Google Chromecast sender error if Chromecast extension is not installed or using incognito

Question

I'm having an error running Chromecast sender in Chrome Incognito or if Chromecast extension is not installed:

Failed to load resource: net::ERR_ADDRESS_UNREACHABLE chrome-extension://boadgeojelhgndaghljhdicfkmllpafd/cast_sender.js
Failed to load resource: net::ERR_ADDRESS_UNREACHABLE chrome-extension://dliochdbjfkdbacpmhlcpmleaejidimm/cast_sender.js
Failed to load resource: net::ERR_ADDRESS_UNREACHABLE chrome-extension://hfaagokkkhdbgiakmmlclaapfelnkoah/cast_sender.js
Failed to load resource: net::ERR_ADDRESS_UNREACHABLE chrome-extension://fmfcbgogabcbclcofgocippekhfcmgfj/cast_sender.js
Failed to load resource: net::ERR_ADDRESS_UNREACHABLE chrome-extension://enhhojjnijigcajfphajepfemndkmdlo/cast_sender.js
No cast extension found

Google cast sender is trying to send AJAX requests for local "cast_sender.js". Should this happen or is there a better way to check if Chromecast sender extension exists (not by requesting AJAX request)?

I believe these AJAX requests are a way of asking if Chromecast extension exists. Is there a better way to check if Chromecast extension exists?

Restful

This is fixed in Chrome 49 per @Paul Irish. code.google.com/p/google-cast-sdk/issues/detail?id=538#hc18 – Suffix

@AtomTech still not fixed. – Sidesaddle

It can not be fixed in Chrome (if only squelch this errors). This pings from youtube.embedded exist even in over browsers. – Micromillimeter

Answer 1

Update: After several attempts, it looks like this may have been fixed in latest Chrome builds (per Paul Irish's comment below). That would suggest we will see this fixed in stable Chrome June-July 2016. Let's see ...

This is a known bug with the official Chromecast JavaScript library. Instead of failing silently, it dumps these error messages in all non-Chrome browsers as well as Chrome browsers where the Chromecast extension isn't present.

The Chromecast team have indicated they won't fix this bug.

If you are a developer shipping with this library, you can't do anything about it according to Chromecast team. You can only inform users to ignore the errors. (I believe Chromecast team is not entirely correct as the library could, at the least, avoid requesting the extension scipt if the browser is not Chrome. And I suspect it could be possible to suppress the error even if it is Chrome, but haven't tried anything.)

If you are a user annoyed by these console messages, you can switch to Chrome if not using it already. Within Chrome, either:

• Install the Chromecast extension from here.
• Configure devtools to hide the error message (see David's answer below).

Update [Nov 13, 2014]: The problem has now been acknowledged by Google. A member of the Chromecast team seems to suggest the issue will be bypassed by a change the team is currently working on.

Update 2 [Feb 17, 2015]: The team claim there's nothing they can do to remove the error logs as it's a standard Chrome network error and they are still working on a long-term fix. Public comments on the bug tracker were closed with that update.

Update 3 [Dec 4, 2015]: This has finally been fixed! In the end, Chrome team simply added some code to block out this specific error. Hopefully some combination of devtools and extensions API will be improved in the future to make it possible to fix this kind of problem without patching the browser. Chrome Canary already has the patch, so it should roll out to all users around mid-January. Additionally, the team has confirmed the issue no longer affects other browsers as the SDK was updated to only activate if it's in Chrome.

Update 4 (April 30): Nope, not yet anyway. Thankfully Google's developer relations team are more aware than certain other stakeholders how badly this has affected developer experience. More whitelist updates have recently been made to clobber these log messages. Current status at top of the post.

Scapegrace

Wow. This is like leaving all your console.log() statements in a production product. – Colet

I hope they fix it soon, cause we're still getting those errors without the Chromecast extension. – Dramaturge

After being forced to install the plugin, I get 4 'untrusted origin' warnings from the same script. It's over, Google won. – Mehalick

Nothing new apparently? – Fender

Apparently no change. – Scapegrace

Kudos for updating an answer which is almost half a year old :) – Cowan

Just install the Google Cast Chrome extension. – Orthodoxy

@Orthodoxy Using Chrome and installing Chromecast solves it for you individually, yes. The question is more aimed at programmers who want to remove the problem for their end-users. – Scapegrace

We have started using Vimeo for embedding video to avoid this issue. Depending on your bandwidth needs, it can a good alternative. – Bute

