Having trouble opening Chrome? It may be Microsoft’s fault

Microsoft isn’t afraid to deploy tactics to nudge you away from Chrome. For example, earlier this year, Bing users were running into a pop-up that discouraged them from switching browsers. However, the friction between the two isn’t always intentional, which could include the current issue that’s preventing Windows users from opening Chrome.

Spotted by The Verge, a growing number of Windows users are reporting that they are either unable to open Chrome or the browser keeps closing itself. The issue appears to be connected to a bug affecting Microsoft’s Family Safety feature, a set of parental controls and filters for Microsoft 365 subscribers.

“Our team has investigated these reports and determined the cause of this behavior,” said a Chrome support manager. “For some users, Chrome is unable to run when Microsoft Family Safety is enabled.”

Strangely, this bug only seems to prevent Chrome from opening. The outlet reports that other browsers, like Opera and Firefox, are unaffected.

Although the issue is known, Microsoft has remained quiet about a fix and when it could roll out. In a bug tracking thread, a Chromium engineer said, “We’ve not heard anything from Microsoft about a fix being rolled out.” The tech giant also did not respond to the outlet’s questions.

If you’re experiencing this issue, there are some workarounds you can use until a fix is released. Some users on Reddit found that renaming Chrome.exe to Chrome1.exe seemed to work. You can also disable the “filter inappropriate websites” setting in Family Safety.