[Fix] “Managed by your organization” in Chrome or Microsoft Edge

In Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome, some users see the message “Managed by your organization” when they click the “More” menu.

chrome policy "managed by your organization"

The message indicates that the browser (Microsoft Edge or Chrome) is being managed. If a user clicks on the “Managed by your organization” link, they are directed to chrome://management/ which contains details about Chrome Browser management on Chrome browser, or the edge://management page on Microsoft Edge.

This message is also seen on the Chrome/Microsoft Edge (chromium) Settings page.

edge managed by organization

Clicking on the “Managed by your organization” link opens the edge://management page, which displays the following message:

Microsoft Edge is managed by your organization

If you use Microsoft Edge at school or work, it might be managed, or set up and maintained, by your organization. Your organization can set up or restrict certain features, install and block extensions, monitor activity, and control how you use it.

If Microsoft Edge is managed, you can view the policies that are set by your organization on the edge://policy page.

This post tells you how to remove the Managed by your organization notice and also explains how to remove the Microsoft Edge or Chrome policies that cause the notice to be shown.

Cause

In Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome (v73 and higher), when one or more policies are set in Chrome Browser, some users will see a new item on the More menu that indicates that Chrome is being managed. To know the Policies applied to your system, browse to:

chrome://policy

edge://policy

This page shows the list of Edge/Chrome Policies applied and the “Source” for each policy. Policy “Source” can be one of the following:

  • Platform policies are pushed to users with Windows Group Policy, Managed Preferences on Mac, or another out-of-band management system for Windows, Mac, or Linux. Platform policies are listed even if the user isn’t signed in to a managed account.
  • Cloud policies are set using the Admin console and apply to users who sign in to a managed Google Account.
  • Enterprise default policies are set by Chrome developers for enterprise customers and have a different default value than non-enterprise customers. Admins can override default values by setting the corresponding cloud policies in the Admin console.

chrome policies page "managed by your organization"

LastPass and some other Chrome extensions may be taking advantage of the ExtensionInstallForcelist or ExtensionInstallSources policy settings in Edge or Chrome to force-install browser extensions.

Webroot browser extensions

Other users have reported that the Webroot anti-virus software has added a browser extension named “Web Threat Shield” (whose extension ID is kjeghcllfecehndceplomkocgfbklffd for Chrome and fmkaflbamgddpjacdmjlkhbnpnlemaea for Edge, using a registry-based policy.

Chrome Web Store:  https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/web-threat-shield/kjeghcllfecehndceplomkocgfbklffd
Edge add-ons Page: https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/web-threat-shield/fmkaflbamgddpjacdmjlkhbnpnlemaea

In the following screenshot, you can see that the extension ID fmkaflbamgddpjacdmjlkhbnpnlemaea which corresponds to the Edge add-on. You can also see the relevant registry-based policy name (“ExtensionInstallForceList“) on that page.

edge managed by organization webroot

The edge://management page shows the name of the force-installed extension.

edge managed by organization webroot

hand point iconIn the Webroot settings dialog, unchecking Activate browser extensions and clicking Save would remove the force-installed Webroot extension from your browser. This also removes the “Managed by your administrator” message if no other policies are currently set.edge managed by organization webroot

However, it’s not always a browser extension causing this. To date, there are more than 300 registry-based policies applicable for Microsoft Edge (chromium). You may check out the official Microsoft Edge Browser Policy documentation at the Microsoft site.



[Solution] Remove “Managed by your administrator” in Edge or Chrome

Instructions for Google Chrome

If you’re convinced that policy was set by your company, then you can simply hide the “Managed by your administrator” notice using the Chrome flags page.

Option 1: Hide the “Managed by your administrator” notification in Chrome

  • Open Google Chrome.
  • Browse the following page:
    chrome://flags/#show-managed-ui

    This flag lets you enable or disable showing enterprise users a ‘Managed by your organization’ message in the app menu and on some chrome:// pages.

    chrome policy flags disable message

  • Set it to Disabled

Option 2: Remove Chrome Policies (via the registry) on a Standalone Computer

If your system is not connected to a corporate network and is a standalone system, you may remove all those Chrome Policies using the registry.

  1. Start the Registry Editor (regedit.exe)
  2. Go to the following location:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome
  3. Export the branch by saving it to a REG file.
  4. Right-click Chrome and choose Delete to delete the branch.
  5. Repeat the same under the following branch:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome
  6. Exit the Registry Editor.

Option 3: Remove Chrome/Edge Policies on Windows Pro and higher

The following method will remove all the policies applied to the system (not just Chrome or Edge policies).

Open an admin Command Prompt window and run these commands:

RD /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicyUsers"

RD /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicy"

gpupdate /force

The above commands remove the following folders where the policy configuration is stored:

%WINDIR%\System32\GroupPolicy
%WINDIR%\System32\GroupPolicyUsers

After clearing those folders, carry out the following steps:

  1. Install and run the Chrome Cleanup Tool.
  2. Scan your computer for unwanted software using recommended removal software:
    • Windows: Malwarebytes, AdwCleaner, HitmanPro.
    • Mac: Malwarebytes.
  3. Uninstall unfamiliar or suspicious extensions.
  4. Uninstall suspicious programs from your computer:
  5. Reset your browser settings if necessary.

