[Tip] Always Launch Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge in Guest Browsing Mode

Guest browsing mode is implemented in web browsers to improve privacy. When you browse Internet using Guest mode in your web browser, the websites you open are not displayed in web browser’s history. Also your visited websites don’t leave any other traces like cache, cookies, etc. Once you exit Guest mode, your browsing activities are automatically deleted from the computer.

Almost all popular browsers come with Guest browsing mode. If you use Google Chrome web browser, you might be aware of its Guest browsing mode. Google Chrome allows users to access Guest browsing mode by clicking on the user account icon present in Chrome toolbar and then selecting “Open Guest window” option to launch Chrome in Guest mode.

Many times users want to set their web browser to always launch or start in Guest browsing mode so that they don’t need waste their time in selecting option to re-launch the browser in Guest mode.

Unfortunately Google Chrome never allowed any parameter or option to always start it in Guest browsing mode. Some time back, we posted a tutorial to force Google Chrome to always start in Guest browsing mode. You can read the tutorial at following link:

[Tip] How to Always Start Google Chrome in Guest Browsing Mode

The method mentioned in above tutorial forced Google Chrome to show Profile Manager window at startup so that we can select Guest mode from the window. It was a workaround and not a perfect way. We still need to click on “Browse as guest” button to launch Chrome in Guest browsing mode.

Finally Google Chrome team has implemented a perfect working option in Chrome browser which can be used to always launch Google Chrome in Guest browsing mode.

The latest Google Chrome version 77 and later versions come with this built-in functionality. Now you can set Google Chrome to always start in Guest browsing mode. You just need to double-click on Chrome shortcut and it’ll launch in Guest browsing mode.

Chrome team has introduced a new command-line parameter “–guest” in Chrome browser which tells the browser to start in Guest browsing mode. We can apply this parameter to Chrome’s shortcut to always start Chrome in Guest browsing mode.

If you are also using Google Chrome browser and want to always start it in Guest browsing mode, following simple steps will help you:

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

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 always start in Guest browsing mode.

PS: In future, if you want to restore default settings and want to remove the Guest browsing mode behavior, remove the –guest parameter from Chrome’s shortcut properties.

BONUS TIP:

If you don’t want to create a shortcut to always launch Google Chrome in Guest browsing mode but want a way to quickly launch Google Chrome in Guest mode whenever you want, you can use following command in RUN dialog box (WIN+R) to start Google Chrome in Guest browsing mode:

It’ll launch Google Chrome in Guest browsing mode quickly whenever you execute this command.

Also Check:

How to Always Start Your Web Browser in Private Browsing Mode By Default?