[Tip] How to Launch Google Chrome with All Extensions Disabled

Recently a reader asked me about opening Google Chrome web browser without loading any installed extension or add-on. The reader was facing issues with installed extensions and his Chrome browser was not opening at all. It was crashing at startup so he wanted to launch Chrome with all installed extensions disabled. In this tutorial, I’ll tell how to force Google Chrome to launch with all extensions disabled or turned off. Using this method, no extension will load in Chrome and you’ll be able to start Chrome without any 3rd party extension. You can consider it as a safe mode or troubleshooting mode in Chrome browser.

Many time you may face this issue in any web browser. For example, you installed a few extensions in Chrome and after some time when you tried to launch Chrome, it started crashing.

Also you may face browsing issues such as automatic redirects, etc. It might be possible that a malicious extension or add-on got installed in Chrome and causing these issues to you. You can find out whether the issue is occurring due to an extension by launching Chrome without any extension. If Chrome launches fine and you don’t face any browsing issue, it’ll be clear that the issue was occurring due to an extension and you can uninstall or remove the culprit extension.

Launching Google Chrome with all extensions disabled is very easy task. Google Chrome comes with a built-in command-line parameter or flag which can be used to start Chrome without any extension.

If you also want to launch Google Chrome with all extensions disabled, following steps will help you:

1. Right-click on Google Chrome’s shortcut (present on desktop, start menu, taskbar, etc) and select Properties.

Alternatively, you can create a new shortcut of Google Chrome and open its Properties box.

2. Now add following text at the end of the string present in Target text box:

Remember there must be a blank space between existing text string and the appended string.

3. Click on Apply button and now whenever you’ll launch Google Chrome using this shortcut, it’ll open without any extension. All installed extensions will be disabled and no extension will even load in background.

You can now pin the new Chrome shortcut to Taskbar or Start Menu for quick and easy access.

Since no extensions are loaded, you’ll not see new Extensions menu button (Jigsaw puzzle piece icon) in Chrome toolbar. If you try to check extensions list, you’ll notice that the Extensions option present under More Tools menu in Chrome 3-dots Menu is grayed out i.e. disabled as shown in following screenshot:

Since the option would be grayed out, you’ll not be able to select or click on it.

You can try to manually open Extensions page using chrome://extensions/ URL in Chrome address bar and the page will open empty or blank. No installed extension will appear.

Following screenshot shows Chrome Extensions page without any installed extensio0n listed:

PS: In future, if you want to restore default settings and want to load all extensions in Chrome, remove the –disable-extensions parameter from Chrome’s shortcut properties.

BONUS TIP: If you don’t want to create a shortcut to always launch Google Chrome with all extensions disabled but want a way to quickly launch Google Chrome without extensions, you can use following commands in RUN dialog box (WIN+R):

It’ll launch Google Chrome without any extension whenever you execute this command.

EXTRA TIP for ADVANCED USERS:

Following folder contains all program files related to all installed extensions/add-ons in Google Chrome browser:

You can access and open above mentioned folder by copy/pasting the above address in RUN dialog box (WIN+R). You’ll see different folders with random names under this folder. Each folder contains program files for an installed extension in Chrome. Now you can manually delete/remove culprit extension from Chrome by deleting its folder.

Also Check:

[Tip] How to Launch Your Web Browser with All Extensions Disabled

[Tip] Remove Media Controls Button from Google Chrome Toolbar

[Tip] Remove “Extensions” Menu Button from Google Chrome Toolbar

[Fix] You Enabled Some Flags on Chrome://Flags Page and Google Chrome No Longer Opens

[Fix] Google Chrome Crashes With “Aw, Snap!” Error on Startup or Opening Websites