Google Chrome Hangs or Freezes on Clear Browsing Data Dialog Box
Table of Contents
PROBLEM SYMPTOM:
You are using Google Chrome web browser and you want to clear browsing data (cache, cookies, history, etc) in your browser. You open “Clear browsing data” dialog using “3-dots menu -> More tools” menu or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Del keys together. You click on “Clear data” button and Google Chrome hangs or freezes.
You wait for minutes and hours and the dialog box just gets stuck, the progress spinner icon keeps spinning forever. It just continuously goes round and round.
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You might not be able to use Chrome due to this issue.
PROBLEM REASON:
Don’t worry! You are not alone. There are many Google Chrome users who are facing this issue. This bug or issue occurs when a user starts deletion process of browsing data. Google Chrome team has acknowledged the issue. They investigated and found following results:
Call ServiceWorker deletion callback early in case of error. ServiceWorker deletion consists of two steps: unregistration and deletion. If there is an error during unregistration, the deletion might not occur. To catch this error and avoid waiting infinitely for deletion, the error is reported immediately, ignoring all remaining expected calls.
Avoid hanging deletion if SessionStorage doesn’t call its callback. For unknown reasons, SessionStorage doesn’t always finish its deletion. Instead the callback is destroyed without being run. To avoid having ClearBrowsingData wait infinitely add WrapCallbackWithDefaultInvokeIfNotRun.
The bug should be fixed in future versions of Google Chrome browser.
PROBLEM SOLUTION:
There are many solutions to fix this issue.
First solution is to close Google Chrome and relaunch it. Now try to clear browsing data again and it’ll work without any issue. Google Chrome will not stuck or hang.
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Second solution is manually cleaning browsing data. Google Chrome stores the browsing data in following folder:
AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache
You can open above mentioned folder and select all files/folders present in Cache folder and delete them. It’ll clear browsing data. To open the folder, press WIN+R keys together to launch RUN dialog box, copy and paste above mentioned folder path and press Enter key. It’ll directly open the folder.
Third solution is to use 3rd party cleaning software such as CCleaner. These software come with options to clear browsing data and many other things in all popular web browsers.
Also Check:
[Fix] Your Browser is Managed by Your Organization in Google Chrome
[Fix] Multimedia Keys Stopped Working in Spotify, iTunes After Updating Google Chrome
You wait for minutes and hours and the dialog box just gets stuck
Forget “hours,” I waited 17 DAYS until finally realising that the dialog box was not going to open. Even then, my family had to drag me away from watching the screen waiting for something to happen.
^^ Yes. When it hangs, it gets stuck on the screen forever.
Thanks, having this problem for a while now.
This is an easy fix. Open chrome, click on the customize link on upper right, go to bottom of drop down menu and select help, about chrome os. That will allow you to complete the update and the problem is fixed.
This worked for me.
Powerwash cleared the cookies and fixed the problem. I can now clear cookies. Google automatically restored all apps and settings, Cool!.