Thorium

[Dave-H]

I am trying to replace 360Chrome with Thorium as the default browser on my Windows XP installation.
Neither browser has a native in-built mechanism to do this of course.

I did it with 360Chrome by editing the necessary registry entries, and it has always worked fine since I did that, opening the HTM and HTML files from Windows Explorer, and opening links in e-mails and documents.

I'm now trying to replicate that with Thorium, but I've run into a puzzling problem.
I've managed to get files to open in Thorium absolutely fine, but what I cannot get working is the opening of links in e-mails and documents.
I've been through the registry entries, and everything looks OK, but when I click on a link in an e-mail message say, Thorium opens but it's badly malfunctioning.

Immediately I get two pop-ups telling me that two extensions have crashed (Trusteer Rapport and uBlock Origin). All the other extensions seems to be OK.
More seriously, if I try to open any tabs, even internal ones like the settings, they immediately crash, with 'Error code: 0xC0150004'.

This is one of those useless codes which just tells you that something went wrong, without telling you what the problem actually was!

The registry entry which controls what opens when links embedded in messages are clicked seems to be (for HTTPS) HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\https.
If I change the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\https\shell\open\command entry, the program which opens changes.
At the moment it's set to run 360Chrome, which opens and works fine.

If I put the equivalent string in to run Thorium, it opens but malfunctions as above.
Putting exactly the same string into the 'Run' box and running it works perfectly!

Has anyone any clue what's happening here?
This makes no sense at all to me!

[dmiranda]

https://www.winhelponline.com/xp/defaultbrowser.htm (now in version 1.8 - i had been using 1.4) has always served me well.

 

PS: BTW, since when does the forum require entering the registered email? first time I remember, today.

Edited August 4, 2024 by dmiranda

[Dave-H]

Thanks!

I already tried this utility -
https://github.com/SiL3NC3/PortableRegistrator

It produced the same errors when Thorium was run from a link.
I will try the one you suggest, especially as it is designed specifically for XP!

[NotHereToPlayGames]

The registered email for login took effect sometime yesterday.

I hunted for an "announcement" but couldn't find one (though I didn't spend more than 20 seconds).

All I got was an error message during login that there was no @ symbol in my login.

I used to only log in by my username, NOT my email address.

All I found was a tiny one-liner by xper in a random thread citing "spam flood fixed".

My guess is that requiring an email address for login is somehow related to "spam flood fixed".

Edited August 4, 2024 by NotHereToPlayGames

[NotHereToPlayGames]

2 hours ago, Dave-H said:

I am trying to replace 360Chrome with Thorium as the default browser on my Windows XP installation.

Unsure if this will help or not.

I personally NO LONGER use any "default browser" integrations within my operating systems.

To each their own, of course, I do this as a security measure, no clicks of what normally takes you to a "browser" or "email client" do ANYTHING on my system.

 

But back when I used Sleipnir and then GreenBrowser as my "default", this is how I manually set it as "default" in XP --

;Set GreenBrowser IE8 Emulation
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MAIN\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION]
"GreenBrowser.exe"=dword:00001f40

;Set GreenBrowser as Default Browser
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Clients\mail]
@="Microsoft Outlook"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Clients\StartMenuInternet]
@="IEXPLORE.EXE"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Cached]
"{2559A1F4-21D7-11D4-BDAF-00C04F60B9F0} {000214E6-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} 0x401"=hex:00,\
  00,00,00,31,00,35,00,b0,16,ee,04,ce,3d,ca,01
"{2559A1F5-21D7-11D4-BDAF-00C04F60B9F0} {000214E6-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} 0x401"=hex:00,\
  00,00,00,31,00,35,00,ea,ae,0a,fd,cd,3d,ca,01
"{F81E9010-6EA4-11CE-A7FF-00AA003CA9F6} {000214E8-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} 0x401"=hex:01,\
  00,00,00,37,00,32,00,e6,9a,bc,fe,cd,3d,ca,01

