Google-chrome – Enable Chrome Extensions for all users

I've had measurable success with simply copy and pasting the chrome-extension_<extID>_0.localstorage and chrome-extension_<extID>_0.localstorage-journal files found at

Windows NT5:   %userProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage\
Windows NT6:   %localAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage\
OS X:          ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Local Storage/
Ubuntu:        ~/.config/google-chrome/Default/Local Storage/

from system to system, but, as it depends how the developer has chosen to store the configuration, it doesn't work 100% of the time.

This is called a search engine hijack. Chrome 25 is adding two new features to prevent silent extension installs. From the Chrome blog post:

Extensions installed by third party programs using external extension deployment options will be disabled by default. When a third party program installs an extension, the Chrome menu will be badged, and users can click through the Chrome menu to see a dialog containing an option to enable the extension or to remove it from their computer.

In addition, all extensions previously installed using external deployment options will be automatically disabled. Chrome will show a one-time prompt to allow the re-enabling of any of the extensions.

I don't know if this will block all search engine hijacks but it will go a long way to stopping a lot of them.

Steps to remove now that it is there:

• If you haven't upgraded to the latest version of Chrome do that first.
• Check your installed programs and remove anything you don'r recognize.
• Download an anti-spyware program and run that.
• Disable any Chrome extensions you don't recognize
• Remove the search engine and set the default back to Chrome.