Anomaly with Google Chrome extensions - Forticlient

Hello Jotsu4520, 

Thank you for using the Community Forum. I will seek to get you an answer or help. We will reply to this thread with an update as soon as possible. 

Regards,

​@Jotsu4520 

This might be due to anti-exploit detection as you are suspecting.
Web browser plugin for HTTPS web filtering | FortiClient 7.4.8 | Fortinet Document Library
Anti-exploit detection | FortiClient 7.4.8 | Fortinet Document Library

To confirm if Anti-Exploit is causing the profile corruption:

-Open FortiClient EMS.

-Navigate to your Endpoint Profiles > Malware Protection (or Vulnerability Scan / Anti-Exploit).

-Temporarily add chrome.exe to the Anti-Exploit Exclusion List.

-Run a test update on a staging machine and reboot to verify if Chrome retains extension settings.

The second workaround would be to manage extensions via Google Chrome (Not native FortiClient)

This prevents FortiClient from modifying Chrome's Secure Preferences file directly, eliminating Chrome's tampering auto-reset.

Force-install the FortiClient Web Filter extension via Google Chrome Group Policy (GPO):
Path: Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Google Chrome > Extensions
Setting: Configure the list of force-installed apps and extensions
Add the extension ID along with the update URL.

P.S: if this helps you fix the issue, please mark it a solution so that others can find it useful.

Man, that is super annoying. I haven't updated to 7.4.8 on my main machine yet, but if it's acting like it's creating a fresh user profile every time the reboot hits, it sounds like something in the background process or web filter is hanging onto the Chrome data path or locking files during shutdown. Have you checked Event Viewer or the FortiClient logs right before a reboot to see if a service is crashing? Might give a clue whether it's the anti-exploit module messing with things.

Thank you ​@xshkurti,