How to Effectively Block Chrome Extensions

Prevent content filtering from being bypassed by blocking conflicting Chrome extensions using several effective techniques.

Tech Lockdown Team

Updated July 30, 2025

Internet content filters are a first line of defense for blocking harmful or distracting websites, but many users find ways around them using browser extensions. From VPN plugins to web proxies and encrypted search tools, Chrome extensions can punch holes in even the best filtering systems. This guide will walk you through practical ways to block Chrome extensions to ensure that content filtering isn't bypassed.

The most comprehensive approach is to block all except a short list of approved Chrome extensions. This ensures that you can still use a useful browser extension, like a password manager, while blocking problematic extensions by default. We'll explore multiple options in this guide.

Blocking the Chrome Extension Store

We'll start by looking at the broadest option that is most compatible across multiple types of devices, which is to block the entire Chrome extension web store.

Each of the most popular web browsers (Chrome, Edge, and Firefox) has an online web extension store where browser plugins can be discovered and installed. By blocking these web stores, you can restrict new browser add-ons from being installed.

Use a website blocker , like a DNS Content Policy , and block these browser extensions web store domains:

chromewebstore.google.com
microsoftedge.microsoft.com
addons.mozilla.org

Note that if you choose to block the extensions store this way, you'll have some limitations:

New browser extensions can't be installed unless your block is removed
Current browser extensions may not keep up-to-date

Block Chrome Extensions on a Mac

Mac computers can use an Apple Config Generator to customize a Chrome browser with rules on which extensions can be installed. This is the most effective and reliable approach for blocking Chrome extensions on a Mac.

Follow these steps to customize extension blocking rules:

To get started, go to the Config Generator section of the Tech Lockdown dashboard and create a Mac config

Go to the web section of the newly created Config and scroll down to the Browser Extension Manager section

Choose the "Only allow approved browser extension" approach so that all extensions are blocked other than the ones you specify here.

Edit your extension allowlist

Open the Chrome webstore and find an extension that you want to allow (even if it is already installed).

Copy the ID from the URL, which is the text after the last / in the URL:

Add your approved extension IDs to your browser extension allow list.

Sync changes and follow the instructions to add this config to your Mac.

Restart your Chrome browser after you install the config

Block Extensions Directly on Windows

Similar to how you can enforce restrictions on browsers installed on a Mac, Windows does have a way for you to manually update the Registry to block or allow specific browser extensions.

I'd only recommend choosing this method if you're an advanced Windows user, as it's easy to make mistakes that are very difficult to troubleshoot.

How to Use the Registry to Block Extensions on Windows

Some of us might prefer to modify the Registry visually without using the command line.

Keep in mind that modifying the Registry without knowing what you're doing can be dangerous. I would strongly recommend that you make a backup before continuing.

First, search for Registry in the Start Menu, and accept the User Account Control prompt:

You should see a screen that looks like this:

From here, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Policies:

If you've never done this before, you will probably have to create a Google entry. To do this, right-click on Policies and choose New > Key.

Name this new key Google:

Under Google, create another key named Chrome. Under Chrome, add one called ExtensionInstallBlocklist:

The final path should be Computer \ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Policies \ Google \ Chrome \ ExtensionInstallBlocklist. You can check this towards the top of the Registry Editor:

On the ExtensionInstallBlocklist entry you just created, then right-click and choose New > String Value:

Name this new String Value "1":

Double-click on this value and enter your first extension ID under Value data:

Click here to jump to our FAQ about finding the correct Extension ID .

Click OK when you're done.

Perfect! The final product should look like this:

If you want to add more extensions to this blocklist, right-click on ExtensionInstallForcelist again, choose New > String Value, then set this new value's name to "2". If you had three extensions that you wanted to the blocklist, it might look like this:

How to add Extensions to Blocklist using Command Prompt

The Command Prompt can be used to modify your browser's policies directly. It does this by modifying the Registry with commands instead of using a GUI.

Keep in mind that modifying the Registry without knowing what you're doing can be dangerous. I would strongly recommend that you make a backup before continuing.

You should have the extension ID(s) of the browser extensions you want to block first.

Open Command Prompt as an Administrator.

In order to create a blocklist, you'll first need to create a directory in the Registry first called the ExtensionInstallBlocklist.

To create the directory, copy/paste this command into Command Prompt (make sure that you are running as an Administrator):

For Google Chrome, use this command:

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome\ExtensionInstallBlocklist"

For Microsoft Edge, use this command:

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\ExtensionInstallBlocklist"

After you've created this directory in the Registry, you can start adding entries to start building your Forcelist.

