How to reinstall Google Chrome: step-by-step instructions

Google Chrome is the most popular browser in the world and certainly one of the best. But it is not perfect: sometimes it can start to hang, give errors and various failures, pop-ups suddenly appear in the tabs with annoying advertising that should not be.

Sometimes there is only one way out – a complete reinstallation of the Google Chrome browser. Many users are wary of this move, afraid of deleting their authorization data and saved pages. In this article, we will tell you how to reinstall Google Chrome without losing your logins, passwords and bookmarks.

Why do you need to reinstall Google Chrome

Reinstallation of any program implies its complete removal from the device in the subsequent installation again. When are such actions necessary? There are standard options when you need to reinstall Google Chrome on your computer, as there are many errors that cannot be eliminated otherwise, namely:

  • Google Chrome does not start well or does not start at all.
  • Program files are corrupted.
  • The browser often hangs and in order to fix the problem, you need to force the closure of the application.
  • Some of the functionality is gone or does not work.

Many users may encounter such situations, but most of them are helped by a few simple actions: updating the browser to the latest version, resetting Chrome settings, cleaning the computer from virus files. When none of the above methods copes, then you will have to resort to a more radical measure – reinstallation.

Uninstall Google Chrome from your PC
Uninstall Google Chrome from your PC

Procedure

If you don't want to lose your passwords and bookmarks, you'll need to sync with your Google Account before deleting your browser or export your passwords and export your bookmarks (these are two different actions and two different buttons). To learn how to do this, see the section "How to reinstall the browser while saving settings and data".

You can uninstall Chrome with standard Windows tools or special programs: Revo Uninstaller, Uninstall Tool, CCleaner, etc.

In this material, we will not consider third-party applications, but usually it is not difficult to find the right button in them.

After uninstalling, you need to download the latest version of Chrome, install it, synchronize with Google account or (optionally) manually import your passwords and bookmarks.

Uninstall your browser

Any process to reinstall the browser begins with its removal. How to properly remove Google Chrome?

In Windows 7:

  • Click the "Start" button and go to "Control Panel".
  • Then "Programs" – "Programs and Components".
  • Find Chrome in the list, select it, and click Remove.

For Windows 10, the algorithm is as follows:

  • The Start button in the lower-left corner of the screen."
  • Options button (gear).
  • "Applications" means "Applications and Features".
  • Find Chrome in the list, click on it with the left button and select "Uninstall".

In principle, after that, you can already proceed to the re-installation of the browser. But it is better to clean the tails: the remaining files and entries in the registry.

Clean up the system folder

Not all the data of the program can be instantly deleted, the application icon disappears from the desktop, and the rest of the files remain in the computer memory and can subsequently affect the work of the browser, making it incorrect and difficult, especially if there were errors in the remote version.

In order to avoid such problems, it is worth checking the data remaining from the application and, if they exist, eliminate them.

The sequence of actions is as follows:

  • Go to Local drive C via Windows Explorer (Win+E);
  • Then "Users" – "Username";
  • Now the hidden App Data folder and then the Local folder;
  • Delete the Google folder from it.
Path to the system folder with local files
Path to the system folder with local files

To make the App Data folder visible, you need to:

In Windows 7/8:

  • "Start" button – "Computer".
  • Select the "Arrange" section, it is located in the upper left corner of the monitor.
  • Click on "Folder and Search Options".
  • Select View and check show hidden files, folders, and drives.
  • Click on the "OK" button and close this window.

In Windows 10:

  • In File Explorer (Win+E) you need to go to the "View" tab.
  • Check the "Hidden Elements" box.

This is not the final step, some data can be stored in the registry, so you need to remove the data from there too.

It is better not to climb into the registry yourself, but to clean it with CCleaner.

But if you really want to clean the registry manually:

  • Press win+R;
  • Enter regedit in the window that appears;
  • In the Registry Editor, we are interested in the folders: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE;
  • We look for everything related to Google in them;
  • Remove and restart the computer.

Download the installation file

To install the browser on your device, you need to download the latest version of the browser from the official website – https://www.google.com/intl/ru_ru/chrome/

Make sure this version is appropriate for your operating system.

Google Chrome download page
Google Chrome download page

Installing the program

After fully downloading the installation file, you need to proceed to the installation of the browser itself. You need to run the installation file, and then click the "Install" – "Accept and continue" button. When the Google Chrome shortcut appears on your desktop, it will mark a successful installation of the browser on your device.

Configure settings

Just in case, you can go to the "three points" – "Help" – "About the Google Chrome browser", so that Chrome checks for updates and automatically installs them.

Next, it is advisable to log in to your Google account. To do this, you need:

  • In the upper right corner of the browser window, click on the user's avatar.
  • Click on the "Sign in to Chrome" button.
  • Enter your Google account login information.

After that, you can restore your passwords and bookmarks – we will talk about this in the next section. And the extensions will have to be reinstalled.

How to reinstall the browser while saving settings and data

You can reinstall Google Chrome while saving bookmarks by using synchronization or import.

Synchronization:

  • Before deleting the browser, click on the user's avatar in the upper right corner.
  • Click "Enable Syncing".
  • If you're not logged in, the program will ask you to sign in to your Google Account.
  • After reinstalling, "Enable Sync" again.

When syncing is turned on, Chrome will recover all your data.

Export and import passwords and bookmarks. Export is called their download from the browser to a separate file, import – loading back.

To export passwords:

  • Before deleting the browser click on the three dots in the upper right corner;
  • Go to "Settings";
  • Next to "AutoComplete" and "Passwords";
  • Click on the three dots next to "Saved passwords";
  • Click Export Passwords.
Export passwords to Google Chrome
Export passwords to Google Chrome

To import passwords (after reinstalling the browser), you will need:

  • Go to chrome://flags/#PasswordImport address;
  • Click the switch to the Enabled position and press the blue Relaunch button;
  • All this was needed to make the "Import" button visible;
  • Next, go along the familiar path to the "Saved passwords", click there three points and select "Import".

Bookmarks are transferred separately. To export/import them, open the bookmark manager (Ctrl+Shift+O), click three dots on the blue background there and select "Export bookmarks" or "Import bookmarks" – depending on what we need to do.

Remember which folders you export passwords and bookmarks to, because when importing, Chrome will not automatically detect their location, but will need to specify the path to the file manually.

Mike Lombardi/ author of the article

QA Engineer, Head of Automated Software Testing Department. Knowledge of Java, C/C++, JSP, HTML, XML, JavaScript, SQL, and Oracle PL/SQL. Journalist and Columnist in the IT field. Website Creator and Administrator.

OldVersions.INFO