Need make Google Chrome the default browser

Content Authoring
1

Hi All,
Can anyone suggest the best way to make Google Chrome the default browser using BigFix, without using any third-party tools?
I’m looking for guidance or a native solution that works on Windows 10/11 and can be deployed across multiple endpoints through BigFix.

Thanks in advance!

2

Try this …

action uses wow64 redirection false

delete __createfile
createfile until XMLEnd
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<DefaultAssociations>
  <Association Identifier=".htm" ProgId="ChromeHTML" ApplicationName="Google Chrome"/>
  <Association Identifier=".html" ProgId="ChromeHTML" ApplicationName="Google Chrome"/>
  <Association Identifier="http" ProgId="ChromeHTML" ApplicationName="Google Chrome"/>
  <Association Identifier="https" ProgId="ChromeHTML" ApplicationName="Google Chrome"/>
  <Association Identifier="mailto" ProgId="ChromeHTML" ApplicationName="Google Chrome"/>
</DefaultAssociations>
XMLEnd
delete "{native system folder}\BrowserChromeAssoc.xml"
copy __createfile {native system folder}\BrowserChromeAssoc.xml
3

It has run successfully. however, it does not meet the expectations we had. I have attached the output from the Fixlet Debugger.

Fixlet Debugger Output
STATUS: Running action…
Wow64 redirection disabled. action uses wow64 redirection false
Command succeeded delete __createfile
Command succeeded createfile until
Command succeeded delete No ‘C:\Temp\SDTPDeploy\New folder\BrowserChromeAssoc.xml’ exists to delete, no failure reported
Command succeeded copy __createfile “C:\Temp\SDTPDeploy\New folder\BrowserChromeAssoc.xml”
Command started - waithidden cmd.exe /C Dism.exe /Online /Import-DefaultAppAssociations:“C:\Temp\SDTPDeploy\New folder\BrowserChromeAssoc.xml”
Command succeeded (Exit Code=0) waithidden cmd.exe /C Dism.exe /Online /Import-DefaultAppAssociations:“C:\Temp\SDTPDeploy\New folder\BrowserChromeAssoc.xml”

— Result —
Evaluation completed successfully!

Verified Status for default browser
.htm => Not Set
.html => Not Set
http => MSEdgeHTM
https => MSEdgeHTM

4

Changing the default browser via script is blocked in Windows 10/11, due to large number of exploits that changed browsers.
The only methods I’ve seen that work are to use MDM (like BigFix MCM plugin), Group Policy (you can search here and at bigfix.me for actions that use LGPO.exe to apply Local Group Policy), or scripts that use SendKeys() to simulate the user clicking on the buttons to change the browser.

1 Like