Microsoft is making it harder to use Chrome on Windows. The culprit: This time it’s the Windows Family Safety feature. Since the beginning of this month, the parental control feature has been preventing users from opening Chrome. Surprisingly, no other apps or browsers have been affected.
Editors first reported the problem on June 3 (via The Verge). u/Witty-Discount-2906 wrote that Chrome crashed on Windows 11. “Just blinks fast, can’t open without an error message,” they wrote. Another user made a good guess. “It might have something to do with parental controls,” suggested u/duk242. “In the last hour, nine students have come to my IT department complaining that Chrome won’t open.”
A Google spokesperson pointed Engadget to a statement on a community forum. “Our team has investigated these reports and determined the cause of this behavior,” wrote community manager Ellen T. “For some users, Chrome is unable to work when Microsoft Family Safety is enabled.
Windows Family Safety is an optional parental control feature for families and schools. It allows you to manage your children’s screen time, filter their web browsing, and monitor their activity.
While we wait for the company to take action, there are several workarounds. One is to turn off the “Filter inappropriate websites” option in Family Safety. However, this removes the security feature, allowing children to roam the World Wide Web. (An easier fix is to go to your Chrome folder and rename chrome.exe to something like chrome1.exe.
If you’ve ever installed Chrome on Windows, this error might be a bit of a déjà vu experience. Microsoft has a long history of trying desperate tricks to keep you on their default products. This has included obnoxious prompts, pop-up ads for Bing, and begging users to stay on Edge. At least European users will get some relief. Microsoft is winding down its cheap tactics there to comply with EU regulations.
