How to install extensions in Chrome without a Google Account?

I am trying to install a free extension in Google Chrome, but whenever I click "Add To Chrome", I am asked to sign in to a Google account. This has never happened before, and I do not want to use an account just to install an extension. This problem is occurring for all extensions. How can I install extensions without signing in?

Solution 1:

You now seem to need sign in to a Google account to install any extensions/add-ons from Chrome Web Store.

But you can still install an extension without logging in to a Google account by doing the following:

1. Find the ID for the extension you want to install. You can see it in the URL on in Chrome Web Store.

   For example Adblock Plus extension has an URL like:

   https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock-plus/cfhdojbkjhnklbpkdaibdccddilifddb?hl=en-US
   

   The ID we want is the long string of random characters like cfhdojbkjhnklbpkdaibdccddilifddb in the URL above.

2. Download the extension package, a .crx file.

   You can do this by using this URL with the <ID> part replaced by the ID from above:

   https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx?response=redirect&x=id%3D<ID>%26uc
   

   For the Adblock Plus .crx the URL would be:

   https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx?response=redirect&x=id%3Dcfhdojbkjhnklbpkdaibdccddilifddb%26uc
   

   You will get a warning about that extensions cannot be added from this site, but you can ignore that, the .crx will be downloaded anyway.

3. Go to your extensions page in Google Chrome. You can find it in the Tools -> Extensions menu or by using the following URL:

   chrome://extensions
   

4. Drag and drop the downloaded extension .crx file you just downloaded in to this window to install it.

   

And you're done.

You could also use helpers like Chrome Extension Downloader to download the .crx file.

Solution 2:

Here is the announcement about locking installation of Chrome extensions so that they can only be installed via the chrome store: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/d35tIyH8dVM%5B1-25-false%5D

They also say:

What if I want to run non-web store extensions? Advanced users can continue to use our Dev & Canary channels to run any extension. Please note that these channels are updated very regularly, and may contain features and bug fixes that are actively being developed.

The easiest way around is to just not use the Chrome Web Store, or just don't use Chrome.

Chrome is completely useless for me if I can't install extensions. I will not create a google account just so I can download from the chrome store. This looks much more like forcing millions of Chrome users to create google accounts than actually do anything about security.