How to enable Java in Chrome

NPAPI support by Chrome

The Java plug-in for web browsers relies on the cross platform plugin architecture NPAPI, which has long been, and currently is, supported by all major web browsers. Google announced in September 2013 plans to remove NPAPI support from Chrome by "the end of 2014", thus effectively dropping support for Silverlight, Java, Facebook Video and other similar NPAPI based plugins. Recently, Google has revised their plans and now state that they plan to completely remove NPAPI by late 2015. As it is unclear if these dates will be further extended or not, we strongly recommend Java users consider alternatives to Chrome as soon as possible. Instead, we recommend Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari as longer-term options. As of April 2015, starting with Chrome Version 42, Google has added an additional step to configuring NPAPI based plugins like Java to run — see the section Enabling NPAPI in Chrome Version 42 and later below.

 

Enabling NPAPI in Chrome Version 42 and later

As of Chrome Version 42, an additional configuration step is required to continue using NPAPI plugins.

1. In your URL bar, enter:
   chrome://flags/#enable-npapi
2. Click the Enable link for the Enable NPAPI configuration option.
3. Click the Relaunch button that now appears at the bottom of the configuration page.

Developers and System administrators looking for alternative ways to support users of Chrome should see this blog, in particular "Running Web Start applications outside of a browser" and "Additional Deployment Options" section.

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Java plug-in needs permission

If you see a message within Chrome that says Java(TM) needs your permission to run, you will need to respond to the Chrome options in order to run plug-ins on the page. Options vary according to the version of Chrome.

Chrome plug-in blocked icon (in address bar)

Look for the blocked plug-in icon in the Chrome address bar. Clicking on the icon will display Plug-ins were blocked on this page and plug-in options

• Click Always allow plug-ins on [name of site] to allow plug-ins (including Java) to run on all this site's pages.
• Click Run all plug-ins this time to allow the plug-in (including Java) content on the page to run only until you leave this page.
• Click Continue blocking plug-ins to prevent plug-ins from running on the page.

In addition, you can manage permissions on a site basis through the Manage plug-in blocking option.

Chrome message bar

• Click Run this time to allow the Java content on the page to run only until you leave this page.
• Click Always run on this site to allow Java to run on all this site's pages. You will not see this message again for pages on this site.

Additional plug-in required

If you see a message bar within Chrome that says Java(TM) is required to display some elements on this page, click on Install plug-in in the Chrome message bar, or download from java.com.

Plug-in out of date

If you see a message bar within Chrome that says Java(TM) was blocked because it is out of date, click on Update plug-in in the Chrome message bar to get the latest Java.