When trying to open a downloaded Chrome update or extension file with .crx in it, I get this error every time:

Invalid value for 'permissions[0]'

Any help is appreciated, thank you.

What's the version of your Chrome?

3.0.197.11

extensions are not supported in your version of Chrome

Then how to I update the browser?

You don't. The stable Chrome auto updates.
It is because there are multiple versions of Chrome. The extension system is still not completly done, so It's still not implemented in stable.

Chrome (stable) that most download.
Chrome beta - Almost the same version as above - still no extension support.
Chrome Dev -> What you need if you want extension support.
The Chrome dev version is a preview channel here ideas get tested (and sometimes fail). The Dev channel can be very unstable at times, and new features usually require some manual configuration to be enabled. Still, simply using Dev channel releases is an easy (practically zero-effort) way for anyone to help improve Google Chrome. If you're writing extensions, you need to use the Windows Dev channel.

Originally Posted by cgm707

Then how to I update the browser?

Originally Posted by Benni

The Dev channel can be very unstable at times

It sure can, as I've discovered. One other option, cgm707, is SRWare Iron. It's stable, is based on Chromium 3 (like Chrome Beta), and does support .crx extensions (I use Smooth Scroll with it).

Edit: I just found this on another forum:

September 9th, 2009. Another change in extensions system. Two breaking changes (see mailing list post for more information):

[r24816] Enforce granular permissions.
[r24770] Modified several APIs to be more consistent.

All of them have to be repackaged.

Iron is outdated and has not been updated

You're right Sulasno, and until I began playing with creating an extension I didn't realise that Iron was both better and worse than Chrome 3.x. It does load and run extensions, but doesn't have all of the API functionality, so most new extensions don't work. Also, you can't load and package them as you can in Chrome Dev and Chromium's latest build.

Iron has got stuck in one place, while Chrome is developing continually.

Originally Posted by cgm707

When trying to open a downloaded Chrome update or extension file with .crx in it, I get this error every time:

Invalid value for 'permissions[0]'

Any help is appreciated, thank you.

For those who don't know (and I've only just learned this by developing a basic extension) what's going on with 'invalid permissions' is this;

In setting up a manifest.json file for an extension, you provide Chrome with information about what javascript files, titles, hidden/background HTML files, and API (Application Programming Interface) functions the extension will use. These are listed in the manifest.json file, and are read by Chrome as the extension is loaded. They can be in different orders.

As an example, if an extension uses the Tabs API, and that's specified first in the manifest.json file, then you'll get an error like, 'invalid permissions[0]' if your version of Chrome doesn't provide access to Tabs API functions. If it's specified second, then you'll get an error like, 'invalid permissions[1]', and so on.

To use the latest extensions and have the newest Chrome features, download Chrome Dev. It's much more stable these days, and allows you to mess with extensions in all kinds of ways. (If you want to unpack a .crx extension in Windows, 7-Zip does it fine, and Chrome packs it up into a .crx file again).