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How Flexera Webextension works - how it fetch current machine name

would appreciate if I get an insight how Flexera webestension works ? how it fetch computer name from WMI or may be from somewhere else .. case #02447637is already opened but not getting any response there!  here are my question 

1. how webextension works ? - from where it fetch machine name (WMI or somewhere else & how)

2. with which version of Edge & chrome it will work ? 

3. do we need to do any policy changes to get it work ? 

4. in Edge it is not creating any key under HKLM under Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge

that's why it is not even showing in extension list in Edge

but in case of chrome it does create key under HKLM

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome\ExtensionInstallForcelist

so it shows in Chrome BUT it is not fetching machine name

5. in case of edge do we need to create it manually ? we created registry manually then it start appearing in extension list but still not fetching name..... 😞 

NOTE: Extension is not working in any of the browser not in Chrome not in Edge..  What is required to make it work ? or is it a bug 🙂 

thanks

(3) Replies
CharlesW
By Level 12 Flexeran
Level 12 Flexeran

I'm not able to provide much detail on "how" the web extensions work, but I see that most of the code is javascript.. I do not see any wmi calls being made. 

If you look at the section titled Deploying Web Extensions to All Computers in a network

you will find a list of supported browser versions

You need to ensure that you enable developer mode before deploying, as mentioned here. I don't believe that this would have anything to do with the registry key being missing. I do see the key on my machine. You certainly should not have to create it manually. Can you confirm that you installed using the latest web service installer which is named App Portal Web Extension 3.0.exe. I might suggest that you try uninstalling/reinstalling to see if this makes a difference. Note, I have found that enabling IE mode causes the web extension not to function, so try disabling IE mode entirely. 

hey, we already tried uninstallation/re-installation / creating registry manually but still no LUCK. we tried to some capture in fiddller but there also didn't get much information. is there any we enable logging on this extension and can see what Java script is doing & it is fetching machine name & from where it is picking up this machine name, 

I believe we don't need developer mode on to get it work, I tested on one of my personal machine & it worked even if developer mode was off 

thanks

 

There is console logging throughout the web extension code.  If you look in the browser console and see informational or error messages, that would help diagnose what's going on.  Please note that the browser extension is only activated when the URL contains "Loader.aspx".  When you access App Portal, you will likely see the address bar hop through a few different pages.  One of them should be Loader.aspx (with a handful of other query string parameters tacked on to the end).  There is a session variable that we look for in the other pages called "cid".  If this variable isn't available, we redirect to Loader.aspx, which then loads the web extension, which then populates the "cid" session variable.  I've looked at the source code for the web extensions and can't really make heads nor tails of it.  It appears to be making a connection to the browser and sending "native messages" to the browser requesting the computer name.  The "magic" appears to be in the browser as far as how it locates the computer name and then sends it back to our web extension.  Sorry I can't be of more help.  It's a bit of a black box.

Anything expressed here is my own view and not necessarily that of my employer, Flexera. If my reply answers a question you have raised, please click "ACCEPT AS SOLUTION".