Chrome : Install extension(crx) manually doesn't work anymore

Question

We built a chrome extension to be used only inside our company by selective people. We do not want to publish this on chrome web store. We could do this before by just drag & drop the crx file in the extensions page.

But in the latest version of chrome(i use 35.x), we are not able to do this anymore. Whenever we try to install the crx file, chrome automatically disables it and shows a message

"This extension is not listed in the Chrome Web Store and may have been added without your knowledge"

with a link to https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/2811969 where it says

"You're seeing this notification because one or more of your Chrome extensions has been turned off to make Chrome safer. The extensions didn't come from the Chrome Web Store or were installed without your permission."

So, Does this mean we can never install crx file from now on? No workaround?

I know we can install using Group Policy method, but is that the only way we can do this?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Yes, this has been disabled as a protection against malware.

The only workarounds I'm aware of are:

• turn on Developer Mode and have users install as an unpacked extension after unzipping the CRX
• publish unlisted or to a Google Group: https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/2663860?hl=en