Check the location of Chrome user data folder

[Rong Jie]

In Chrome help forum, some issues can only be fixed by removing Chrome user data folder to start afresh, usually it means suggesting users to delete one of these folders based on their OS.

• %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data
  
• ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome
  
• ~/.config/google-chrome
  

However, some users said the folder does not exist for some unknown reason why the Chrome user data is in non-default location.

If their Chrome is still usable, it is possible for them to copy-paste "Profile Path" from chrome://version/ , but if their Chrome is unusable, it becomes a vicious cycle.

Is there a simple way to find out the location of Chrome user data folder without opening Chrome?

[PhistucK]

Do Windows users experience this as well?

On Linux, you can change the user data directory via an environmental variable, so you can check that.

Unless the user is running Chrome using a different command line (a Windows shortcut with --user-data-dir), it should have the default one, I think. It seems odd that by default, the directory would be different. Perhaps they are using non-stable builds (beta, dev, canary)? Those may have different directories.

☆PhistucK

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[Rong Jie Loo]

On Sat, Oct 14, 2017 at 4:16 PM, PhistucK <phis...@gmail.com> wrote:

Do Windows users experience this as well?

Yes, this happens in some Windows and Mac users. Not sure about Linux since the forum rarely sees Linux user asking for help.

 

On Linux, you can change the user data directory via an environmental variable, so you can check that.

Unless the user is running Chrome using a different command line (a Windows shortcut with --user-data-dir), it should have the default one, I think. It seems odd that by default, the directory would be different. Perhaps they are using non-stable builds (beta, dev, canary)? Those may have different directories.

I expect most users that ask help in Chrome help forum are not tech-savvy enough to know the existence of --user-data-dir, otherwise they would have adapt the instruction accordingly by themselves. It is also quite unlikely that they are using anything but Chrome Stable (though quite a lot of forum users put "I don't know" in Chrome version *sigh*).

[PhistucK]

I am not sure how a different user data directory would be used by default, then.

Unless a Googler chimes in that knows more about this, it might be worth trying to reach out to one of those users and see where it really is located by default.

☆PhistucK

[Julian Pastarmov]

Hi,

there are two ways an alternative User Data directory can be specified for use with Chrome:

- on the command line with the --user-data-dir flag.

- By GPO/plist/json policy on Win/MacOS/Linux.

In either case Chrome will create the whole directory structure in the specified location and use it instead. You can check if a policy is in effect by navigating to chrome://policy and in both cases the final User Data location in chrome://version.

Hope this helps. :)

Best,

Julian

☆PhistucK

 

☆PhistucK

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[Rong Jie Loo]

Hi Julian,

On Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 4:13 PM, Julian Pastarmov <pasta...@google.com> wrote:

Hi,

there are two ways an alternative User Data directory can be specified for use with Chrome:

- on the command line with the --user-data-dir flag.

- By GPO/plist/json policy on Win/MacOS/Linux.

Good to know that GPO can influence user data location, might worth to ask users to check with their workplace IT admins.

 

In either case Chrome will create the whole directory structure in the specified location and use it instead. You can check if a policy is in effect by navigating to chrome://policy and in both cases the final User Data location in chrome://version.

In some cases, user cannot open chrome://version because user data folder is corrupted and Chrome cannot be opened at all.

• https://productforums.google.com/d/msg/chrome/bsroa_BZSIc/GLCpYbP7BwAJ
  
• https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/vYvoXWtPS7k

Second example is about bookmarks loss. Bookmarks recovery usually means finding Bookmarks(.bak) in user data folder. However, this user cannot find  ~/Library/Application Support/Google.

It is best to avoid opening Chrome before securing the Bookmarks(.bak) files to prevent Chrome sync from overriding bookmarks. 

Question: is it possible to find the location of Chrome user data folder without opening chrome://version (i.e. by checking registry etc)?

[Julian Pastarmov]

On Monday, October 16, 2017 at 10:35:01 AM UTC+2, Rong Jie wrote:

Hi Julian,

On Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 4:13 PM, Julian Pastarmov <pasta...@google.com> wrote:

Hi,

there are two ways an alternative User Data directory can be specified for use with Chrome:

- on the command line with the --user-data-dir flag.

- By GPO/plist/json policy on Win/MacOS/Linux.

Good to know that GPO can influence user data location, might worth to ask users to check with their workplace IT admins.

 

In either case Chrome will create the whole directory structure in the specified location and use it instead. You can check if a policy is in effect by navigating to chrome://policy and in both cases the final User Data location in chrome://version.

In some cases, user cannot open chrome://version because user data folder is corrupted and Chrome cannot be opened at all.

• https://productforums.google.com/d/msg/chrome/bsroa_BZSIc/GLCpYbP7BwAJ
  
• https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/vYvoXWtPS7k

Second example is about bookmarks loss. Bookmarks recovery usually means finding Bookmarks(.bak) in user data folder. However, this user cannot find  ~/Library/Application Support/Google.

It is best to avoid opening Chrome before securing the Bookmarks(.bak) files to prevent Chrome sync from overriding bookmarks. 

Question: is it possible to find the location of Chrome user data folder without opening chrome://version (i.e. by checking registry etc)?

Yes you can:

On windows you can check [HKLM/HKCU]/\SOFTWARE\Policy\Google\Chrome\UserDataDir

on MacOS you can consult the UserDataDir value with "defaults read com.google.Chrome UserDataDir" (not 100% sure about the command line here.

on Linux you can grep for UserDataDir in any file under /etc/opt/google/chrome/managed

If controlled by policy this should help you see what its value is. If it is a command line flag you should be able to see it in the shortcut used to start Chrome.

-Julian