Chrome says my extension's manifest file is missing or unreadable

Something that commonly happens is that the manifest file isn't named properly. Double check the name (and extension) and be sure that it doesn't end with .txt (for example).

In order to determine this, make sure you aren't hiding file extensions:

1. Open Windows Explorer
2. Go to Folder and Search Options > View tab
3. Uncheck Hide extensions for known file types

Also, note that the naming of the manifest file is, in fact, case sensitive, i.e. manifest.json != MANIFEST.JSON.

My problem was slightly different.

By default Eclipse saved my manifest.json as an ANSI encoded text file.

Solution:

• Open in Notepad
• File -> Save As
• select UTF-8 from the encoding drop-down in the bottom left.
• Save

I also encountered this issue.

My problem was that I renamed the folder my extension was in, so all I had to do was delete and reload the extension.

Thought this might help some people out there.