The issue first appeared earlier this month, with initial reports surfacing on June 3, when some Chrome users noticed that the browser kept shutting down and couldn't be opened.
Microsoft inadvertently introduced a bug in the "Family Safety" feature that specifically targets Chrome, preventing it from running on Windows. Eileen T., Chrome's Support Manager, stated: "Our team investigated these reports and identified the cause. For some users, Chrome cannot be launched when Microsoft's Family Safety feature is enabled."
It appears that other browsers like Firefox and Opera are unaffected. Some users even found that simply renaming “chrome.exe” to “chrome1.exe” resolves the issue. Schools or parents who have enabled the Family Safety feature through a Microsoft 365 subscription can re-enable Chrome by disabling the “Filter inappropriate websites” setting. However, this also removes restrictions, allowing children to access any website.
It is still unclear when Microsoft will fix this issue, which has persisted for over two weeks. A request for comment was sent to Microsoft earlier this week, but as of publication time, the company has not responded.
A Chromium engineer wrote in a bug-tracking thread on June 10: "We haven’t received any response from Microsoft regarding a fix. They have provided guidance to users who contact them on how to relaunch Chrome, but I don’t think it will have a major impact."
Microsoft has a history of using questionable tactics on Windows to steer users away from Chrome. While this particular Family Safety issue is likely a simple bug, Microsoft has previously used misleading text, fake AI responses, malware-like popups, and even a survey embedded in Google’s Chrome download page to push users toward Microsoft Edge. Earlier this year, Microsoft also used its Bing search engine to trick users into thinking they were using Google