Earlier this week, Google released Chrome 140 to the public channel, and with it, the company made it harder to run Manifest V2-based browser extensions. The ability to restore MV2 extensions using several experimental flags is no longer available, as Google removed the corresponding extensions. However, those who want to stick to uBlock Origin can still install the extensions (and other MV2 projects). Here is how.
Previously, installing uBlock Origin on Chrome relied on unexpiring M137 or M138 flags. Once that was done, Chrome allowed turning on Manifest V2 extensions using a bunch of other flags. Now, Chrome does not allow unexpiring those flags. As such, the only way to make uBlock Origin work is to modify the browser"s shortcut.
- Create a Chrome shortcut on your desktop or in the Start menu.
- Right-click the shortcut and select "Properties."
- Click the "Target" box, place one space and paste the following:
--disable-features=ExtensionManifestV2Unsupported,ExtensionManifestV2Disabled - Save the shortcut and launch the browser.
- Now, you can turn on uBlock Origin or download it once again from the Chrome Web Store using this link.
Installing uBlock Origin using the "Load Unpacked" feature (method 2 in this article) still works, but before using it, you need to enable the "Temporarily unexpire M139 flags" flag on Chrome 140 or the "Temporarily unexpire M140 flags" flag on Chrome 141.
Keep in mind that these remain temporary workarounds. Future Chrome updates will keep making it harder to run Manifest V2 extensions until it is no longer possible. As such, while you have workarounds, you have to plan your exit strategy and either move to a browser that still supports MV2 (Firefox, for example, or Opera) or a Manifest V3-based content blocker, such as uBlock Origin Lite.
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