Important Information about the Smoothwall Connect for Chromebooks Chrome extension

This article applies to organisations with a 'Hybrid' setup (both On-Premise Appliance and Cloud), as well as On-Premise only and Cloud only setups.

 

This article is for IT support at organisations using the Smoothwall Connect for Chromebooks Chrome extension alongside Smoothwall On-Premise Appliance.

 

The Smoothwall Connect for Chromebooks Chrome extension is reaching the end of its supported life. If your organisation uses Connect for Chromebooks, you need to contact your Customer Success Manager as soon as possible to discuss moving to Cloud Filter.

What’s happening?

You used to be able to use the Connect for Chromebooks extension to automatically use the username they log into the device with to authenticate users for the On Premise Appliance.

Google will end support for the Manifest V2 (MV2) framework with the release of Chrome 127. This means Connect for Chromebook will not run on devices with Chrome 127 onwards. Without Connect for Chromebooks, your Smoothwall Appliance can only apply policies for unauthenticated users to your devices. Instead, your Chromebooks should use Cloud Filter.

How do we use Cloud Filter?

Cloud Filter is the cloud equivalent to the Smoothwall On-Premise Appliance Filter. It offers improved reliability, simpler installation and authentication, and removes single points of failure.

Once you move to Cloud Filter, you no longer need an additional extension because Cloud Filter authenticates the user with the logged-in Google Account. It also provides filtering on the device, even when offsite.

  • If you already have access to Cloud Filter, log in.
  • If you can’t log in but believe you should have access, contact the Smoothwall Administrator in your organisation.
  • If you don’t have Cloud Filter, you need to contact your Customer Success Manager. They can help you review your options and move to Cloud Filter.

What if we can’t move to Cloud Filter?

If your Customer Success Manager has confirmed you can’t move to Cloud Filter right away, you can temporarily use the Manifest V2 Extension.

 

Important: Google will depreciate MV2 in June 2025, so you will need to to Cloud Filter before then to continue to be able to authenticate your Chromebook users.

 

To turn on Manifest V2 Extension Availability in your Google Admin Console:

  1. Sign in to Google Admin with your school’s Google Super Administrator account.
  2. Go to Devices > Chrome > Settings > Users & browser settings.
  3. Select your top-level Organisational Unit (OU).
  4. Select the policy Manifest V2 extension availability.
  5. Select Enable manifest V2 extensions from the default browser behaviour dropdown.
  6. Select Save.

Select Manifest V2 extension availability in Google Admin.png

Image 1: Select Manifest V2 extension availability in Google Admin

 

Select Enable manifest V2 extensions.png

Image 2: Select Enable manifest V2 extensions