Video DownloadHelper Extension Fails to Recognize Companion App on ChromeOS Linux

[JanePetersen]

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Video DownloadHelper (VDH) extension on ChromeOS (version 129.0.6668.99, 64-bit) fails to recognize the companion app (coapp) version 2.0.19, despite seemingly correct installation and configuration. The extension displays the error message "Specified native messaging host not found."

Troubleshooting Steps Taken:

1. Companion App Installation and Verification:

• Installed the latest coapp (2.0.19) using the official Linux script.
• Verified the coapp is running and re-registered it using vdhcoapp install.
• Confirmed correct installation path (/home/cbgb2112/.local/share/vdhcoapp) and executable location.
• Ensured no conflicting Chrome extensions are active.

2. Native Messaging Host Manifest:

• Manually created the manifest file (net.downloadhelper.coapp.json) at ~/.config/google-chrome/NativeMessagingHosts/ with correct path to the executable and allowed origin (extension ID).
• Verified file permissions and ownership.

3. Chrome Extension and Profile:

• Confirmed the latest VDH extension version (9.1.0.44) is installed and "Native client" is enabled in settings.
• Tried disabling and re-enabling the extension.
• Attempted creating a new Chrome profile and installing VDH there.
• Cleared Chrome browsing data.
• Uninstalled and reinstalled both the VDH extension and coapp.

4. Linux Environment:

• Verified ChromeOS is updated.Confirmed Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) is running in the Linux environment.
• Added the coapp directory to PATH in .bashrc.
• Checked firewall settings (if applicable).

5. Other:

• Restarted Chromebook.
• Investigated memory usage.

Current Status:

• Despite all troubleshooting efforts, the VDH extension still cannot find the native messaging host. The issue might lie within the extension itself or a deeper ChromeOS/Linux environment interaction.

Additional Information:

• VDH extension details: version 9.1.0.44, stable channel, en-US locale, production build.
• ChromeOS details: version 129.0.6668.99 (Official Build), 64-bit.Linux environment details: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm), kernel 6.6.46-04024-g9e7e147b4900.
• Output of vdhcoapp --info confirms successful coapp installation and configuration.

Anything I missed?

Addon & CoApp version and details

version: 9.1.0.44
target: google
channel: stable
lang: en-US
coapp: {"error":"Specified native messaging host not found.","found":false}
license: {"unset":true}
platform: x86-64 cros
UA: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; CrOS x86_64 14541.0.0) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/129.0.0.0 Safari/537.36
{
"view_options": {
"all_tabs": false,
"hide_downloaded": false,
"low_quality": false,
"show_button_clean": true,
"show_button_clean_all": false,
"show_button_convert_local": false,
"sort_by_status": true,
"sort_reverse": false
},
"open_count_store": 2
}