Google Chrome/Microsoft Edge Instrumentation

1. Open the Instrumentation Wizard. For more information, see UI Technologies Introduction.
2. Select Instrument a browser.
   
3. Enable the Microsoft Edge slider and click Next.
   
4. Once the Instrumentation successful message appears, click Finish.
   
5. Restart your browser. 
6. Click the browser menu icon that shows a warning symbol and select the Ranorex Automation extension has been added message.
   
7. Click Enable extension.
   

If you prefer not to use the wizard, you can install the add-on manually.

1. Type chrome://extensions (Google Chrome) or edge://extensions (MS Edge) into the address bar.
2. Click Load unpacked.
3. Navigate to the Ranorex Chrome Extension folder in your Ranorex Studio installation directory and click OK.
   

4. Register the Chrome/Edge worker Ranorex.Plugin.ChromeMsgHost.manifest file in the Windows Registry to enable communication between the browser and Ranorex.

   Note: The location is C:\Program Files(x86)\Ranorex\Studio\Bin\Runtime\Ranorex.Plugin.ChromeMsgHost.manifest. Adjust path if Ranorex is installed in a different location.

   • For Google Chrome: Open the Registry Editor (regedit) and add the manifest file path to the following keys:
     • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Google\Chrome\NativeMessagingHosts\com.ranorex.chrome_msghost
     • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Google\Chrome\NativeMessagingHosts\com.ranorex.chrome_msghost
   • For Microsoft Edge: Add the manifest file path to the following keys:
     • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Edge\NativeMessagingHosts\com.ranorex.chrome_msghost
     • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Edge\NativeMessagingHosts\com.ranorex.chrome_msghost

• If you want to test cross-domain iframe scripting, start the browser with the command line argument –disable-web-security –user-data-dir=””
• Make sure that the extension ID of the Ranorex Add-on is listed in the allowed_origins section of the binRanorex.Plugin.ChromeMsgHost.manifest file.
• If the NoScript Extension is installed, disable it.

To test offline or local HTML files, enable the Allow access to file URLs option for the Ranorex extension in both Chrome and Edge. After enabling this option, restart the browser.

Host permissions

Chromium-based browsers follow the same core rule as Firefox: you cannot silently escalate host permissions at runtime in unmanaged environments. If a permission prompt is required, the user must approve it.

✅ What is possible (managed enterprise environments)

Enterprise environments can preconfigure site access using ExtensionSettings policies (for example, allowing runtime host permissions through managed policy).

Windows registry paths (examples)

• Chrome: HKLM\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome\ExtensionSettings
• Edge: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\ExtensionSettings

Example policy value:

{
 "installation_mode": "allowed",
 "runtime_host_permissions": {
   "allowed_hosts": ["*://*/*"]
 }
}

This can give the extension full host permissions without requiring a user-facing toggle, as long as the browser is managed through enterprise policies.

❌ What is not possible (non-managed browsers)

• Silently modifying permissions for a non-managed browser
• Auto-granting optional host permissions at runtime
• Bypassing permission prompts
• “Faking it” through UI automation (fragile and unsupported)