As a Microsoft Windows administrator, you can use Google Update to manage how your users’ Chrome browser and Chrome apps are updated. You can manage Google Update settings using the Group Policy Management Editor.

You can see the values of Google Update policies set for a computer in the Chrome policy list at chrome://policy.

Note: Only domain-joined or MDM-managed computers honor policies set for the computer by Group Policy. Therefore, you must ensure that all your devices are joined to a Windows domain controller or Microsoft Entra ID domain, or are MDM-managed.

Step 1: Install Google Update

Get the Google Update policy template

Use an administrative template to install and define policies for Google Update. Microsoft Windows 7 and later supports both ADM and ADMX templates. Download the appropriate Google Update policy template for your Windows network:

Microsoft Windows Vista and later

  1. Download and unzip the administrative template XML-based (ADMX).
  2. Open the GoogleUpdateAdmx folder.
  3. Copy google.admx and GoogleUpdate.admx and put them in your Policy Definitions folder. (Example: C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions)
  4. In the GoogleUpdateAdmx/en-US folder, copy the google.adml and GoogleUpdate.adml files and put them in the en-US folder in Policy Definitions. (Example: C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions\en-US)
  5. Open Group Policy and go to Computer Configurationand thenPoliciesand thenAdministrative Templateand thenGoogleand thenGoogle Update to verify that the template loaded correctly.

Microsoft XP

  1. Download the administrative template (ADM).
  2. Copy the GoogleUpdate.adm file into the Policy Definitions folder. (Example: C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions)
  3. Open Group Policy and go to Computer Configurationand thenPoliciesand thenAdministrative Templateand thenGoogleand thenGoogle Update to verify that the template loaded correctly.

Step 2: Configure auto-updates

Turn on auto-updates (recommended)

Applies to Chrome browser and all apps managed by Google Update.

Using Group Policy

We recommend that you keep auto-updates turned on so that your users receive critical security fixes and new features as they become available.

In Group Policy (Computer Configuration folder):

  1. Go to Googleand thenGoogle Updateand thenApplications.
  2. Enable the Update policy override default policy.
  3. Under Options, choose Allow updates (recommended).
  4. Go to Googleand thenGoogle Updateand thenApplicationsand thenGoogle Chrome and repeat steps 2 and 3 to make sure auto-updates are also always allowed for Chrome browser.

You can optionally override this setting for an individual app by using the Update policy override policy in the specific app folder.

Turn off Chrome browser updates
Turn off all app updates
Turn off Chrome browser component updates (Optional)

Step 3: Customize updates

Schedule auto-updates outside of work hours
Pin Chrome browser updates to a specific version
Roll back Chrome browser to a previous version
Set Chrome browser to a specific release channel
Stagger updates to reduce bandwidth
Cache Chrome browser updates to reduce bandwidth

See all Google Update policies

Default policies (Preferences)
App policies

Troubleshoot

Create a log file
View common log entries
Verify policies are applied on devices

Questions

Where is Google Update installed?
How often are Google Update tasks performed?
What URLs are used for Chrome browser updates?
What URLs are used for extension updates?
What size are Chrome browser updates?
How often does Google Update check for updates?
What if users’ computers already have Chrome?

Known Issues

Chrome browser could fail to install due to anti-virus rules. During installation, the installer copies files to temporary directories and then moves those files to the appropriate installation folder. In rare cases, the move operation can fail when anti-virus is running.

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