Question Completely disable all casting (on a Chromebook)

[Sim8]

Hi folks,

Since the last full update a few days ago, my Chromebook (Acer Spin 513) now automatically engages in casts, even though I don't want it to. I've been through every setting available, and I can't get device casting to stop. My wife will be watching stuff completely independently via our TV, and my Chromebook will automatically gain the power to interfere. If I stop it from casting, it completely throws her out of what she's watching, even though it seems like it shouldn't be able to. Small flat, so can't go out of range. TV is on most of the day. Disabling Wi-Fi on devices not an option.

Please help with suggestions or tips - happy to provide more details if required, and happy to have no ability to cast on my Chromebook ever again.

Thanks again in advance

Si

 

[B. Diddy]

Have her check her Google Home settings, select the TV or Chromecast in question, and look for an option to turn off the ability for others to control the cast.

 

[Sim8]

Thanks again, B. Diddy - we'll try that.
Surely it should be possible, and indeed easy, to completely shut off casting to/from any specific Android device?

 

[B. Diddy]

Thanks again, B. Diddy - we'll try that.
Surely it should be possible, and indeed easy, to completely shut off casting to/from any specific Android device?

I've never quite understood this feature, to be honest -- especially since it usually seems to be turned on by default. I've never been in a situation where I want anyone else to control what I'm casting to a screen.

 

[Sim8]

Completely agree, B. Diddy.

My wife, who has been Apple all of her life, is twitchy about installing the Google Home app. So I'm going to try:

chrome://flags

...which I've never done before. My intent is to disable 3 things:

Connect to Cast devices on all IP addresses
Global media controls control Cast start/stop
Allow cast device discovery with DIAL protocol

...unless you or someone else jumps in and urges me not to. Do you think I would need to restart the Chromebook and refresh the page after disabling?

 

[B. Diddy]

I'm currently away from home, so I won't be able to test this until next week, sorry.

 

[Sim8]

Thanks for the quick response despite being away, B. Diddy. I'll have a go and report back here what happens, unless it causes catastrophic failure...

 

[Sim8]

In Chrome, inputting:

chrome://flags

And using the specialist page which opens, I have manually disabled 3 things:

Connect to Cast devices on all IP addresses
Global media controls control Cast start/stop
Allow cast device discovery with DIAL protocol

...and then restarted the Chromebook.

As yet, the automatic casting issue I was fed up with has not interfered, and I've not encountered any unexpected or unwanted side effects. I do not know if disabling all three of these things was necessary, but will post back here if I learn or discover anything new.

 

[Sim8]

Following forced automatic Chromebook updates, the initial issue has returned, but even worse than before. Have tried disabling all (11 out of 12) things which mention "cast" in:

chrome://flags

But this has not worked at all, and now the Chromebook automatically picks up casting control with even less ability to get rid of it. Any suggestions for other flags which can be disabled and which might work?

(It is strongly advised not to mess with these features: "WARNING: EXPERIMENTAL FEATURES AHEAD!")