During my latest (and greatest) project I got the request to add Google as default search provider to Internet Explorer. Luckily I was able to leverage RES Workspace Manager to add the search provider in Internet Explorer.

When searching on the Internet using our trustful friend Google I found a couple of websites stating how to add the Search Provider:

• PowerShell

  <a style="font-size: medium;" href="https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/464?hl=nl" target="_blank">Set Google as default search engine</a>

  1	<a style="font-size: medium;" href="https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/464?hl=nl" target="_blank">Set Google as default search engine</a>

• PowerShell

  <a style="font-size: medium;" href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/internet-explorer-tips/change-default-search-engine-ie/" target="_blank">Change the Default Search Engine in IE via Registry</a>

  1	<a style="font-size: medium;" href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/internet-explorer-tips/change-default-search-engine-ie/" target="_blank">Change the Default Search Engine in IE via Registry</a>

• PowerShell

  <a style="font-size: medium;" href="http://itminutes.net/?p=837" target="_blank">Add Google to IE search providers with GPO preferences</a>

  1	<a style="font-size: medium;" href="http://itminutes.net/?p=837" target="_blank">Add Google to IE search providers with GPO preferences</a>

But this post on the forums helped me out on how to create a user registry that could add the Google Search Provider based on registry items in HKCU.

So I’ve added a registry setting to add a search provider with the following details:

• DisplayName (The name that is displayed in the browser)
• FaviconPath (The path to the favicon, created based on faviconURL)
• FaviconURL (The URL to the favicon)
• OSDFileURL (The URL to the IE Gallery)
• URL (The URL to the search engine)

So I’ve added this registry keys and when testing I found the search provider in the browser, I still needed to set the default search provider for the users. There’s a good article on how you can do that here. When following the article this would result in a policy with the following choices:

The screenshot was taken from a regular Active Directory GPO but as I’m using RES Workspace Manager for all my user related settings I’ve imported the .ADM File into RES Workspace Manager to configure the policy so if you import this .ADM file the screen you’ll get will be different.

After adding this policy into RES Workspace Manager and setting it to the proper search engine my test user was provided with the Google Search Provider as default search engine for Internet Explorer.

The following two tabs change content below.

• Bio
• Latest Posts

Kees Baggerman

Kees Baggerman is a Staff Solutions Architect for End User Computing at Nutanix. Kees has driven numerous Microsoft and Citrix, and RES infrastructures functional/technical designs, migrations, implementations engagements over the years.

Latest posts by Kees Baggerman (see all)

• Nutanix AHV and Citrix MCS: Adding a persistent disk via Powershell – v2 - November 19, 2019
• Recovering a Protection Domain snapshot to a VM - September 13, 2019
• Checking power settings on VMs using powershell - September 11, 2019
• Updated: VM Reporting Script for Nutanix with Powershell - July 3, 2019
• Updated (again!): VM Reporting Script for Nutanix AHV/vSphere with Powershell - June 17, 2019