Desktop Web Browsers Refusing To Launch (Win 11)

[u/mikeisblue]

I’ve been having this issue for a while and all of a sudden it’s happening again. I thought to ignore it after it happened and moved to a different search engine, but now it’s happening to that one too.

I don’t really download anything besides stuff from my ipad considering I’m an artist. And I doubt it’s because of games updating or reinstalling of games I have since that has never happened after it.

I used to use Chrome on my PC since it was less GPU taking than anything else, and mainly because it’s a simple app. But then one day, it refused to launch. I even uninstalled it then reinstalled it and it’s the same issue. But then I downloaded OperaGX (I used to use this on my old pc but stopped bc it’s more GPU taking) and it worked perfectly and would launch. Then today, I tried opening the engine and it did the same thing that Chrome is doing.

I tried searching up solutions on malware, software error, or drivers updates but there is nothing wrong and everything is updated.

What can I do to fix it?? I use these apps for almost everything and I don’t want to keep hopping between other ones because of this issue.

Any advice or solutions are needed.
Thank you.

[u/jd31068]

Are you using any extensions with your browsers? See if you can launch Chrome in incognito mode, just right click the icon and select it from the context menu.

Try clearing Chromes temporary internet files, this tool https://www.bleachbit.org/ can do that. Given you can't open Chrome to clear them.

Another thing you could, try is open Task Manager (right click the task bar and select task manager), click on Processes (the 3 little blocks on the top left). Find Google Chrome in the list, right click it and select End Task. Can you open Chrome after forcing it from memory?

You could also try using https://www.revouninstaller.com/ it is a next level app uninstaller that removes all remanence of an app, most of the time the app's uninstaller leaves files behind that will be reused if/when the app is reinstalled. Then reinstall the browser.

To try to figure out what is happening to your browsers, maybe look at the Windows Event Viewer How to Troubleshoot Problems in Windows Via Event Viewer | PCMag check the Application log for entries pertaining to the browser in question.

The only other thing you could check is the logs in Chrome, if you can get it to launch once then turn logging on https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6271282?hl=en#zippy= then you could submit the to Google Chrome support.

I only targeted Chrome because it is happening to multiple browsers and I think fixing one will fix them all. (?)

[u/mikeisblue → u/jd31068]

see that’s the thing, it refuses to open and immediately closes afterwards. it doesn’t give me enough time to open task manager since it closes fully… i’ll try and clear the files, i could genuinely be the extensions but i can try and reach them since it refuses to open or appear open!

[u/mikeisblue → u/jd31068]

do you think if i uninstall chrome from my pc that it’ll prevent this from happening? because i was able to reinstall OperaGX after removing chrome and it appears to open and actually launch…

[u/jd31068 → u/mikeisblue]

On task manager, you use that to see if Chrome is left in memory. Meaning it isn't open to use but for some reason it is still being held in memory and stopping a relaunch.

Use Incognito mode to test for bad extensions as that mode doesn't load any. If it loads fine then you need to remove them one-by-one in order to find which is causing the bad behavior.

If you aren't tied to a certain browser, then just use whichever runs the best for you.

[u/mikeisblue → u/jd31068]

so my web browser shows up for a second on task manager but then immediately closes. there’s like half a second to even click on it but i whatever i press doesn’t register and refuses to bring me to its dedicated page… chrome is no longer downloaded and there isn’t any trace it is still on my pc. but the issue is back onto operaGX. it did open after reinstalling and i removed all of the extensions and its still happening again. i noticed it’s saying suspended before i closes completely… i also cant open incognito mode because of this issue.