Deploying Connect Extensions in Closed Environments

Locked-down or enterprise environments without access to the public internet generally require special steps to acquire and enable Connect web extensions. Depending on OS platform and browser, there are a number of methods for doing so.

Chrome

Method: Manual deployment Using Drag and Drop

Download the Connect extension CRX file from Connect download page.
Open chrome://extensions
Enable developer mode.
Drag-and-drop the CRX file into the chrome://extensions window to install.

Firefox

Method: Manual deployment

Download the Connect extension XPI file from Connect download page.
Open about:addons
From the menu, select Install Add-on From File.

Method: Deploying Aspera Connect add-on with custom build of Firefox

See Mozilla documentation:

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/Distribution_options/Add-ons_in_the_enterprise#Bundling_add-ons_with_a_custom_Firefox

Whitelisting the Chrome Extension

By default, all Chrome extensions are whitelisted. However, if your organization blacklists all extensions by policy, you can override the blacklist and allow the Connect extension to be installed by adding it to the whitelist.

https://www.chromium.org/administrators/policy-list-3#ExtensionInstallWhitelist

The instructional links below also include information on other extension-related policy settings that enable you to automatically install Chrome, force-install Chrome, and so on.

Note: These policies are intended strictly for configuring instances of Google Chrome internal to your organization. Use of these policies outside of your organization (for example, in a publicly distributed program) is considered malware and will likely be labeled as malware by Google and anti-virus vendors.

Provisioning Policy Using Chrome Policy Templates

Install Chrome policy templates: Detailed instructions can be found here:
```
 https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/187202?hl=en
```
Set Chrome extension policies. Detailed instructions can be found here:
```
https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/7517525
```
1. Create a file with the following contents in /etc/opt/chrome/policies/managed/test_policy.json:
```
{ 
    "ExtensionInstallWhitelist": ["kpoecbkildamnnchnlgoboipnblgikpn"] 
} 
```
2. Restart Chrome.
3. To verify that the policy has been applied, enter the following in the address bar:
```
chrome://policy
```