In this post I will walk through on how to install Chrome using Microsoft Intune. Packages / applications can be deployed in different ways as Microsoft support different kind of App type to deploy.

List of supported app types

Following are the list of App type supported with Windows 10 (hopefully should support windows 11 as well):

  • MSI – This format can be directly deployed through Intune console as Line-of-business (LOB)apps
  • .IntuneWin – Specifically used for exe files. We need to convert .exe format to .Intunewin file format using Microsoft Win32 Content Prep Tool which uses IntuneWinAppUtil.exe for the conversion.
  • Office C2R – To deploy Office 365 apps
  • LOB: APPX/MSIX – Another kind of LOB Apps
  • MSFB Offline – To deploy apps listed in Microsoft Store for Business, we need to download first and then create package in intune
  • MSFB Online – apps from Microsoft Store for Business can be directly deployed.
  • Web Apps
  • Store Link
  • Microsoft Edge

Not all App type are supported for each Windows 10 version MSi file is not supported for Home edition, while supports all other Windows 10 version ie. Pro, Business, Enterprise, Education, S-Mode etc

Link can be followed to see complete list of supported apps

Prequisites to Deploy App

Device must be registered / Azure Active Directory Joined and auto-enrolled.

Download Google Chrome browser standalone msi

To download Chrome browser, use the link.

Select Chrome bundle for Windows 64-bit, and download the bundle which will be in zip format.

Download Chrome browser

Extract GoogleChromeEnterpriseBundle64.zip

We will see multiple folders Configuration, Documentation, Installers. To install Google chrome browser, we are interested only for Installers folder which contains the standalone file ie. GoogleChromeStandaloneEnterprise64.msi

GoogleChromeStandaloneEnterprise64.msi

Create Application on Intune

Login to Microsoft Endpoint Manager Admin Center, navigate to Apps > Windows > Windows apps. Click Add.

Intune > Apps > Windows > Add

This is will open Select app type window, from drop down menu select Line-of-business app.

Select app type > Line-of-business app

This will show list of supported LOB apps such as apk, ipa, .intuneMac, .msi, .appx, .appxbundle, .msix, .msixbundle. We are good to go as we have msi format which is supported, click Select.

Line-of-business app

On App information page, select app package file. Click on folder icon to specify the location of chrome standalone msi file which we previously downloaded, and click OK.

Select app package file

Fields will be populated once msi file is selected. Specify the important options such as:

Name: Google Chrome Browser
Description: Google Chrome
Publisher: Google
App install context: Device (this is set to device only as the specific application doesn’t give option to select with user context)
Ignore app version: Yes (If the app has a setting for automatically updating it, we set this option)

Logo: select image file to get the logo. There are multiple places from where you can download the application icon. Few of them are:

  1. Download icons From github
  2. Microsoft intune Icons – Download 873 Free Microsoft intune icons here (iconarchive.com)

Click Next

App information

On Assignments page, we are going to deploy the app.  We can deploy to specific group, all users or all devices.

Required deployments is forcefully install on selected groups / devices. While Available deployments will make the application available in Company Portal which makes the application optional for user to install.

For demonstration purpose, let’s click Add all devices, click Next

Add App > Assignments

On Review + create page, verify the settings and click Create.

You might get message “Your app is not ready yet, if app content is uploading, wait for it to finish”

Your app is not ready yet

This is normal as the upload was not completed yet and it will be in progress.

Under Notification I can see the message Uploading Google Chrome Browser with percentage.

Uploading Google Chrome Browser

After waiting for couple of minutes, I got message the upload finished. Hence, application is ready and policy for deploy application has targeted to devices.

Notifications > Google Chrome Browser upload finished

Check Deployment Status – on Device

Login to the system, allow some time to sync the device. You can force the sync by navigating to Start Menu > Accounts > Access work or school, click on Info.

Access work or school > Info

On page Areas managed by <companyname>, under section Device sync status, click on Sync. Wait for some time till you see “The sync was successful” and we will see list the of applications listed which has been targeted.

ChromeInstallIntune 13
ChromeInstallIntune 14

After waiting for few minutes, we can see the Chrome browser installed successfully.

Installation status can be verified through logs, open c:\windows\temp\chrome_installer.log.

We can see the actual command line executed at backend:

[0924/130443.238:VERBOSE1:setup_main.cc(1449)] Command Line: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Update\Install\{BAAF5F52-8516-4FC8-A22D-36D958673D35}\CR_E85E9.tmp\setup.exe" --install-archive="C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Update\Install\{BAAF5F52-8516-4FC8-A22D-36D958673D35}\CR_E85E9.tmp\CHROME.PACKED.7Z" --do-not-launch-chrome --system-level /installerdata="C:\Windows\TEMP\gui96E0.tmp"
[0924/130448.879:VERBOSE1:setup_main.cc(1648)] Installation complete, returning: 0
chrome_installer.log

With return code 0, hence application install succeeded.

Check Deployment Status – Intune Portal

We are going to check deployment status of application on Intune Portal.

On MEM Admin Center, under Windows apps, click on Google Chrome Browser.

Windows apps

On Overview page, this gives the status in graphical format, 1 device is showing as Install Pending, seems like devices hasn’t send the installation status. Once done, it will be displayed under Installed.

Apps > Windows > Overview

Click on Device install status, we will be able to see list of devices with installation status shown.

Device install status

Use Links:

Windows 10 app deployment by using Microsoft Intune | Microsoft Docs

GitHub – microsoft/Microsoft-Win32-Content-Prep-Tool: A tool to wrap Win32 App and then it can be uploaded to Intune