When Google Chrome won't start. » cyberfella ltd, since 2012.

So Chrome won’t start and the error message is unhelpful. Microsoft support won’t help of course and Google’s sledgehammer approach is

“just blow away your User Data and start over”

but you don’t want to loose your bookmarks, stored passwords etc that make your life easier and more efficient. Plus you can’t remember half your passwords anymore.

Well, here’s what that unhelpful error message should look like in a perfect world…

…It’d save a lot of pain if it did. You’re welcome Google.

So, using Task Manager, kill off any running Google Chrome processes (from having clicked on it 20 times before realising it’s never going to start).

To get to the folder you need to rename in order to get your Chrome browser up and running again with all your bookmarks intact (mine survived ok),

Click Start, Run,

Rename the Default folder to BackupDefault

Try restarting Chrome. Hopefully you’re sorted.

If not, Google also recommend deleting the following User Data folder. I don’t know what will survive if you do. Fortunately, it never came to that for me.