Prevent extensions from being deleted in the background

luminouslemon

I've got the ScriptBlock extension installed which I think is really great (a pretty good substitute for NoScript having moved from FireFox).

Unfortunately it is being routinely deleted in the background. Whenever it is, I have to copy the extension to my extensions folder and it works again. Pretty annoying.

Is there any way to stop Vivaldi from deleting folders and files without my consent, nor any notice? I tried to make the folder read only, I tried to make the folder undeletable using 'md scriptblock' in the command app, and tried to restrict the privileges of the folder in the Security settings but none of these seem to work.

luetage

@luminouslemon Is the extension from chrome web store? Generally you shouldn't install extensions by copying them to the extensions folder, but by using the store or dragging a .crx to the extensions site vivaldi://extensions/.

luminouslemon

@luetage It's no longer in the store and rumours are that Google deleted it for being too good at blocking stuff. I initially installed it via the store but on this new computer I did it in the extensions site by loading an unpacked extension.

Everytime the folder is deleted, I go and copy it back and the extension is working again.

It's on Github: https://github.com/compvid30/scriptblock

luetage

@luminouslemon Loading as an unpacked extension isn't the same as copying into the extension folder. I have unpacked extension myself and they stay around. I'd be very surprised if Vivaldi deleted certain extensions automatically. I don't think that's possible.

luminouslemon

@luetage - Would you mind trying it for yourself? Download The file passes a scan with Windows Defender. Pretty sure it's clean.

I'm loading the unpacked extension from within the Extensions folder. Should I be loading it from somewhere else?

iAN CooG

@luminouslemon if you load an unpacked extension and then you delete the directory from where you have loaded it, it's logical that Vivaldi can't find it anymore. It may be possible that you just downloaded in a default download directory, or a temp directory and loaded it from there, and then in a second time you have cleared the temp/download directory.

If you create a crx (Pack Extension button), just give the directory where you have unzipped your extension zip, for example C:\temp\scriptblock-master and in C:\temp you'll find a scriptblock-master.crx; just drag and drop it inside the extension window. That's how an extension should be installed.
After that you can delete the extension zip, crx, pem and the unpacked directory. The extension is now correctly installed in "%localappdata%\Vivaldi\User Data\Default\Extensions" so you don't need anymore the extra files.

luetage

@ian-coog It's fine using unpacked extensions, there is no advantage in packaging them, because for backup reason you should have a version outside of your profile folder anyway. But yeah, if the folder containing the extension is deleted, renamed or moved, the extension will stop working – simply a fact.

iAN CooG

@luetage said in Prevent extensions from being deleted in the background:

there is no advantage in packaging them
But yeah, if the folder containing the extension is deleted, renamed or moved, the extension will stop working – simply a fact.

For me this a well enough valid advantage. Then to each his own, do as you prefer

luetage

@ian-coog You left out the important part in your quote

luminouslemon

@ian-coog Ok sorry to confuse you; that's not the case. I loaded the unpacked extension using the Extensions window (vivaldi://extensions). If I load it from within the Extensions directory then it's normal. If I load it from outside the extentions directory then it has an extra line: "Loaded from: ~\Desktop\scriptblock-master"

The entire directory is being randomly deleted. When it does get deleted, I copy the folder back into the Extensions folder and the addon begins to function again without any other steps.

It's just annoying that it's been randomly deleted without my consent, nor any notification at all.

luetage

@luminouslemon Stop copying directly to the extensions folder. This is your mistake. That's not how you install an extension. Either install it unpacked by clicking "developer mode" on extensions page and link it to a folder (not crx) outside of Vivaldi, or pack the extension outside of Vivaldi as crx and drag and drop it on the extensions page. Anything else is wrong and will lead to the problems you are describing.

burnout426

You shouldn't have any problems loading an unpacked extension from your desktop like you're doing. I do it all the time in Chrome, Opera and Vivaldi. They don't get deleted on me.

Maybe it has something to do with that particular extension. Can you confirm the issue happens with other unpacked extensions too?

Did you try searching the net for this issue for Chrome? It might lead you to an answer that works for Vivaldi also.

Download the Vivaldi installer, make a standalone installing in "C:\Users\yourusername\My Program Files\Vivaldi Test" for example and try loading the unpacked extension with it to see if it works fine. If it does, maybe something's messed up with your normal Vivaldi profile.

Maybe edit the "Secure Preferences" file (with JSONedit and remove any IDs under extensions/settings that are tied to the unpacked extension. You could do something similar in the "Preferences" file under the Extensions section. That way, you can clear out any old data about the extension before you load it again.

You're not using CCleaner are you? Sometimes it clears more stuff from browsers that you'd like.

claudio

luminouslemon

@burnout426 Yes, that's what I'm saying, it's only this extension. It keeps getting deleted automatically in the background. No notification, no prompt, the folder is just suddenly gone, and it happens several times a day. I'm not having this problem with any other extensions.

I also recently rebuilt my Vivaldi profile from scratch so probably not a problem there.

luminouslemon

@claudio I get a warning that this file can harm my computer when I try to download it. Please advise?

burnout426

@luminouslemon It seems odd that it would make a difference, but edit the manifest file and change the name and description. Also, select all files in the folder, copy/cut them, create a new folder on your desktop named "test" and paste the files in it. Then, load the extension from the test folder instead. I might try updating the jquery files in the "js" folder just in case they're being blacklisted by Chromium.

I'll also see if I can reproduce the issue with this specific extension.

luminouslemon

@burnout426 I've found that the extension is not being deleted if I import it from my desktop instead of from the extentions folder.

burnout426

@luminouslemon Okay. That's what you're going to have to do then. You'll have to make sure you import the extension from a folder outside the "extensions" folder.

Btw, I can confirm that if you put an extension folder inside the "extensions" folder, Vivaldi will delete it. In fact, you can just create a folder named "test" with nothing in it and Vivaldi will delete it. In other words, the "extensions" folder is only for folders that were created by Vivaldi during a proper extension install process. Ones that are not will get automatically deleted.

Now, since you once had the script block extension installed the proper way where a proper id folder for the extension was created in the "extensions" folder and you keep on copying to that folder where Vivaldi is deleting its contents, that's got to be because Vivaldi noticed the content changed. You might be able to get around this by deleting the "_metadata" folder in that extension folder so that Vivaldi doesn't recognize that the content has changed (to a newer version of script-block that you got from github). Besides that, I think you're out of luck on manually putting the folder for the extension in the "extensions" folder. You either need to load it as an unpacked extension where the folder is somewhere else or pack the scriptblock extension content you got from github to convert it to a crx file and install that.

Vivaldi's behavior seems to be a Chromium security measure. If so, it's unlikely this will change.

luminouslemon

@burnout426 Thanks for the clarification. All good now.