A client reported issues with the Five9 Agent client not working correctly. The agent.jnlp file would download, and would initially open but would error out before the splash screen went away. After some troubleshooting, we determined that there were three semi-problems working in tandem creating one big problem.
Problem 1: Chrome no longer supports NPAPI-based plugins, of which Java is one
Problem 2: The default save location for Chrome is %USERPROFILE%\Downloads, which in this instance has been redirected via group policy to a network drive subfolder
Problem 3: The Five9 software does not like it when it is run from a network-based location
Add all these up and you get the following: when the user clicks on the “Agent” link, instead of instantly opening because Chrome “understands” Java, the agent.jnlp file is simply downloaded to the users “Downloads” folder and then a second click is required to run the software from the download bar in Chrome.
Since we couldn’t change the default download location in Chrome for other political reasons, we needed to find an easy way to get Chrome to “understand” that .jnlp files are executable rather than necessary to download. Our solution was to install the “IE Tab for Chrome” extension.
IE Tab works by taking the entire viewable size of a tab and running an instance of Internet Explorer within it, more or less transparently to the user. You can define the sites that you wish to have IE Tab intercept from Chrome and reload in this IE-ish window so that you don’t have to toggle a button each time you visit the site. Since IE still allows NPAPI-based plugins such as Java, it means that when viewed in IE Tab, the Five9 site will automatically launch the .jnlp file since it is only downloaded to the user’s Temporary Internet Files location which is on their local C: drive, and will open correctly.
Steps to solve this issue:
- Open Google Chrome
- In the Omnibox, search for “IETab”
- The first link should be “IE Tab – Chrome Web Store” – select that link
- Click the “Add To Chrome” button at the top-right
- When prompted, click the “Add extension” button
- You may close the “IE Tab Documentation” tab that appears
- Login to the Five9 website but do not attempt to run any of the apps
- Once logged in, click the IE Tab button next to the Omnibar as shown
- On
the “One-time installation steps” page that opens, click “Keep” on the
download prompt on the download bar at the bottom of the window, and
then click the downloaded program “ietabhelper.exe” to run it
- If the publisher is listed as “Blackfish Software”, click “Run” on the Security Warning window that appears
- The tab should reload and now you will need to login to Five9 again
- Once logged in, the Five9 applications (e.g. Agent, Administrator, etc.) should all open correctly in IE Tab within Chrome