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"Check_Associations"="No"
"IgnoreDefCheck"="Yes"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.shtml]
@="htmlfile"
"Content Type"="text/html"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\ftp\shell]
@="GreenBrowser"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\ftp\shell\GreenBrowser\command]
@="\"C:\\Miscellaneous\\GreenBrowser\\GreenBrowser.exe\" \"%1\""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\ftp\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Miscellaneous\\GreenBrowser\\GreenBrowser.exe\" \"%1\""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\htmlfile\shell]
@="GreenBrowser"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\htmlfile\shell\GreenBrowser\command]
@="\"C:\\Miscellaneous\\GreenBrowser\\GreenBrowser.exe\" \"%1\""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\htmlfile\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Miscellaneous\\GreenBrowser\\GreenBrowser.exe\" \"%1\""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\http\shell]
@="GreenBrowser"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\http\shell\GreenBrowser\command]
@="\"C:\\Miscellaneous\\GreenBrowser\\GreenBrowser.exe\" \"%1\""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\http\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Miscellaneous\\GreenBrowser\\GreenBrowser.exe\" \"%1\""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\https\shell]
@="GreenBrowser"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\https\shell\GreenBrowser\command]
@="\"C:\\Miscellaneous\\GreenBrowser\\GreenBrowser.exe\" \"%1\""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\https\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Miscellaneous\\GreenBrowser\\GreenBrowser.exe\" \"%1\""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\InternetShortcut\Shell]
@="GreenBrowser"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\InternetShortcut\Shell\GreenBrowser\command]
@="\"C:\\Miscellaneous\\GreenBrowser\\GreenBrowser.exe\" \"%1\""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\InternetShortcut\Shell\Open\Command]
@="\"C:\\Miscellaneous\\GreenBrowser\\GreenBrowser.exe\" \"%1\""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\mhtmlfile\shell]
@="GreenBrowser"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\mhtmlfile\shell\GreenBrowser\command]
@="\"C:\\Miscellaneous\\GreenBrowser\\GreenBrowser.exe\" \"%1\""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\mhtmlfile\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Miscellaneous\\GreenBrowser\\GreenBrowser.exe\" \"%1\""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet]
@="GreenBrowser.exe"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\GreenBrowser.exe]
"LocalizedString"="GreenBrowser Web Browser"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\GreenBrowser.exe\shell\open\command]
@="C:\\Miscellaneous\\GreenBrowser\\GreenBrowser.exe"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Cached]
"{2559A1F4-21D7-11D4-BDAF-00C04F60B9F0} {000214E6-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} 0x401"=hex:00,\
  00,00,00,31,00,35,00,be,e4,ed,ce,5e,cd,cc,01
"{2559A1F5-21D7-11D4-BDAF-00C04F60B9F0} {000214E6-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} 0x401"=hex:00,\
  00,00,00,31,00,35,00,50,e3,0c,cf,5e,cd,cc,01

;Increase GreenBrowser Connections
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_MAXCONNECTIONSPERSERVER]
"GreenBrowser.exe"=dword:0000000a

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_MAXCONNECTIONSPER1_0SERVER]
"GreenBrowser.exe"=dword:0000000a
 

[Dave-H]

3 hours ago, Dave-H said:

Thanks!

I already tried this utility -
https://github.com/SiL3NC3/PortableRegistrator

It produced the same errors when Thorium was run from a link.
I will try the one you suggest, especially as it is designed specifically for XP!

Same issue I'm afraid, Thorium will still not run properly from e-mail links.
That's a great program though, I love the way you can just undo what it's done with a singe click!

[Klemper]

20 hours ago, dmiranda said:

BTW, since when does the forum require entering the registered email? first time I remember, today.

No one asked me to. I guess it's only applied when they detect or suspect spamming activities.

[Dixel]

Can I request @Dave-Hto move the posts regarding CH spoofing, starting from this one:

EDIT, and make all of the below to appear at the beginning, members already started to reply to the new topic.

https://msfn.org/board/topic/186133-thorium/?do=findComment&comment=1270289

And then, move these posts, in this order.

https://msfn.org/board/topic/186133-thorium/?do=findComment&comment=1270224

https://msfn.org/board/topic/186133-thorium/?do=findComment&comment=1270235

https://msfn.org/board/topic/186133-thorium/?do=findComment&comment=1270228

https://msfn.org/board/topic/186133-thorium/?do=findComment&comment=1270230

https://msfn.org/board/topic/186133-thorium/?do=findComment&comment=1270235

https://msfn.org/board/topic/186133-thorium/?do=findComment&comment=1270236

https://msfn.org/board/topic/186133-thorium/?do=findComment&comment=1270238

To the new, dedicated topic. Thank you!

https://msfn.org/board/topic/186401-the-wretched-chrome-client-hints-another-doomsday-of-privacy-ways-out-of-it/

 

 

Edited August 5, 2024 by Dixel

[Dixel]

New issue with Thorium, got a BSOD today without minidupms, The browser was open without any sites for quite some time, Several hours, maybe.

Then I heard two short beeps, saw a short splash with BSOD, the PC went into reboot, Yes, on that PC, I do have the reboot option checked.

[AstroSkipper]

41 minutes ago, Dixel said:

New issue with Thorium, got a BSOD today without minidupms, The browser was open without any sites for quite some time, Several hours, maybe.

Then I heard two short beeps, saw a short splash with BSOD, the PC went into reboot, Yes, on that PC, I do have the reboot option checked.

Getting a BOSD without a minidump is very rare. Do you really have the creation of minidumps enabled in your system?  If so, maybe, the crash was so fast that the minidump couldn't be saved. But that's just an assumption. Besides this issue, we shouldn't forget that Thorium is still under development. I'm not surprised at all that BSODs happen, I'm literally expecting them.  That's why Thorium wouldn't become a default browser in my Windows XP system at the moment.  There are better alternatives for this purpose.

