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Question

Chrome won't open

Aug 17, 2016 5:14PM PDT

My Chrome stopped opening. Firefox and Edge work fine. I'm using Win 10 Home on a Lenovo laptop.
I looked in Task Manager to see if there was some piece of Chrome running that needed removing (Firefox sometimes does this). Nothing there. So I tried to uninstall and reinstall Chrome, but the uninstall failed. So I tried a plain re-install. Downloaded the install file and started it. It seemed to work but then it gagged and said there was an Error 3. I clicked on Troubleshoot and there was something about installing Sawbuck to track the install progress. I did that. Then I tried to install Chrome again. (I hope Sawbuck is automatic, because I didn't tell it to run before i tried another Chrome install).
Finally I got something. a "Where to now" page displayed in Chrome. In the tab behind that was Google, which is my home page. But the Where To? page wouldn't stop spinning, so I clicked Close Tab. All of Chrome went away. And won't come back, so I'm back where I started. Firefox and Edge work; Chrome doesn't. How do I fix it?

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Two ideas.
Aug 17, 2016 5:29PM PDT

1. Try a new user account.
2. Google "How to manually uninstall Chrome."

And try installing it from Ninite.com

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Is this helpful?
Aug 17, 2016 6:39PM PDT

Your idea looks worthwhile, but first, what about this? I rebooted and then tried Chrome again, and got this error message in a pop-up dialog:

"The application has failed to start because its side by side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log or use the command line sxstrace.exe tool for more details."

Does that mean anything to you? Did Sawbuck create that message? What would I do with sxstrace?

NTG

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I've never had to resort to that.
Aug 18, 2016 9:05AM PDT

It looks like you are drilling into what it can be and not once have I had to deal with any of those traces or sawbuck.

The only time I ran into trouble like this was when the owner took a registry cleaner to their machine and along the way blew up the .NET 3.5 and such support.

I can't recall the fixes but we had to refresh the OS (W10 has that built in) and dive into another area to uncheck and OK removing .NET then back in and add it back in. Example at:
http://codeketchup.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-correct-side-by-side.html

This could also be some malware issue but I can't know if you run torrents and such.

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In that case. . .
Aug 18, 2016 9:28AM PDT

I have not knowingly run any registry cleaners. I'm afraid of them.
I'll try the manual uninstall. If that doesn't work, I'll do a system restore. Chrome was working a while ago.

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I missed something.
Aug 18, 2016 9:34AM PDT

What about our good old second account?

Due to that awful "corrupt profile" issue that has been with us for decades, no Windows user can run without a spare account for both testing and for recovery from that issue.

I missed where you tested this, as well as the Ninite run.

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2nd account is jammed
Aug 18, 2016 9:45AM PDT

The millipede just twirls and twirls at the log-on screen.
Is there any way other than a hard power-off to abort that process?

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Not really.
Aug 18, 2016 9:49AM PDT

But it shows we need to create a new user account to take its place.
Make it an admin too.

Always keep a spare (working) admin account.

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Right
Aug 18, 2016 9:51AM PDT

Working. . .

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But wait. . .
Aug 18, 2016 10:01AM PDT

Are you advising me to log onto the second account to fix the first problem, or to switch my primary work area? I've got too much stuff on my desktop to really enjoy the prospect of moving crosstown. I'd rather try a manual uninstall/reinstall, or else a system restore, first. But am I missing something?

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Sorry. Too many ideas.
Aug 18, 2016 10:51AM PDT

The other account is to see if it works or not in that account. That test may lead to other ideas.

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Got in
Aug 18, 2016 11:04AM PDT

On the second attempt I was able to get in the other account. Got the same dialog box error message.
I have initiated system restore and am waiting to see what happens. It may be a while.

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I'm tracking this thread.
Aug 18, 2016 11:09AM PDT

I'll get an alert when you post.

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Success
Aug 18, 2016 11:16AM PDT

System restore solved the problem. All is well.
One last question, though. When SR showed me the restore points, they only went back three special points and one Aug. 4 automatic restore point. (That was after I clicked on "show me more restore points." It only showed me one point to start with.) Is that the way SR is supposed to work? By deleting all restore points prior to the last automatic point? Is there a way to access earlier points if I should need to?

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Sorry
Aug 18, 2016 11:23AM PDT

But for me, Microsoft has never documented SR well enough and the one time I needed it to work, it failed.

I don't count on it but nice when it works.

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Thank you
Aug 18, 2016 11:43AM PDT

Once again, Mr. Proffitt is manning the ramparts when I need help. Honestly, I cannot clearly remember a single time when I have posted a question and the first responder was somebody other than you. (I'm sure it's happened once or twice, but I can't swear to it.) No matter which forum I go to, there you are.
I'm glad you're at CNET. You've been a great help to me personally.

NTG