My Google Chrome completely crashed. It wouldn’t open at all. There wasn’t even an error message. After much thrashing about, I found a solution. You might want to bookmark this.
Google reports that if Google Chrome does not open or stay open, and no error message appears, that you may have a broken browser user profile. You must create a new one in order for Google Chrome to work properly. Exit Google Chrome and open a new Windows Explorer window.
Type “%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\” into the Window Explorer address bar. Browse the open directory window for a folder called “Default.” Right-click its icon and rename the folder to “Backup default.” Reopen Google Chrome and a new “Default” folder will be created automatically.
Update: Win 10, use C:/Users/[username]/AppData/Local/. To find your username, click Windows icon bottom left, type CMD in search box. Type SET. Look for USERNAME. Type EXIT to exit. Use File Explorer not IE. Look for the Default folder and rename it as described above.
Earlier versions of Windows:
The percent signs are crucial. Yes, it is %LOCALAPPDATA%. Also, to insure this works, reboot your computer, then immediately rename the folder. If you try to run Chrome first you won’t be able to rename the folder because Chrome will have partly loaded and will be accessing some of the files in it.
All versions:
If you sync your settings in Chrome, and you should, once the new Chrome opens and you login to Google, it’ll synch everything. All your bookmarks and extensions will be restored. This is the beauty of the cloud. I’ll be saving this post to Evernote, another cloud service, so I can easily remember what to do should this happen again.
Thanks for the fix, got chrome up and running again 🙂
I did this, but lost all of my tabs, bookmarks, and my history was wiped. Why?
Did you log in to Chrome? If so, it should restore all your settings. Hope so.
cannot rename default write protected?
still wont open :/
It’s running but keeps freezing after a few minutes… Won’t start properly until I do this over and over again.
same here…
If you back up Chrome to the Google Cloud, you can deinstall Chrome, then log back into Google in the new version and all your settings should be restored. Maybe this will fix the problems many of you are having.
i did this but it says google chrome is still open and cannot change the default folder name
ctr alt del to task manager and close it. Thats what I did, unfortunately it still didnt work for me, maybe u will have better luck
I tried this but it won’t work for me. When I tried to reinstall Chrome, and attempted to open it for the first time again, it shows an error, “The application failed to initialize properly”. I searched on the web and the 3rd solution from the site below worked for me:
http://www.techyv.com/questions/application-error-unable-start-google-chrome
Had the problem. After ALL different trials. Was able to open as administrator. Cleared history, cookies,etc. Chrome works. Last reinstall of chrome was preferred by windows reinstall. Files were noted as missing trying to repair. Good luck. Lots of solutions, few work as I tried
Thanks a lot Bob. It worked.
Thanks for the article, it helped
Do you mean ‘Internet Explorer’ ?
Thanks Bob for the neat trick 🙂 Now my Chrome is up and running . Just copied my Bookmarks and History from the old Default folder to the new one and was back to business as usual . Appreciate your help…
When I enter that line into a windows explorer address bar I get the error message that windows can’t find it, check the spelling and try again. It auto corrects to C:UsersusernameAppDataLocalGoggleChromeUserData if that makes a difference. Any ideas? I started directly after a reboot, no open
Chrome window. Thanks.
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This one worked! Thanks a lot! 🙂
Upon start up opening chrome it will crash.
Making chrome not reopen.
Then I have to restart it to work fine.