Instructions for Microsoft Edge (Chromium)

If you haven’t used the Group Policy Editor to configure Edge policies earlier, then you can remove the Microsoft Edge registry-based Policies using the following steps:

Remove Edge Policies (via the registry) on a standalone computer

If your system is not connected to a corporate network and is a standalone system, you may remove all those Microsoft Edge Policies using the registry.

  1. Start the Registry Editor (regedit.exe)
  2. Go to the following location:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge
  3. Export the branch by saving it to a REG file.
  4. Right-click Edge and choose Delete to delete the branch.
  5. Repeat the same if the branch named Edge exists in the following paths:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Policies\Microsoft\Edge
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Policies\Microsoft\Edge
  6. Exit the Registry Editor.

Note that if you or your system administrator has used the Group Policy Editor to configure Microsoft Edge policies, removing the registry entries may not help. You’ll need to reverse the changes made in the Group Policy Editor. In the Group Policy Editor, the Microsoft Edge policies are located here:

Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Configuration → Microsoft Edge

User Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Configuration → Microsoft Edge

To remove all the policies applied to the system (not just Edge or Chrome policies), run these commands from an admin Command Prompt:

RD /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicyUsers"

RD /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicy"

gpupdate /force

This removes Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome policies and the message Managed by your organization on your device.


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Ramesh Srinivasan is passionate about Microsoft technologies and he has been a consecutive ten-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award in the Windows Shell/Desktop Experience category, from 2003 to 2012. He loves to troubleshoot and write about Windows. Ramesh founded Winhelponline.com in 2005.

18 thoughts on “[Fix] “Managed by your organization” in Chrome or Microsoft Edge”

  1. Hello There,

    If you are using a mac and not able to do it.

    First Go to the finder.
    then go to /Library/Managed Preferences/[user]/

    com.google.Chrome.plist
    complete.plist

    Remove these files and done. If still you are not able sure how to do
    Watch this “https://youtu.be/khJ4kvpjNZA”
    Please do response if it is helpful or not.
    Thank you

    Reply
  2. Hi Ramesh, unfortunately, I didn’t understand very much of the above. Is there a simpler way of removing ‘managed by your organization’ as I am a 79 years old lady who doesn’t understand the hieroglyphics shown. I am not part of an organization and only found this tab when I was looking to see why I suddenly was unable to copy and paste pictures, which is a recent problem, and I thought I might have cancelled something without knowing (or seeing!).

    Reply
  3. Finally a solution that worked. Thank you! Got rid of the “browser is managed by” message by following advice #1 and #2.

    Reply
  4. This problem can be caused by the LastPass password manager being installed, or updating itself.

    It can be removed temporarily by running regedit and deleting the keys:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome

    However, it will come back when LastPass updates again. The update places a LastPass shortcut on the desktop (at least on mine), so I know to look for Managed by Your Organization and delete the keys again.

    LastPass tech support explains:

    “LastPass extension uses a Chrome api that is only ever supposed to be used when Chrome is being managed by an organization. … Unfortunately there is no way to stop that registry key from being inserted.”

    Reply
  5. Great Job.
    Can you also write a post for fixing USB which is not showing on My computer even though it detected the USB drive. But the drive is not shown

    Reply
  6. thank you so much! and this is coming from someone who has never heard about registry editor before! i fixed the ‘managed by an organisation’ by myself!

    Reply
  7. Thank you so much, it worked !!! After having tried everything on the net I could find and everyone saying it was malware or something and every scan I ran coming up empty, I was at my wits end !!! Just knowing it was from a new version of Chrome and not malware was a huge relief and being able to fix it, the cherry on top !
    Thanks a MILLION !

    Reply
  8. popup and redirection are admit by administrator, and I had found policy in registry. It was deleted by me, but reboot, revival it. It makes me mad.

    I found this, and deleted policy-chrome ‘folder’, not PopupsSettings file. and I did correct it. It is dead. not revival

    thank you for your post

    Reply
  9. This worked! Had to try many others, but yours fixed my issue! Thanks my friend. Would have linked to my FB page, but didn’t see that platform listed, only Twitter, which I don’t use. I’ll check your site again and see if you’ve added FB. Thanks, again!

    Reply
  10. Are there updated procedures for Chrome 88, i got some nasty stuff happening due to a screensaver:(
    I removed everything run most steps twice, unstalled/installed Chrome twice using keep and delete chrome data. Still it keeps showing. Did all the cleaning steps. I havent seen the popups again. But it still shows managed by. On my mac it does show however. That flag has been removed by the way.
    I dont have any of those policy folders left, did also all the cleaning using command tool. Also tried 3 different malware scanning apps, they found little things it seemed. But after all this it still shows “managed by”

    Reply
  11. Thanks a zillion.
    Can’t even tell u how big a help this was.
    Was really annoyed that it keeps showing “Chrome is managed”.
    Really really helpful. Thank you once again.
    Finally I found a solution here.

    Reply

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