEXEC.EXE /I "%CURRPATH%\GoogleChromeStandaloneEnterprise.msi" NOGOOGLEUPDATEPING=1 /q /norestart
Google installs update services, which can also be removed later via the command line.
sc stop gupdatesc delete gupdatesc stop gupdatemsc delete gupdatem
If the master_preferences file ever works, it must be copied to the target installation directory after the installation is complete.
Configuration
There are several options for configuring Chrome in addition to Group Policy: a) command-line parameters, b) Chrome flags, and c) the master_preferences file. Chrome flags are for manual changes, and the master_preferences file should set these automatically. Group policies and command-line parameters are the combination you need to configure Chrome the way you want.
The parameters are: –no-first-run and –disable-gpu and disables the initialization dialog and GPU usage when a virtual system is selected.
The command line to launch Chrome"C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --no-first-run --disable-gpu
Chrome stores a vast amount of data in the user's data directory, which is located by default in the AppData folder of the user profile. I recommend redirecting the folder to a network folder, such as the home folder (Home Drive), since a separate folder is required for each user. Of course, this can lead to performance or other issues (network errors), but a decision must be made here between login time and performance. So far, customers have not reported any problems with redirecting the folder to the network.
NOTE: I recommend absolutely not Redirecting the entire AppData directory! This can lead to a number of problems!
Here a few important Chrome Group Policy
- Setting the location for Chrome user data
- Disabling hardware graphics acceleration (again)
- To launch Chrome with a specific page, you need to set two policies: Start URL and Start Action
To see which policies have been set and are active in Chrome, use the following URL in Chrome chrome://policy
Deployment Package
All the files needed for Google Chrome deployment are available for download in a single package here
Summary
It's easy to install, and configuration isn't difficult either. Google should allow users to remove the avatar, and things should just work out of the box. When Chrome starts up, several Chrome processes become active at once and use up quite a bit of RAM, but other than that, there are no issues. If a company uses Google web services, then Google Chrome is definitely the right choice.