Hey, it's now Feb, '16 and I have the latest version of Chrome and it hasn't been fixed. Any updates? – Krona

This is fixed in Chrome 49 per @Paul Irish. code.google.com/p/google-cast-sdk/issues/detail?id=538#hc18 – Suffix

It's March 7th 2016. Chrome just updated, I'm still getting the console errors. – Quimper

And now March 22 and still seeing these errors appear. – Luciusluck

I think they are waiting until April 1? – Kenwrick

It's now April 8th and I'm still seeing the error. Bummer. – Savitt

Still broken in latest Chrome on Ubuntu 14.04 on April 15, 2016. (not Chromium) – Groschen

20th April 2016, and I've upgraded to Chrome 50, and the errors are still there – Masao

21st April 2016 Chrome 50.0.2661.75. Still broken. – Lousewort

I just landed another fix to this stupid bug. Apparently some youtube(?) embed scripts still reference a few Cast extension IDs that were deprecated over 9 months ago. Not sure why, but then again this whole situation is WTF. Longer explanation here: code.google.com/p/google-cast-sdk/issues/detail?id=538#c30 100% of known IDs are blacklisted in Chrome 52. – Sthenic

I started to get this issue for no reason. Yesterday it worked fine and today too, then 15 minutes before this posting I started to get the errors as well. This is a problem since it causes a slight lag spike when starting the page now (With the generated console errors). – Cleopatracleopatre

12 July 2016, still broken. So what's the news? Does anyone know anything about this at Google, and are actually actively looking to fix? – Masao

10. August 2017 - any news? Casting is no longer an extension but a standard feature in Chrome, but I still get the error messages. – Burg

Answer 2

If you want to temporarily get rid of these console errors (like I did) you can install the extension here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-cast/boadgeojelhgndaghljhdicfkmllpafd/reviews?hl=en

I left a review asking for a fix. You can also do a bug report via the extension (after you install it) here. Instructions for doing so are here: https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/3187017?hl=en

I hope Google gets on this. I need my console to show my errors, etc. Not theirs.

Partake

I'm sorry, but this is not the solution; this doesn't answer the question. The title says "... if chrome cast extension is not installed...", now, why would you advice to install it? I didn't down vote your answer because you have only 1 point at that time. Be careful next time. – Restful

@NinoPaolo It could help you to debug a little easier when you don't have to see three millions of errors from chrome, but i agree with you is not the proper or right answer, its just a proposal, but don't you see this answer is not accepted? – Baily

I have the idea of installing a completely useless extension. I'm always saving memory where I can. And in that case, installing it to prevent their errors to show up it completely inacceptable. Wtf the chromecast team?? – Fender

I just wanted these error messages to go away. OCD... I thumbed up the answer. – Phosphatize

Answer 3

How about filtering these errors ?

With the regex filter bellow, we can dismiss cast_sender.js errors :

^((?!cast_sender).)*$

Do not forget to check Regex box.

Another quick solution is to "Hide network messages".

Exorbitant

I think a better filter would be using cast_sender.js - you risk to hide unrelated stuff with it. – Gamber

Thx @David, you fix it with regex! – Clime

Answer 4

i know it is not the best solution, but the only one supposed solution that i have read for all the web is to install chrome cast extension, so, i've decide, not to put the iframe into the website, i just insert the thumnail of my video from youtube like in this post explain.

and here we have two options:
1) Target the video to the channel and play it there
2) Call the video via ajax, like explain here (i've decided for this one) in a colorbox or any another plugin.

and like this, i prevent the google cast sender error make my site slow

Blackwood

@Gamber i was ranking my site and those errors where evaluated before my scipts, so the site was waiting untill they where evaluated, i do not know if it is my impression. – Blackwood

Answer 5

By default Chrome extensions do not run in Incognito mode. You have to explicitly enable the extension to run in Incognito.

Anthropophagy

Tnx @Leon. Yes, I agree. I believe this (using incognito) is the same experience of that browser that hasn't chrome cast extension. Also, I've uninstall chrome cast extension and run site again. Then, I get the same error. Is there a better way to check if chrome cast extension exists? – Restful

I have the same issue on different sites and I can confirm that I'm not in incognito mode: Failed to load resource: net::ERR_FAILED chrome-extension://boadgeojelhgndaghljhdicfkmllpafd/cast_sender.js – Orthodoxy

You should file feedback in the Cast extension to report your issue. – Anthropophagy

yeah! I did that already. Status is wontfix. See code.google.com/p/google-cast-sdk/issues/detail?id=309 – Restful