Installing GoGuardian Beacon

Welcome! Installing GoGuardian is quick and easy. This guide will walk you through the process of getting your organization up and running in just a few simple steps:

• 1. Locate your GoGuardian Extensions 
• 2. Force-Install the Extensions
• 3a. Configure your Google Admin Console User settings
• 3b. Configure your Google Admin Console Device settings

Note: If your school or school district already has already been using another GoGuardian product such as GoGuardian Admin or GoGuardian Teacher, the extensions may have already been deployed, and you will not need to follow this installation guide. Check with your IT administrator for confirmation.

1. Locate your GoGuardian Extensions

Every GoGuardian account has a unique pair of Chrome extensions. To find your organization's extensions, sign-in to GoGuardian using your Admin credentials and visit here: https://account.goguardian.com/#/getting-started/deploy

Keep this window open for the next step!

2. Force-Install the Extensions 

1. Using your Google Admin Credentials, sign in to admin.google.com
2. Click Devices
3. Click Chrome Management
4. Scroll down and click Apps and Extensions
5. On the left, select the OU that contains the student accounts that you intend to filter and monitor. 
   *Note: If you wish to monitor all users in the organization, including teachers and staff, highlight the domain-level (top-level) OU for your organization.
6. Hover over the yellow plus sign at the bottom right corner of the screen
7. Click the top icon to Add Chrome app by extension or by ID
8. Click the drop-down menu to select From a Custom URL
9. Refer back to the GoGuardian Setup window for the App IDs and URLs
10. Copy and paste the first App ID and URL into their respective fields, then click Save.
    *Note: Both extensions have unique installation URLs. 
11. In the resulting window for the app you've just installed, click the drop-down menu for Installation Policy. Select either Force Install or Force Install + Pin.
12. On the right-hand menu for your newly installed extension, click the drop-down menu for Permissions and URL access and select Allow All Permissions. 
13. Repeat steps 8-14 for the second App ID and URL into the respective fields, then click Save.
    Note: Both extensions have unique installation URLs. 

Now that the extensions are installed, let's configure the rest of the Google Admin Console. 

3. Configure your Google Admin Console Settings

3a. Configure User Settings

From the Google Admin Home screen, click through
Devices > Chrome Management > User & Browser Settings
In the left sidebar, select the OU that contains the user accounts you intend to filter and monitor, then configure the following policies to match these values.

Protip: Use the Find tool to quickly locate policies (Command + F  or Ctrl + F).

1. Policy: Incognito Mode
   Value: Disallow Incognito Mode
   Priority: Required
   
   
2. Policy: Screenshot
   Value: Allow users to take screenshots
   Priority: Required
   Description: Disabling screenshots will cause problems with GoGuardian Teacher and Smart Alerts.
   
   
3. Policy: Developer Tools
   Value: Never Allow the use of built-in developer tools
   Priority: Required
   Description: Developer tools can be used to disable extensions. Google also recommends disabling these tools in most cases.
   
   
4. Policy: Allowed Types of Apps and Extensions/Applications Settings Page
   Value: Extension - Must be Checked (other types are optional)
   Priority: Required
   Description: Disabling (unchecking) types will prevent apps of that kind from being installed by admins or users. Apps and extensions can be managed by other means.
   
   
5. Policy: Force-installed Apps and Extensions
   Value: Both GoGuardian Extensions should be installed as outlined above.
   Priority: Required
   Description: Install both of your GoGuardian extensions here, as explained above.
   
   
6. Policy: Allow or Block Apps and Extensions
   Value: Apps & Extensions Page > Allow users to install other Apps & Extensions > Block all other Apps and Extensions
   Priority: Optional, but HIGHLY recommended
   Description: Some third-party apps and extensions can be used to bypass GoGuardian. We strongly recommend blocking all other apps and extensions with this policy and manage a list of approved apps using the policy below. If "Allow All Apps" is selected, Apps and Extensions can be managed using GoGuardian Admin Policies. Note: GoGuardian can only filter apps and extensions installed from the Chrome Web Store.
   
   
7. Policy: Apps & Extensions Page > Allowed Apps and Extensions
   Value: Add any approved apps and extensions to this list.
   Priority: Required, if "Block All Apps..." is enabled.
   Description: This policy is used to manage approved apps and extensions. Make sure to add both GoGuardian extensions to this list, in addition to your approved apps.
   
   
8. Policy: Chrome Management for Signed-in Users
   Value: Apply All User Policies when users sign into Chrome...
   Priority: Optional (caution)
   Description: Enforces Chrome policies when users sign into the Chrome Browser on Windows, Macs, and Linux devices. Setting this to "Do Not Apply..." will prevent GoGuardian from working on non-ChromeOS devices and prevent other Chrome Policies from being pushed to your users on non-ChromeOS devices.
   
   
9. Policy: Applications Settings Page > Block Extensions by Permission
   Priority: Optional
   Value: Either value is optional, however, please see Description below
   Description: Both GoGuardian extensions require the following permissions, so please ensure the following are not checked: 
   
   
   • alarms
   • detect idle
   • notifications
   • memory metadata
   • identity
   • storage
   • web requests
   • geolocation
   • CPU metadata
   • native messaging
   • block web requests
10. Policy: Restricted Mode for YouTube
    Value: No Policy Set
    Priority: Optional
    Description: This policy is enforced in addition to GoGuardian Policies and may result in conflicting rules. Google's policy is enforced first, but can be avoided if users sign out of YouTube. We strongly recommend using GoGuardian Policies for filtering YouTube Content, as they are enforced whether a user is signed in or not.
    
    
11. Policy: Task Manager
    Value: Block users from ending processes with the Chrome task manager
    Priority: Optional, but recommended
    
    
12. Policy: Safe Browsing
    Value: Always Enable Safe Browsing
    Priority: Optional, but recommended
    
    
13. Policy: SafeSearch and Restricted Mode
    Value: Always Use Safe Search...
    Priority: Optional, but recommended

3b. Configure Device Settings

From the Google Admin Home screen, click through 
Devices > Chrome Management > Device Settings
In the left sidebar, select the OU that contains your Chromebooks, then configure the following policies to match these values.

Protip: Use the Find tool to quickly locate policies (Command + F  or Ctrl + F).

1. Policy: Forced Re-Enrollment
   Value: Force device to automatically re-enroll into this domain after wiping
   Priority: Recommended 
   
   
2. Policy: Guest Mode
   Value: Disable guest mode
   Priority: Required
   
   
3. Policy: Verified Access
   Value: Enable for content protection
4. Policy: Verified Mode
   Value: Require verified mode boot for verified access
    
5. Policy: Sign In Restrictions
   Value: Restrict Sign-in to a list of users
   Priority: Required
   Description: In the field, add your district's domain and subdomains preceded with a wildcard/asterisk. If you have multiple domains, separate each subdomain with a comma.
   Example:
   *@goguardian.com, *@students.goguardian.com, *@teachers.goguardian.com

Firewall Restrictions

Additionally, if your campus has a restrictive firewall or additional content filter, you may need to open up connections to our services. Please see this article for more information: Additional Firewalls and Content Filters. 

To set up accounts, please refer to our Org Management resources.