Google-chrome – How to install extensions in Chrome without a Google Account

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I am trying to install a free extension in Google Chrome, but whenever I click "Add To Chrome", I am asked to sign in to a Google account. This has never happened before, and I do not want to use an account just to install an extension. This problem is occurring for all extensions. How can I install extensions without signing in?

Best Answer

You now seem to need sign in to a Google account to install any extensions/add-ons from Chrome Web Store.

Sign in to Chrome. Sign in to get your bookmarks, history, and settings on all your devices.

But you can still install an extension without logging in to a Google account by doing the following:

  1. Find the ID for the extension you want to install. You can see it in the URL on in Chrome Web Store.

    For example Adblock Plus extension has an URL like: 

    https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock-plus/cfhdojbkjhnklbpkdaibdccddilifddb?hl=en-US

    The ID we want is the long string of random characters like cfhdojbkjhnklbpkdaibdccddilifddb in the URL above.

  2. Download the extension package, a .crx file.

    You can do this by using this URL with the <ID> part replaced by the ID from above:

    https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx?response=redirect&x=id%3D<ID>%26uc

    For the Adblock Plus .crx the URL would be:

    https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx?response=redirect&x=id%3Dcfhdojbkjhnklbpkdaibdccddilifddb%26uc

    You will get a warning about that extensions cannot be added from this site, but you can ignore that, the .crx will be downloaded anyway.

  3. Go to your extensions page in Google Chrome. You can find it in the Tools -> Extensions menu or by using the following URL:

    chrome://extensions

  4. Drag and drop the downloaded extension .crx file you just downloaded in to this window to install it.

    Drag and drop to install extension

And you're done.

You could also use helpers like Chrome Extension Downloader to download the .crx file.

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