How to keep using adblockers on chrome and chromium

manifest-v2-chrome.md

How to keep using adblockers on chrome and chromium

1. google's manifest v3 has no analouge to the webRequestBlocking API, which is neccesary for (effective) adblockers to work
2. starting in chrome version 127, the transition to mv3 will start cutting off the use of mv2 extensions alltogether
3. this will inevitably piss of enterprises when their extensions don't work, so the ExtensionManifestV2Availability key was added and will presumably stay forever after enterprises complain enough

You can use this as a regular user, which will let you keep your mv2 extensions even after they're supposed to stop working

Linux

In a terminal, run:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/opt/chrome/policies/managed /etc/opt/chromium/policies/managed
echo '{ "ExtensionManifestV2Availability": 2 }' | sudo tee /etc/opt/chrome/policies/managed/policy.json /etc/opt/chromium/policies/managed/policy.json

ChromeOS

• enable developer mode
• upon rebooting, go into vt2 (shift+ctrl+right arrow function key)
• log in as root
• type in /usr/libexec/debugd/helpers/dev_features_rootfs_verification && reboot
• upon rebooting, go into vt2 again and log in as root
• run the commands from the linux section

Windows

Open regedit, and create Software\Policies\Google\Chrome\ExtensionManifestV2Availability in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE as a dword set to 0x00000002

MacOS

In a terminal, run: defaults write com.google.Chrome ExtensionManifestV2Availability 2

(note that i haven't tested this for mac. please let me know if it doesn't work)

Probably worth updating the Windows instructions to clarify that key goes under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, since the current phrasing leaves its ambiguous whether it's HKLM, HKCU, or a secret third thing.

Does the Windows reg key also work for Opera GX? Or would that need a different key?

Windows 11 here, there is no google in my HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Software\Policies\

Edit: I managed to make the keys/folders uptil Software\Policies\Google\Chrome\ and then tried to make the dword ExtensionManifestV2Availability but the dword does not seem to be able to accept 0x00000002

Edit 2: I removed the 0x and only put in 00000002 and it seems to have worked.

So basically if you dont have those folders make them yourself they are called keys in the new menu and then when you get to \chrome make a dword called ExtensionManifestV2Availability and set it to 00000002.

Please let me know if anything I did here is wrong. Thanks a lot for the guide!

@trekshcool You can also save the .reg file I put as the first comment. Double-clicking it will prompt to add the key.

@Leah96xxx Opera does not currently require a flag for override. I've updated my comment to include a link to the keys for other browsers.