brave attempting to download crx and crashes instead of installing extension

[kjozwiak]

Description

@jonathansampson mentioned that a user under Win 7 is having issues installing extensions. Instead of installing the extension, brave attempts to download the .crx file:

https://twitter.com/LittleSweetie4/status/1051933408266465285

When this situation where brave attempts to download the .crx file occurs, it also crashes the browser:

• https://stats.brave.com/dashboard#crash/5bc62fab72fff5001e088ba8 (dev)
• https://stats.brave.com/dashboard#crash/5bc6309172fff5001e0895a1 (dev)
• https://stats.brave.com/dashboard#crash/5bc6326c72fff5001e08aa5b (beta)

I also managed to reproduce this on Win 10 x64 but it doesn't happen as often as Win 7 right after an install. To reproduce this on Win 10, you usually need to remove the older profile, start brave again to generate the new profile and then attempt installing an extension. You'll eventually run into the issue.

Steps to Reproduce

Win 7 x64 STR:

1. install either beta or dev
2. once brave is launched, visit https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/extensions?hl=en
3. search for MetaMask and attempt installing the extension

You'll notice that instead of installing it, it will attempt to download the .crx file and brave will end up crashing.

Win 10 x64 STR:

1. install either beta or dev and launch brave
2. close brave and remove C:\Users\kjozwiak\AppData\Local\BraveSoftware (WARNING: If you've installed Brave via none-admin, you'll only need to remove C:\Users\kamil\AppData\Local\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser-Beta\User Data. Don't remove the entire C:\Users\kjozwiak\AppData\Local\BraveSoftware folder as that will remove the executables as well.)
3. restart brave and visit https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/extensions?hl=en
4. search for MetaMask and attempt installing the extension

You'll notice that that sometimes instead of installing the extension, brave attempts to download the crx file and brave will end up crashing.

Alternative Win 10 x64 STR:

1. install either beta or dev and launch brave
2. create a new user via the Manage People feature
3. using the new user profile, open https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/extensions?hl=en
4. search for MetaMask and attempt installing the extension

You'll notice that that sometimes instead of installing the extension, brave attempts to download the crx file and brave will end up crashing.

Actual result:

Windows 7 x64 Example:

Windows 10 x64 Example:

Expected result:

Brave shouldn't attempt to download the crx files and crash the browser when installing extensions.

Reproduces how often:

• Win 7 x64 - Reproducible 100% of the time
• Win 10 x64 - Reproducible about 70% of the time after removing the original profile

Brave version (brave://version info)

Brave	0.55.14 Chromium: 70.0.3538.54 (Official Build) beta (64-bit)
Revision	4f8e578b6680574714e9ed3bb9f02922b4dde40d-refs/branch-heads/3538@{#937}
OS	Windows

Brave	0.56.4 Chromium: 70.0.3538.54 (Official Build) dev (64-bit)
Revision	4f8e578b6680574714e9ed3bb9f02922b4dde40d-refs/branch-heads/3538@{#937}
OS	Windows

Reproducible on current release:

• Does it reproduce on brave-browser dev/beta builds?

Yes, currently reproducible under dev and beta as outlined above.

• Does it reproduce on browser-laptop?

N/A

Additional Information

Win 7 x64:

• 0.55.14 Chromium: 70.0.3538.54 (beta) - Reproduced
• 0.56.4 Chromium: 70.0.3538.54 (dev) - Reproduced

Win 10 x64: (Reproduced by @srirambv as well)

• 0.55.14 Chromium: 70.0.3538.54 (beta) - Reproduced
• 0.56.4 Chromium: 70.0.3538.54 (dev) - Reproduced

@LaurenWags @srirambv couldn't reproduce the issue on macOS & Linux. Right now it seems Win related.

[btlechowski]

Reproduced on my physical machine with Win7 x64 using Win 7 x64 STR

Brave	0.55.14 Chromium: 70.0.3538.54 (Official Build) beta(64-bit)
Revision	4f8e578b6680574714e9ed3bb9f02922b4dde40d-refs/branch-heads/3538@{#937}
OS	Windows 7

[srirambv]

Verification Passed on

Brave	0.55.17 Chromium: 70.0.3538.67 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Revision	9ab0cfab84ded083718d3a4ff830726efd38869f-refs/branch-heads/3538@{#1002}
OS	Linux

• Verified extension download works and installs without crashing the browser

Verification passed on

Brave	0.55.17 Chromium: 70.0.3538.67 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Revision	9ab0cfab84ded083718d3a4ff830726efd38869f-refs/branch-heads/3538@{#1002}
OS	Windows 7 x64

• Extension was successfully downloaded and installed

Went through verification using the following build under macOS 10.13.6 x64 - PASSED

Brave	0.55.17 Chromium: 70.0.3538.67 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Revision	9ab0cfab84ded083718d3a4ff830726efd38869f-refs/branch-heads/3538@{#1002}
OS	Mac OS X