Why does Chrome Browser redirect my browser history (chrome://history) to new tab page***?

Question

*** new tab page = chrome-search://local-ntp/local-ntp.html

I'm running 64-bit win 10. I've disabled the new tab redirect extension and that did nothing. How to determine which setting or extension is causing this problem?

Solution

Someone helpful provided the following answer (link):

If you're still having this issue, it's possible that it's another extension that's overriding "chrome://history". I know there's a way to install "hidden extensions", or ones that don't show in the extensions list that a user sees in the browser. I unfortunately don't know that process; it may be policies, registry entries in Windows, or even a custom service in your workplace which makes a one-time modification.

If it's another extension, you can search through your installed extensions directory, which should be C:\Users**username**\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions. If you find a history override, it would look like this:

"chrome_url_overrides": {
    "history": "something.html"
  },

If you do find something, I would suggest notifying the security team in your company. If there's a malicious extension, the company should be made aware of it. If there's an extension which is installed by your company, I would press them to consider removing it. Disallowing users to view the history on their own machines (even if it is company owned) could be a security risk.

Comments

[quipquopro]

Update: This only happens @ work, so I suspect that it might be corp policy setting. Anyone else out there experienced this issue?

[Patrick Moore]

I've been having a problem recently where I'm too fast for New Tab Redirect. So I open new tab, type in address, press enter – all before New Tab Redirect loads correct page in tab. So when New Tab Redirect does its job, it overtakes the request already in progress. Maybe similar problem for you? Specifically at work you may have slower network.

[quipquopro]

@PatrickMoore - thanks for the comment. I think this is a different issue.