Does Ecosia have group policy templates?
Windows group policies, or GPOs for short, enable IT admin to set Ecosia as the default search engine across a network of computers.
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GPO for Chrome
If you already use GPOs to control Chrome’s settings, please refer to Step 5 and update your existing settings.
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Get the GPO
Download Chrome’s ADMX files. You can find out more about creating a central store for your GPOs. -
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Copy the ADMX and ADML files to your central store
Local: %systemroot%\policyDefinitions (normally C:\Windows\policyDefinitions) Domain: %systemroot%\sysvol\domain\policies\PolicyDefinitions (normally C:\Windows\sysvol\domain\policies\PolicyDefinitions)
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Open the Group Policy administration tool
Navigate to the group policy rule that controls your chrome settings, right click and click on "edit". You can start the group policy editor by typing "gpedit.msc" into the Windows command bar.
The folder "Default search provider" has all the required settings that need to be changed.
LOCAL_MACHINE or
CURRENT_USER, expand either
Computer Configuration or
User Configuration.
- Navigate to → Administrative Templates → Google Chrome → Default search provider.
"Enable the default search provider" has to be enabled for any of the other options to take effect.
A few settings here need to be defined (in no particular order):
| Setting | Task |
| “Enable the default search provider” | Set this to Enabled |
| “Default search provider icon” | Set this to Enabled and enter the following value: https://ecosia.org/favicon.ico |
| “Default search provider keyword” | Set this to Enabled and enter the following value: ecosia.org |
| “Default search provider name” | Set this to Enabled and enter the following value: Ecosia |
| “Default search provider new tab page url” | Set this to Enabled and enter the following value: https://www.ecosia.org/search?q={searchTerms}&addon=chromegpo |
| “Default search provider search url” | Set this to Enabled and enter the following value: https://www.ecosia.org/search?q={searchTerms}&addon=chromegpo |
Ensure that you have the GPO rule linked to your domain and that you have specified the user groups/OU’s that this rule applies to.
In order for the GPO rules to take immediate effect, you may need to open a CMD window and type “gpupdate/force” to apply the settings on the end users devices. Otherwise the new GPO settings will apply after a reboot.
The ADMX files provided by Google have limited flexibility. You have the option of switching on/off the default search provider and you can only provide one search engine as the default. It is not possible to offer multiple search engines options using Google’s ADMX file.
GPO for Mozilla Firefox
In order to configure Firefox GPO settings, workstations and devices need to have the Firefox ESR Enterprise version installed and not just the normal Firefox. Download the Firefox ESR here.
If you already use GPOs to control Firefox’s settings please refer to Step 5 and update your existing settings.
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Get the GPO
Downloaded the latest Firefox ADMX/ADML files. You can find out more about creating a central store for your GPOs. -
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Copy the ADMX and ADML files to your central store
Local: %systemroot%\policyDefinitions (normally C:\Windows\policyDefinitions) Domain: %systemroot%\sysvol\domain\policies\PolicyDefinitions (normally C:\Windows\sysvol\domain\policies\PolicyDefinitions)
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Open the Group Policy administration tool
Login to your domain controller and open the Group Policy administration tool. You can start the group policy editor by typing "gpedit.msc" into the Windows command bar. - Navigate to the group policy rule that controls your Firefox settings, right click and click on “edit”
The folder “Default search provider” has all the required settings that need to be changed.
LOCAL_MACHINE or
CURRENT_USER, expand either
Computer Configuration or
User Configuration.
- Navigate to → Administrative Templates → Firefox → Search
| Setting | Task | ||
| "Default search engine" | Set this to "Enabled" and enter the following value: ecosia.org |
||
| “Search Engine One” |
Set this option to "Enabled" and enter the following values: Name:ecosia.org URL Template: https://www.ecosia.org/search?q={searchTerms}&addon=firefoxgpo Method: GET Icon URL: https://ecosia.org/favicon.ico Description: Ecosia search engine |
|
Ensure that you have the GPO rule linked to your domain and that you have specified the user groups/OU’s that this rule applies to.
In order for the GPO rules to take immediate effect, you may need to open a CMD window and type “gpupdate/force” to apply the settings on the end users devices. Otherwise the new GPO settings will apply after a reboot.
The Firefox GPO settings provide various configuration options. It is the responsibility of the System Admin or organization to decide how to further configure the GPO rules. This guide assumes that Ecosia will be the only default search engine without the ability to change it.
GPO for Microsoft Edge
If you already use GPOs to control Microsoft Edge's settings, please refer to Step 5 and update your existing settings.
- 1
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Get the GPO
Download Microsoft’s ADMX files.You can find out more about creating a central store for your GPOs. - 2
-
Copy the ADMX and ADML files to your central store.
Local: %systemroot%\policyDefinitions (normally C:\Windows\policyDefinitions) Domain: %systemroot%\sysvol\domain\policies\PolicyDefinitions (normally C:\Windows\sysvol\domain\policies\PolicyDefinitions)
- 3
-
Open the Group Policy administration tool.
Login to your domain controller and open the Group Policy administration tool. You can start the group policy editor by typing " gpedit.msc" into the Windows command bar. -
Navigate to the group policy rule that controls your Edge Chromium’s settings, right click and click on “edit”
The folder “Default search provider” has all the required settings that need to be changed.
LOCAL_MACHINE or
CURRENT_USER, expand either
Computer Configuration or
User Configuration.
| Setting | Task |
| “Enable the default search provider” | Set this to "Enabled" |
| “Default search provider keyword” |
Set this to "Enabled" and enter the following value: ecosia.org |
| “Default search provider name” |
Enter the following value: Ecosia |
| “Default search provider new tab page URL” |
Set this to "Enabled" and enter the following value: https://www.ecosia.org/search?q={searchTerms}&addon=edgegpo |
| “Default search provider search URL” |
Set this to "Enabled" and enter the following value: https://www.ecosia.org/search?q={searchTerms}&addon=edgegpo |
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Ensure that you have the GPO rule linked to your domain and that you have specified the user groups/OU’s that this rule applies to.
In order for the GPO rules to take immediate effect, you may need to open a CMD window and type “gpupdate/force” to apply the settings on the end users devices. Otherwise the new GPO settings will apply after a reboot.
Edge Chromium also has a GPO rule called “ Mange Search Engines”. This GPO rule can be used to configure a list of up to 10 search engines for the end user to choose from.