Edited August 5, 2024 by AstroSkipper
Update of content

[Dave-H]

11 hours ago, Dixel said:

Can I request @Dave-Hto move the posts regarding CH spoofing, starting from this one:

EDIT, and make all of the below to appear at the beginning, members already started to reply to the new topic.

https://msfn.org/board/topic/186133-thorium/?do=findComment&comment=1270289

And then, move these posts, in this order.

https://msfn.org/board/topic/186133-thorium/?do=findComment&comment=1270224

https://msfn.org/board/topic/186133-thorium/?do=findComment&comment=1270235

https://msfn.org/board/topic/186133-thorium/?do=findComment&comment=1270228

https://msfn.org/board/topic/186133-thorium/?do=findComment&comment=1270230

https://msfn.org/board/topic/186133-thorium/?do=findComment&comment=1270235

https://msfn.org/board/topic/186133-thorium/?do=findComment&comment=1270236

https://msfn.org/board/topic/186133-thorium/?do=findComment&comment=1270238

To the new, dedicated topic. Thank you!

https://msfn.org/board/topic/186401-the-wretched-chrome-client-hints-another-doomsday-of-privacy-ways-out-of-it/

Done (I hope!)

I can't do anything about the order the posts appear in.
The forum software just puts them in strict chronological order.

[AstroSkipper]

23 hours ago, Dave-H said:

Same issue I'm afraid, Thorium will still not run properly from e-mail links.

I think the problem is the way you usually call up the Thorium browser, or the way you open links in this browser. If you start the browser by applying the THORIUM_PORTABLE.bat file, a link to be opened cannot be transferred to this starter batch file via command line. Even if it is compiled to an exe file. I have tested that. If you start the browser by applying the thorium.exe file, a link can be transferred via command line but then all your flags inside the THORIUM_PORTABLE.bat file will be of course ignored. So, you have to add to those registry settings, where the thorium.exe file is called up, all your command line flags from the THORIUM_PORTABLE.bat file. This problem doesn't exist when calling up 360Chrome. You can successfully start this browser with a website transferred to its starter app 360Loader.exe via command line as a parameter. Try this:

360Loader.exe www.google.de

And you will see, it works. And now try this:

thorium.exe www.google.de

You'll see, it works, too, but all your settings are not applied. However, when you try this:

THORIUM_PORTABLE.bat www.google.de

then you'll notice that it doesn't work. The browser will be called up but the Google website won't be opened. But when trying this:

thorium.exe --user-data-dir="PathToYourUserProfile" --your-flags --single-argument www.google.de

You'll see it works. The string PathToYourUserProfile has to be replaced by the complete path to your user profile and the string --your-flags by all your command line flags from the THORIUM_PORTABLE.bat file. The --single-argument flag is the one from the registry settings. Have a look at the files HKCR.reg and HKLM.reg inside the Thorium folder!

Edited August 5, 2024 by AstroSkipper
Update of content

[Dave-H]

Thanks @NotHereToPlayGames and @AstroSkipper.

I am actually now using the loader file that came with 360Chrome to load Thorium, with a suitably edited INI file of course.

[Setup]
AppName=Thorium

[FileToRun]
PathToExe=.\Chrome\Application\$AppName$.exe
Parameters=--user-data-dir="D:\Program Files\Thorium\Chrome\User Data" --no-proxy-server /high-dpi-support=1 /force-device-scale-factor=1 --disable-component-update --use-angle=d3d9 --ignore-gpu-blocklist --single-argument

[Environment]
Profile=.\Chrome\User Data

It seems to work fine, and saves me having to append all the start-up switches to the command lines in the registry!

Running it this way makes no difference to the problem though, a command line from the registry does not launch Thorium properly, but exactly the same command line in a shortcut or a 'run' command works fine! This is what I can't get my head around.

I added the --single-argument switch to see if that made any difference, but it doesn't.

[AstroSkipper]

11 hours ago, Dave-H said:

Running it this way makes no difference to the problem though, a command line from the registry does not launch Thorium properly, but exactly the same command line in a shortcut or a 'run' command works fine! This is what I can't get my head around.

I added the --single-argument switch to see if that made any difference, but it doesn't.

Are you able to open a link in Thorium via the system context menu "Open with" with your modified 360Loader?  I ask you this as taking up a link via the system context menu "Open with" would be the transfer of a link via a command line command that is initiated from the registry. And you said this wouldn't work in your Windows XP system. Right? 

Edited August 6, 2024 by AstroSkipper
Update of content

[AstroSkipper]

12 hours ago, Dave-H said:

Thanks @NotHereToPlayGames and @AstroSkipper.

You're welcome. 

12 hours ago, Dave-H said:

I am actually now using the loader file that came with 360Chrome to load Thorium, with a suitably edited INI file of course.

[Setup]
AppName=Thorium

[FileToRun]
PathToExe=.\Chrome\Application\$AppName$.exe
Parameters=--user-data-dir="D:\Program Files\Thorium\Chrome\User Data" --no-proxy-server /high-dpi-support=1 /force-device-scale-factor=1 --disable-component-update --use-angle=d3d9 --ignore-gpu-blocklist --single-argument

[Environment]
Profile=.\Chrome\User Data

It seems to work fine, and saves me having to append all the start-up switches to the command lines in the registry!

BTW, why do you define an enviroment variable $Profile$ when you don't intend to use it?