2. Set policies

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  DevicesChromeSettings. The User & browser settings page opens by default.

   If you signed up for Chrome Enterprise Core, go to Menu  Chrome browserSettings.

3. (Optional) To apply the setting only to some users and enrolled browsers, at the side, select an organizational unit (often used for departments) or configuration group (advanced). Show me how

   Group settings override organizational units. Learn more

4. Go to Legacy Browser Support.
5. To open URLs in an alternative browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer:
   1. Click Legacy Browser Support.
   2. Select Enable Legacy Browser Support.
   3. Click Save. Or, you might click Override for an organizational unit.

      To later restore the inherited value, click Inherit (or Unset for a group).

6. (Optional) To open specific URLs in an alternative browser:
   1. Click Websites to open in alternative browser.
   2. Enter the URLs of pages to open in an alternative browser.
   3. Click Save.
7. (Optional) To use your Internet Explorer site list to specify which URLs open in Internet Explorer:
   1. Click Use Internet Explorer site list.
   2. Select Use Internet Explorer’s Sitelist policy as a source or rules.
   3. Click Save. Or, you might click Override for an organizational unit.

      To later restore the inherited value, click Inherit (or Unset for a group).

8. (Optional) To use an XML file to specify which URLs open in an alternative browser:
   1. Click Legacy Browser Support site list.
   2. Enter the URL of the XML file.
   3. Click Save. Or, you might click Override for an organizational unit.

      To later restore the inherited value, click Inherit (or Unset for a group).

Applies to Windows users who sign in to a managed account on Chrome browser.

1. Open Group Policy and go to Administrative TemplatesGoogleGoogle Chrome.
2. Turn on Enable the Legacy Browser Support feature.
3. (Optional) To open specific URLs in an alternative browser:
   1. Turn on Websites to open in alternative browser.
   2. Under Options, specify the URLs of pages to open in an alternative browser.
4. (Optional) To use your Internet Explorer site list to specify which URLs open in Internet Explorer, enable Use Internet Explorer's SiteList policy for Legacy Browser Support.
5. (Optional) To use an XML file to specify which URLs open in an alternative browser:
   1. Enable URL of an XML file that contains URLs to load in an alternative browser.
   2. Under Options, specify the URL of the XML file.

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  DevicesChromeSettings. The User & browser settings page opens by default.

   If you signed up for Chrome Enterprise Core, go to Menu  Chrome browserSettings.

3. (Optional) To apply the setting only to some users and enrolled browsers, at the side, select an organizational unit (often used for departments) or configuration group (advanced). Show me how

   Group settings override organizational units. Learn more

4. Go to Legacy Browser Support.
5. (Optional) To specify which browser to use as an alternative:
   1. Click Alternative browser path.
   2. Enter the location of the browser’s executable file. Or, use one of these variables:
      • ${ie}—Internet Explorer
      • ${edge}—Edge
      • ${chrome}—Chrome browser
      • ${firefox}— Firefox
      • ${opera}—Opera
      • ${safari}—Safari
   3. Click Save. Or, you might click Override for an organizational unit.

      To later restore the inherited value, click Inherit (or Unset for a group).

   (Optional) To pass parameters to the alternative browser:
   1. Click Alternative browser parameters.
   2. Enter the parameters that you want to pass on to the alternative browser’s executable file.
   3. Click Save.
6. (Optional, Windows only) Specify the Chrome browser file to use when returning from the alternative browser:
   1. Click Chrome path.
   2. Enter the location of the Chrome browser executable file. Or, use the variable ${chrome}.
   3. Click Save. Or, you might click Override for an organizational unit.

      To later restore the inherited value, click Inherit (or Unset for a group).

7. (Optional, Windows only) To pass command line arguments to Chrome browser:
   1. Click Chrome parameters.
   2. Enter the parameters to pass on to the Chrome browser executable file.
   3. Click Save.
8. (Optional) To allow URLs to open in either browser, such as a single sign-on (SSO) page:
   1. Click Websites to open in either browser.
   2. Enter the URLs that can open in both browsers and don't trigger a transition.
   3. Click Save. Or, you might click Override for an organizational unit.

      To later restore the inherited value, click Inherit (or Unset for a group).

   (Optional) To keep Chrome browser open after the last tab in the window switches to the alternative browser.
   1. Click Keep last Chrome tab.
   2. Select Keep at least one Chrome tab open.
   3. Click Save. Or, you might click Override for an organizational unit.

      To later restore the inherited value, click Inherit (or Unset for a group).

   (Optional) To use an XML file to specify which URLs do not trigger a browser switch:
   1. Click URL to list of websites to open in either browser.
   2. Enter the URL of the XML file.
   3. Click Save. Or, you might click Override for an organizational unit.

      To later restore the inherited value, click Inherit (or Unset for a group).

Applies to Windows users who sign in to a managed account on Chrome browser.

