Google Chrome Management: Transitioning to 64-bit with PowerShell

Google Chrome Enterprise 64 bit was officially released on August 26, 2014, but large enterprise environments still have the 32-bit version floating around. This is because one of the key features of Chrome Enterprise is its ability to automatically update itself in the background without requiring any user intervention. Still, transitioning to Google Chrome Enterprise 64-bit version offers numerous advantages for security-minded companies. Some advantages are:

• Increased Memory Addressability
• Improved Performance
• Better Security
• Compatibility with Modern Software
• Futureproofing

Chrome 64 bit not Superseding

Encountering an issue with Google Chrome Enterprise’s 64-bit version failing to supersede the 32-bit one prompted me to seek a solution. Leveraging the combined capabilities of PowerShell and Intune, I successfully resolved the dilemma. In this tutorial, I’ll outline my approach. While I’ve packaged the solution as a Win32 app, feel free to adapt it to suit your needs, whether for a remediation script or alternative deployment method.

Uninstall 32 bit Chrome Using PowerShell

Fist let’s start by creating an Uninstall-Chrome32 function:

This function is aimed at uninstalling 32-bit Google Chrome. It checks for its existence, retrieves Chrome’s product code, and attempts to uninstall it using WMI. If successful, it removes associated shortcuts. If unsuccessful or if WMI query fails, it logs a warning and returns false.

$logFile = "$env:ProgramData\Microsoft\IntuneManagementExtension\Logs\Chrome64Install$(get-date -f "yyyyMMdd").log"
Start-Transcript -Path $logFile -Force

function Uninstall-Chrome32 {
    $chrome32Path = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe"

    # GUARD FOR UNINSTALL
    if( -not (test-path $chrome32Path) ){
        Write-Output "Chrome (x32) doesn't exist"
        return $true
    }

    Write-Output "$($env:COMPUTERNAME) Chrome 32 Exists -- $chrome32Path -- Version $((Get-Command $chrome32Path).FileVersionInfo.FileVersion)";

    # retrieve the Google Chrome Product Code to Uninstall
    $wmiInstance = Get-CimInstance -Query "SELECT * from Win32_Product WHERE name = 'Google Chrome'"
    
    # if there are two associated objects with the app, something is still wrong probably in the registry, so return false
    if($wmiInstance.GetType().isArray){ return $false }

    # instance returns an object
    if($null -ne $wmiInstance){

        write-output "Uninstalling Chrome x32"
        try{  
            $p1 = Start-Process msiexec.exe -ArgumentList "/x", $wmiInstance.IdentifyingNumber, "/qn" -Wait -PassThru
            $p1.WaitForExit()

            if( $p1.HasExited -and ($p1.ExitCode -eq 0) -and -not (test-path $chrome32Path) ){
                Write-Output "$($env:COMPUTERNAME) -- Google Chrome x32 has been uninstalled"
                get-item "C:\users\*\OneDrive - Pennoni\Desktop\Google Chrome.lnk" | remove-item -force | Out-Null
                return $true
            }
            # if the process failed. return false
        }catch{ Write-Output "Process failure"; return $false }
    }
    # if the wmiinstance was null or the code reached this point return false
    Write-Output "WARN -- WMI QUERY FAILED WITH VALUE OF NULL"; return $false
}

Install Google Chrome (x64)

Now let’s create a function named Install-Chrome64 that installs Chrome Enterprise 64-bit. I used a web request to download the MSI but you can manually download it and use the Microsoft-Win32-Content-Prep-tool to package it.

function Install-Chrome64{
    $chrome64Path = "C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe"

    # GUARD FOR REINSTALL
    if(test-path $chrome64Path){
        Write-Output "Chrome (x64) exist"
        return $true
    }

    $fileName = "googlechromestandaloneenterprise64.msi"
    $uri = "https://dl.google.com/tag/s/appguid%3D%7B8A69D345-D564-463C-AFF1-A69D9E530F96%7D%26iid%3D%7BD824B8BA-BF17-7279-79CE-F8877F2FB71A%7D%26lang%3Den%26browser%3D5%26usagestats%3D0%26appname%3DGoogle%2520Chrome%26needsadmin%3Dtrue%26ap%3Dx64-stable-statsdef_0%26brand%3DGCGK/dl/chrome/install/googlechromestandaloneenterprise64.msi"
    # download the updated MSI file
    try{
        Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $uri -OutFile $fileName -ErrorAction Stop
    }catch{
        Write-Output "Failed to download $fileName"; return $false
    }
    # start the process to install it and wait for it to exit, checking the exitcode
    $p = Start-Process msiexec.exe -ArgumentList "/i",$fileName,"/qn" -Wait -PassThru -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    $p.WaitForExit()

    if($p.HasExited -and ($p.ExitCode -eq 0)){
        # test the path to be sure it installed
        if(test-path $chrome64Path){
            Write-Output "$($env:COMPUTERNAME) -- Google Chrome x64 has been installed"
            remove-item $fileName -Force | Out-Null
            return $true
        }
    }
    return $false
}

Now we us this function to check if Chrome (x64) is already installed. If not, it downloads the installer, executes it silently, and verifies installation success. If successful, it logs the installation and removes the installer file. If any step fails, it returns false.

Finally, we call the functions and validate they succeeded by using the boolean return values:

$remove32 = Uninstall-Chrome32
if($remove32){
    Write-Output "INFO -- GOOGLE CHROME 32 UNINSTALLED SUCCESSFULLY"

    $install64 = Install-Chrome64
    if($install64){
        Write-Output "INFO -- GOOGLE CHROME 64 INSTALLED SUCCESSFULLY"
    }else{
        Write-Output "WARN -- GOOGLE CHROME 64 FAILED TO INSTALL"
    }
}else{
    Write-Output "WARN -- GOOGLE CHROME 32 FAILED TO UNINSTALL"
}

Stop-Transcript

Conclusion

The script first attempts to uninstall Google Chrome 32-bit. If successful, it logs the uninstallation and proceeds to install Chrome 64-bit. It logs success or failure of the installation accordingly. If the 32-bit uninstallation fails, it logs a warning. Finally, it stops the transcript logging.

Although this isn’t a perfect solution, it does work for certain environments. Please leave a comment with any feedback or maybe share your own solution to this problem.