To add an entry, you'll need to use a command to add a String Value within the ExtensionInstallForcelist; before you try to run this command in Command Prompt, take a look at it:

For Google Chrome, look at this command:

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome\ExtensionInstallBlocklist" /v "1" /t REG_SZ /d "pganeibhckoanndahmnfggfoeofncnii"

For Microsoft Edge, look at this command:

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\ExtensionInstallBlocklist" /v "1" /t REG_SZ /d "pganeibhckoanndahmnfggfoeofncnii"

You'll see that the command starts going to the ExtensionInstallBlocklist directory first. Next, it creates a new String value with the title "1", then you might recognize the extension ID near the end for Cold Turkey: "pganeibhckoanndahmnfggfoeofncnii".

If you want to change which extension is blocked, just take the extension ID you've copied earlier and replace Cold Turkey's value with your own.

If you want to add additional extensions to your blocklist, you can, but just make sure that you change the name to "2" for the second entry, "3" for the third entry, and so on.

For example, if you also wanted to add Google translate:

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome\ExtensionInstallBlocklist" /v "2" /t REG_SZ /d "aapbdbdomjkkjkaonfhkkikfgjllcleb"

(and for Edge)

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\ExtensionInstallBlocklist" /v "2" /t REG_SZ /d "aapbdbdomjkkjkaonfhkkikfgjllcleb"

Notice the "2" and the changed extension ID in the above command.

Frequently Asked Questions

Getting Extension Information

After choosing the right approach, you'll need to gather some information about the browser extensions you want to block, such as the URL and extension ID.

Depending on which browser you're using, you might need to consider different IDs depending on which browser extensions web stores are compatible with. Each browser has its own web store, and extension IDs are different across each store:

Google Chrome: Chrome Web Store (https://chromewebstore.google.com)
Microsoft Edge: Edge Web Store (https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com)
Firefox: Firefox Add-on Store (about:addons)

Visit your browser's extension store and find your extension. I would strongly recommend making a list of each extension's store page URL.

I would recommend saving the entire URL, but what we're really interested in is the extension ID near the end of the URL.

Take a look at the URL. At the very end of the long address, you should see a forward slash followed by a long string of letters. This string of letters is the extension ID.

Note

If you have multiple browser extensions, I'd strongly recommend creating a list of the browser URLs or extension IDS.

Get FireFox Add-on ID

Firefox requires more work to find the exact extension ID.

It's a bit tricky to find the extension ID for a browser plugin that isn't already installed, but you could use a tool like this one to view and copy the ID you'll need.

After installing the extension, you can visit Mozilla's addons page and find a specific browser extension...

Then open the tool to see the ID:

What Are Web Browser Policies?

You are probably familiar with the Settings page on Chrome:

Your browser also has hidden settings (called Policies) that you can’t change from this menu. One of these policies is called the ‘ExtensionInstallBlocklist.’ If an extension's ID is added to this list, then your browser will block it from being downloaded.

You can view current policies enabled for your browser by visiting the links below:

For Google Chrome: chrome://policy.
For Microsoft Edge: edge://policy.
For Firefox: about:policies.

Here's what these pages should look like (my browser has no policies currently active):

What is an Extension ID?

The extension ID is how your browser knows which extension to install. To find a browser extension's ID, go to its store page and look for the string of letters:

Does blocking an extension uninstall it?

Yes. If you add an extension to your blocklist, it should be uninstalled next time you restart your browser.

How do I remove an extension I’ve enforced?

If you need to remove an entry, the easiest way is to delete the ExtensionInstallForcelist entry in either the Registry (for Windows) or remove the Device Configuration File you've installed (for Mac).

For Windows, open Command Prompt as administrator and enter the following command for Chrome:

reg delete "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome\ExtensionInstallBlocklist" /v 1 /f

Here's the command for Microsoft Edge:

reg delete "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\ExtensionInstallBlocklist" /v 1 /f

Restart your browsers in order for the changes to take effect.

For Mac, use the Apple Config Generator to customize your extension blocklist and remove the extension that you don't want to block anymore. Then, sync your changes to your Mac and restart the Chrome browser

Manually Block Extension Pages or Search Keywords

If you want to block specific browser extension web store pages or search terms, you could try a keyword blocking approach.

For example, you could block a specific store web page by grabbing the ID in the URL.

To learn more about how to block specific URLs like the ones above and filter out specific search terms on a website, check out our dedicated guide for blocking website keywords .