Make DuckDuckGo Chrome’s default search engine using GPO

So, you want to deploy the search engine that doesn’t track you as the default search engine for your users. Here is a quick How-To make DuckDuckGo Chrome’s default search engine using GPO in your Windows (7/8/10) PC or domain environment.

To make DuckDuckGo the default search engine in Google Chrome using GPO follow these instructions:

First and foremost, do yourself a favor and download Google Chrome policy templates. Unzip it to the Central Store for Group Policy Administrative Template in your environment or to a folder in your computer.



Open either Group Policy Management (Start > Run: gpmc.msc) or the Local Group Policy Editor (Start > Run: gpedit.msc) depending on your environment.

Group Policy Management GPO

In Group Policy Management, create a new policy and edit it. In the console tree, navigate to Group Policy object/User Configuration (or Computer Configuration) > Policies > Administrative Templates > Google > Google Chrome > Default search provider



Enable the following policies:

- Enable the default search provider: Enabled

– Default search provider icon: Enabled > https://duckduckgo.com/favicon.ico
– Default search provider instant URL: Enabled > https://duckduckgo.com?q=%s

- Default search provider keyword: Enabled > duckduckgo.com
– Default search provider name: Enabled > DuckDuckGo
– Default search provider search URL: Enabled > https://duckduckgo.com?q={searchTerms}

Apply this policy to the desired OU and reboot client machines or force/push a group policy refresh.

Local Group Policy Editor GPO

Browse to 

User Configuration (or Computer Configuration) > Policies > Administrative Templates. Right-click Administrative Templates and select Add/Remove Templates.

Browse to the location containing Google Chrome’s unzipped policy templates and add the chrome.adm

x template. E.g.: C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions\chrome.adm

x (assumes the template has been unzipped to this location)

Once the new template is installed, in the console tree, navigate to Group Policy object/User Configuration (or Computer Configuration) > Policies > Administrative Templates > Google > Google Chrome > Default search provider



Enable the following policies:

- Enable the default search provider: Enabled

– Default search provider icon: Enabled > https://duckduckgo.com/favicon.ico
– Default search provider instant URL: Enabled > https://duckduckgo.com?q=%s

- Default search provider keyword: Enabled > duckduckgo.com
– Default search provider name: Enabled > DuckDuckGo
– Default search provider search URL: Enabled > https://duckduckgo.com?q={searchTerms}

Reboot your computer for changes to take effect.

Cheers!