End User FAQ

Frequently asked end user questions

How do I get past the Installation has failed error for BraveSetup.exe?

This is usually because of running an x64 installer on a 32-bit computer.

For a 64-bit installer on Windows, get it here: https://laptop-updates.brave.com/latest/winx64

For a 32-bit installer on Windows, get it here: https://laptop-updates.brave.com/latest/winia32

You can tell if that’s the problem by searching the log which can be accessed from the Open Setup Log button for:

The specified executable is not a valid application for this OS platform

Another common reason for this error is if you already have a Brave process which is open.

How do I use Dashlane?

After Dashlane is installed on your computer, you can just right click on a password field to use Dashlane. Normally it will even fill it automatically.

To set it up please follow these steps:

Inside Brave:

1. Navigate to about:preferences in Brave
2. Go to the Security tab
3. Check on Use Dashlane (requires Dashlane Application)

Inside Dashlane on Windows (OS X requires no extra setup inside Dashlane):

1. Tools | Preferences | Security
2. Turn off Verify the identity of web browser

How do I use 1Password?

After 1Password is setup, you can just right click on a password field to use 1Password. After you login to a page, it will prompt you if you want to save.

To set it up please follow these steps:

1. Navigate to about:preferences in Brave
2. Go to the Security tab
3. Check on Use 1Password (requires 1Password Application)

1Password for Windows does not (yet) recognize the code signature for Brave, and until such time as it does you will need to disable the signature check on Windows with: Help -> Advanced -> Verify web browser code signature

1Password for OS X does recognize Brave's signature, and so the code signature verification can remain enabled on the Mac.

What are the system requirements?

• OS X: 10.9 and up
• Windows: Windows 7x64 and up
• Linux: x64 only for now See here

Why is the Do Not Track header checkbox off by default?

If the DNT HTTP header has a value of 1, then it is only “asking” the server not to track you. Whether they do or not is still up to them. The default behaviour required by the standard is not to send the header. Several advertisers said they would no longer respect it though since Internet Explorer tried to enable it by default.

Brave takes a more active approach and forcefully blocks trackers. This puts the control in the hands of the users and not the servers.

Where is the Flash support?

Flash support is coming to a whitelist of sites and is being tracked here.

Flash support is not desirable in general because it's not an open technology and is slowly dying off. It frequently has security problems and causes stability problems in other browsers.

Sessions tab

A session tab represents an entirely new user to the visited web-site. We maintain a specific set of cookies and internals for that tab separate from the rest of the opened tabs.

Pinned tabs

Pinned tabs are a handy way to keep your favorite sites one click away. When pinned, they become unclose-able and shift over to the left side of your tabs. What makes this unique is that any links that you follow in that tab will ONLY be opened in a new tab if the domain is different (than the one you have pinned).

How do I make Brave my default browser?

On OS X you can do this from System Preferences -> General -> Default web browser. On Windows you can set the default browser from within Control Panel. On Windows 7 this is located at: Control Panel\Programs\Default Programs\Set Default Programs. On Windows 10 there is an option in Default apps in control panel and you can search for it in the start bar.

Do you have developer tools?

Yes the same as Chrome's developer tools. They are accessible via the menu: View -> Toggle Developer Tools menu (if you're on Windows hit Alt to show the menu).

Where are the developer tools?

The developer tools may be accessed via the View menu or through the CMD+ALT+i and CMD+ALT+j shortcut keys.

Can I have Brave in my language?

Yes, please ensure the language is added here: https://www.transifex.com/brave/brave-laptop/

You can request additional languages there as well.

Do you support Linux?

Yes we have instructions for setting up in Linux here: https://github.com/brave/browser-laptop/blob/master/docs/linuxInstall.md

We currently only build for x64 Linux distros though.

How do I turn on Browser Fingerprinting Protection and make sure that it's working?

To enable Fingerprinting Protection globally, go to about:preferences#privacy and check the Block HTML canvas, WebGL, and AudioContext fingerprinting option. To enable it for a given site, click the Brave icon in the upper right-hand corner of the browser and switch on Fingerprinting Protection.

To check that canvas and webgl fingerprinting protection is working, you can test yourself at https://panopticlick.eff.org/. The canvas hash value should be 891f3debe00dbd3d1f0457a70d2f5213 and the webgl hash should be undetermined. The test will probably report that your browser is unique, but this happens a lot for all browsers and is not necessarily indicative of fingerprinting in the wild since it is limited by Panopticlick's sample size.

To check that audiocontext fingerprinting protection is working, try https://audiofingerprint.openwpm.com/. The fingerprint values should be blank or all 0's.

Updates are available but applying them doesn't work on OS X

This seems to be a problem that can happen very infrequently with Squirrel updater with permissions.

1. Reboot (This is important because Squirrel will continually try to start a service and recreate a directory otherwise).
2. Remove this directory ~/Library/Application\ Support/com.electron.brave.ShipIt/
3. Start Brave and update.

It should work now.

Open a terminal ~/Library/Application\ Support/com.electron.brave.ShipIt/