1. Open Group Policy and go to Administrative TemplatesGoogleGoogle Chrome.
2. (Optional) To specify which browser to use as an alternative:
   1. Turn on Alternative browser to launch for configured websites.
   2. Choose an option:
      • Under Options, specify the location of the browser’s executable file.​
      • Use one of these variables:
        • ${ie}—Internet Explorer
        • ${edge}—Edge
        • ${chrome}—Chrome browser
        • ${firefox}—Firefox
        • ${opera}—Opera
        • ${safari}—Safari
3. (Optional) To pass command line arguments to the alternative browser:
   1. Turn on Command-line parameters for the alternative browser.
   2. Under Options, specify the arguments to pass on to the alternative browser’s executable file.
4. (Optional) To specify the Chrome browser file to use when returning from the alternative browser:
   1. Turn on Path to Chrome for switching from the alternative browser.
   2. Under Options, specify the location of the Chrome browser executable file. Or, use the variable ${chrome}.
5. (Optional) To pass command line arguments to Chrome browser:
   1. Turn on Command-line parameters for switching from the alternative browser.
   2. Under Options, specify the arguments to pass on to the Chrome browser executable file.
6. (Optional) To allow URLs open in either browser, such as a single sign-on (SSO) page:
   1. Turn on Websites that should never trigger a browser switch.
   2. Under Options, list the URLs that can open in both browsers and don't trigger a transition.
7. (Optional) To use an XML file to specify which URLs do not trigger a browser switch:
   1. Enable URL of an XML file that contains URLs that should never trigger a browser switch.
   2. Under Options, specify the URL of the XML file.
8. (Optional) To make URL matching more strict, enable Sitelist parsing mode. Set the policy to 1=More compatible with Microsoft IE/Edge enterprise mode sitelists.
9. (Optional) To prevent Microsoft Edge redirection from interfering with LBS, set the Edge policy RedirectSitesFromInternetExplorerRedirectMode to 0.
   This prevents Edge from installing the IEToEdge add-on in Internet Explorer. This add-on tries to redirect the user from IE to Edge for some sites that are chosen by Microsoft. For details, see Microsoft's documentation for RedirectSitesFromInternetExplorerRedirectMode.

After you apply any Chrome policies, users need to restart Chrome browser for the settings to take effect. Check users’ devices to make sure the policy was applied correctly.

1. On a managed device, go to chrome://policy.
2. Click Reload policies.
3. Check the Show policies with no value set box.
4. For the policies that you set, make sure that:
   1. The status is set to OK.
   2. The policy values match what you set in the policy.

For Chrome 76 and later, you can check to see which browser opens specific URLs.

1. On a managed device, go to chrome://browser-switch/internals.
2. In the URL Checker box, enter the URL to see which browser opens it.
3. Under Sitelist, review the list to see which URLs open in the alternative browser.
4. Under Greylist, review the list to see which URLs open in either browser.

URL patterns described apply if BrowserSwitcherParsingMode policy is left unset or configured to 0=Default behavior for LBS.

There are three types of rules: hostname rules, prefix rules, and the wildcard rule. A rule of any type can be inverted by prepending a !.

• Hostname rules: the rule does not contain a /
  • The specified string can be present anywhere in the hostname. For example, the rule acme matches http://foo.acme.com/
• Prefix rules: the rule contains a /
  • These rules ignore port number. For example, the rule //example.com/ matches http://example.com:8000/
  • They do not match subdomains. For example, the rule //example.com/ does not match http://foo.example.com/
  • Some examples:
    • http://example.com/ (only HTTP)
    • //example.com/ (HTTP and HTTPS, and file://)
    • example.com/ (same as //example.com/)
    • example.com/something
• Wildcard rule: * (matches everything)
  • * (changes the default: all URLs open in IE)
  • in combination with this, you can use other rules, such as:
    • *
    • !google.com
    • !yahoo.com
  • *.example.com is NOT a valid rule, you can only use a * by itself
• Inverted rules: ! prefixed in front of a rule
  • Rules in the greylist cannot be negated (only the sitelist)
  • !google.com (all google.com URLs open in Chrome and NOT in the legacy browser)
  • !* (everything opens up in Chrome and NOT in the legacy browser; this effectively switches off LBS)

Important: If multiple rules match the same URL, then the longest rule is used to make the decision. Longest is determined by the rule's string length. This is particularly useful for negated rules.

You can specify URL lists using an XML file, just like Enterprise Mode IE, and they can use either the v1 schema or the v2 schema.

Since Chrome 100, the BrowserSwitcherParsingMode policy affects how Google Chrome interprets an XML file.

BrowserSwitcherParsingMode policy left unset or configured to 0=Default Behavior for LBS

• In v1 sitelists, the doNotTransition attribute means:
  • true: open in Google Chrome
  • Anything else or unspecified: open in the alternative browser

• In v2 sitelists, the <open-in> tag means:

  • IE11: open in the alternative browser
  • None: open in Google Chrome
  • Unspecified: open in Google Chrome
  • Anything else: open in the alternative browser

BrowserSwitcherParsingMode policy configured to 1=More compatible with Microsoft IE or Edge enterprise mode sitelists

• In v1 sitelists, the doNotTransition attribute means:
  • true: open in any browser
  • Anything else or unspecified: open in the alternative browser
• In v2 sitelists, the <open-in> tag means:
  • IE11: open in the alternative browser
  • None: open in any browser
  • MSEdge: open in Google Chrome
  • Chrome: open in Google Chrome
  • Anything else or unspecified: open in any browser

Users can browse most of the Internet with the browser they prefer, while still opening certain URLs with the browser that you specify. Negative entries in the URL list specify the pages that open in Chrome browser. Positive entries specify the pages that open in the alternative browser.

In the example, all URLs that contain example.com open in an alternate browser and all URLs that contain google open in Chrome browser. URLs that don't contain example.com or google can open in either browser.

URLs to trigger transition:

• !google
• example.com

URLs not to trigger transition:

• *

Rules are evaluated by their order of precision. So, mail.yahoo.com will be guaranteed to be evaluated before !yahoo.com.

All URLs are subject to proper normalization. This means that domain names are lowercase, whereas paths are preserved as specified. So,EXAMPLE.COM is the same as example.com but example.com/somefile is not the same as example.com/SOMEFILE.

This means that http://www is assumed to mean http://www/ and will not match any domain starting with www. To match domains by their prefixes only, use a specification such as www.