v133 · miscellaneous

Remove Chrome Welcome page triggering via initial prefs first run tabs

Including "chrome://welcome" in the "first_run_tabs" property of the "initial_preferences" file will now have no effect. This is removed because that page is redundant with the First Run Experience that triggers on desktop platforms.

concepts

  1. Welcome page removal

    Drops the legacy initial_prefs trigger for chrome://welcome. Enterprises should use first-run policies.

  2. Alt onboarding playbook

    Three working replacement paths for IT admins who relied on the dropped trigger: first_run_tabs with a real URL, RestoreOnStartupURLs policy, and HomepageLocation.

  3. initial_preferences JSON builder

    Compose a ready-to-deploy initial_preferences file. Warns the moment you include the deprecated chrome://welcome string in first_run_tabs.

  4. Enterprise policy validator

    Paste any initial_preferences JSON file. Validates for the deprecated chrome://welcome trigger, unknown keys, non-HTTPS homepages, and other Chrome 133 compliance issues — with a summary badge and per-rule results.

why it shipped

Including "chrome://welcome" in the "first_run_tabs" property of the "initial_preferences" file will now have no effect. This is removed because that page is redundant with the First Run Experience that triggers on desktop platforms.

references