How do I get Java plugin working on Google Chrome?

Google has updated its Chrome browser to version 35. This new version uses Aura in place of GTK2 and no longer supports NPAPI plugins like Java (both OpenJDK and Oracle). PPAPI plugins like PepperFlash still work.

My school uses Google Chrome and Google apps every day and this looks like a potentially big problem for some of the educational websites we use. Has anyone run into a solution or workaround to get Java working?

This WEB UPD8 article confirms that Java does not work.

Solution 1:

You cannot get Java to work on Chrome 35. Its because of the removal of the older plugin NPAPI. I have raised a bug report. Awaiting a proper response from the devs. The bug report is here: https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=375909. You can try and follow the thread for this discussion here: https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/chromium-dev/xEbgvWE7wMk

UPDATE Looks like we are going to be stuck here for quite a while. My bug report was merged into the parent bug and it's been set as won't fix. Here it is : https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=363053

UPDATE2 A relevant question was posted to Oracle. Not much traction. You guys can start a discussion on that thread. Go here: https://community.oracle.com/thread/3511913

To all of you: To keep Chrome functioning, please downgrade your GOogle Chrome to 34. You can download the deb here: http://mirror.pcbeta.com/google/chrome/deb/pool/main/g/google-chrome-stable/. Then use synaptic package manager or use the commandline to lock upgrades for google-chrome-stable package. Chrome 34 doesn't have any glaring bugs, so you can use it safely for the next 3 months. I am hoping by that time some patch will be added.

Solution 2:

You CAN get Java to work on Chrome, or at least enable the NPAPI plug-in for it... temporarily. The option is being removed altogether in Chrome 45. (Currently we are at 43, estimate is September 2015.)

Note that enabling NPAPI doesn't necessarily mean the Java Applet will work... I tried it with one and it didn't. This likely is due to having the latest Java installed, which pretty much locks down any web access anyways. Which is a shame, since so many nifty Java-enhanced web services had been created (such as http://www.freerouting.net/ .)

In any case, the option to enable NPAPI is located by browsing to:

chrome://flags/#enable-npapi

Again, your mileage may vary (YMMV.)