| Priority | Action | |----------|--------| | | Audit all Silverlight dependencies | | High | Rewrite using HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript framework (React, Angular, Vue, Blazor) | | Medium | For legacy internal tools, use IE mode in Edge temporarily | | Low | Use a legacy browser on an isolated, non-internet-connected machine |
1. Executive Summary Microsoft Silverlight does not work in Google Chrome by default. As of September 2015 (Chrome version 45), Google removed support for NPAPI (Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface), the technology that Silverlight (and Java, Unity, etc.) relied upon. Modern versions of Chrome cannot run Silverlight without significant configuration or third-party tools. silverlight in chrome
Microsoft no longer provides updates or security patches for Silverlight. Even if you force it to run, your system is at risk. If you own or maintain a Silverlight application: | Priority | Action | |----------|--------| | |
Migrate away from Silverlight to modern web standards (HTML5, WebAssembly, WebGL) wherever possible. 2. Technical Background | Feature | Silverlight | Chrome Support | |---------|-------------|----------------| | Plugin architecture | NPAPI | Removed in Chrome 45+ | | Alternative API | PPAPI (Pepper) | Not supported by Silverlight | | 64-bit Chrome | N/A | Does not support NPAPI plugins | | Default security model | Plugin-based | Plugin-free, sandboxed | Modern versions of Chrome cannot run Silverlight without
Silverlight was a browser plugin, similar to Flash. When Chrome dropped NPAPI, Silverlight was effectively blocked from loading. | Chrome Version | Silverlight Support | |----------------|---------------------| | Chrome 44 and older | ✅ Works (if NPAPI manually enabled) | | Chrome 45–86 | ❌ No native support | | Chrome 87+ (current) | ❌ No native support | | Chrome Enterprise | ❌ No official support |