Constantly being told to "Reload DevTools"

[transentia]

Per this image:

I can see no way to permanently acknowledge this.

AB#44350973

[transentia]

To clarify, when I say "constantly", I mean "Each time I open DevTools", not that it continually refreshes the message or anything like that....

[captainbrosset]

Oh, that's odd. I too have seen this banner, but didn't realize it appeared each time I opened DevTools. Thank you so much for reporting this issue. I'll make sure our engineering team sees this.

[captainbrosset]

Turns out we've heard this from other feedback sources too, so you're not alone.
In theory, users should only see the banner one time (per channel, i.e. Canary, Dev, Beta, Release).
But also, everytime we update the component on our end, the banner will pop up again.

We recently updated the component which might be explaining why you've been seeing the banner several times.
We're monitoring on our end to make sure this does not occur again. But please do report here if you keep seeing the banner again and again.

[robpaveza]

Hey @transentia, thanks for reporting this issue. The underlying issue here is that we're installing a "browser component" (which is something like an extension), if it isn't installed, when you launch DevTools. The banner here appears when the extension system tells us that it's installed or updated.

These components are installed on a per-profile basis, and so there are a couple cases in which this might always appear:

• if you're using a Guest profile
• if you're in an "off-the-record" profile (although I don't believe this applies to InPrivate)

Additionally, they're per-channel (Stable, Beta, Dev, Canary).

Can you take a look at the path %userprofile%\appdata\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default\Extensions\kfbdpdaobnofkbopebjglnaadopfikhh (this is Stable) and tell me what you see there? Specifically, do you see a directory 113.0.1765.0_0 with a file manifest.json inside of it (and others)?

Thanks!

[transentia]

I just see:

Note that I am deliberately NOT signed in to any services:

[transentia]

Also: this hasn't JUST started happening, its been happening for quite a while...its just that I've only now gotten around to DOING something about it.

I can't quantify HOW long ago it started...sorry. I'd say roughly all of April?

[robpaveza]

I just see (picture of the extension not being there).

Whoa! That's not what I expected to see. Could you try something for me?

1. Open DevTools, wait for the "Enhancements have been installed" message
2. Open a new tab and go to devtools://devtools/bundled/third_party/typescript/typescript.js

Does the file basically just say export default false; or something equivalent, or is it a large file?

Additionally, could you go to edge://extensions-internals/ and searching for kfbdpdaobnofkbopebjglnaadopfikhh in the payload? It should look something like this:

{
   "creation_flags": [ "REQUIRE_KEY" ],
   "disable_reasons": [  ],
   "event_listeners": {
      "count": 0,
      "listeners": [  ]
   },
   "id": "kfbdpdaobnofkbopebjglnaadopfikhh",
   "keepalive": {
      "activites": [  ],
      "count": -1
   },
   "location": "EXTERNAL_COMPONENT",
   "manifest_version": 3,
   "name": "Microsoft Edge DevTools Enhancements",
   "path": "(disk path)",
   "permissions": {
      "active": {
         "api": [  ],
         "explicit_hosts": [  ],
         "manifest": [  ],
         "scriptable_hosts": [  ]
      },
      "optional": {
         "api": [  ],
         "explicit_hosts": [  ],
         "manifest": [  ],
         "scriptable_hosts": [  ]
      },
      "tab_specific": {
      },
      "withheld": {
         "api": [  ],
         "explicit_hosts": [  ],
         "manifest": [  ],
         "scriptable_hosts": [  ]
      }
   },
   "type": "TYPE_EXTENSION",
   "version": "113.0.1765.0"
}

[transentia]

devtools://devtools/bundled/third_party/typescript/typescript.js is a nice large file:

searching for kfbdpdaobnofkbopebjglnaadopfikhh:

{
   "creation_flags": [ "REQUIRE_KEY" ],
   "disable_reasons": [  ],
   "event_listeners": {
      "count": 0,
      "listeners": [  ]
   },
   "id": "kfbdpdaobnofkbopebjglnaadopfikhh",
   "keepalive": {
      "activites": [  ],
      "count": -1
   },
   "location": "EXTERNAL_COMPONENT",
   "manifest_version": 3,
   "name": "Microsoft Edge DevTools Enhancements",
   "path": "C:\\Users\\Bob Brown\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\Edge\\User Data\\Default\\Extensions\\kfbdpdaobnofkbopebjglnaadopfikhh\\113.0.1765.0_0",
   "permissions": {
      "active": {
         "api": [  ],
         "explicit_hosts": [  ],
         "manifest": [  ],
         "scriptable_hosts": [  ]
      },
      "optional": {
         "api": [  ],
         "explicit_hosts": [  ],
         "manifest": [  ],
         "scriptable_hosts": [  ]
      },
      "tab_specific": {
      },
      "withheld": {
         "api": [  ],
         "explicit_hosts": [  ],
         "manifest": [  ],
         "scriptable_hosts": [  ]
      }
   },
   "type": "TYPE_EXTENSION",
   "version": "113.0.1765.0"
}

Interesting, I now see:

[transentia]

But look what happens when I quit and restart the browser:

I saw the folder disappear...

And when I open devtools:

(hey: I just made a recursive comment :-)...quite by accident)

I am running AdGuard Adblocker...let me try to disable that...

[transentia]

Nope...disabling AdGuard didn't change things.

[transentia]

I have this:

But don't think that will affect anything.

No group policies:

Can't think of anything else...the machine is not domain-joined so there's not much to go wrong (Famous Last Words...)

Maybe windows defender?

[transentia]

For completeness' sake:

[captainbrosset]

Thank you so much @transentia for providing so much details. I know @robpaveza is looking into this, and we'll make sure to report back any findings and fixes once we have something.