[HOWTO] Fix the Chrome Update Bug

SOLVED: Chrome Update Problems

This bug has been reported many times since at least 2013; it’s astonishing that Google has not fixed it. Victims of this problem which prevents the Chrome browser from auto-updating do not have the latest security updates, leaving them vulnerable to malware and hackers. Plus, they are missing out on the latest Chrome features.

Chrome updates happen automatically, in the background, so it’s not uncommon for them to go unnoticed by users. The only indication that something is amiss with an update is a change in the "More" icon near the upper-right corner of the browser window, that gives access to Chrome’s settings. Normally it appears as three vertical dots, but if it appears as a colored circle (gray, red, orange or green) that indicates an update problem. After clicking the icon, the words “Relaunch Chrome” or “Update Google Chrome" will appear at the top of the dropdown menu when an update is incomplete. Clicking Help-About shows another relaunch prompt.

Many self-styled “experts,” including some Google support reps, advise victims of this bug to uninstall Chrome, then download and install the latest version. That's a tedious and time-consuming process, and may result in the loss of your bookmarks, addons, and browser settings. The following alternative takes much less time:

1. Close all open Chrome windows.
2. Open Windows Task Manager (press Ctrl-Shift-Esc), click the Processes tab, and end any chrome.exe tasks that are still running in background. Close Task Manager.
3. Open File Explorer and navigate to \Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\
4. You will see two application files: chrome.exe and new_chrome.exe. Delete chrome.exe and then rename new_chrome.exe to chrome.exe.
5. Restart your computer.

Chrome should now be up to date. You can verify this by launching Chrome, clicking that "More" icon, and selecting Help, then About.

What’s Going Wrong?

The Chrome installer is supposed to download the latest version to the file new-chrome.exe, rename chrome.exe to old_chrome.exe, rename new_chrome.exe to chrome.exe, and then delete old_chrome.exe when chrome.exe (the new one) is launched. Did you follow that progression?

For some reason, new_chrome.exe is not getting renamed to chrome.exe. So launching Chrome just starts the old version, leading to the endless loop of “relaunch to complete update” prompts.

The most likely reason for this renaming failure is that the old version of chrome.exe is still in use by the system, so its file cannot be deleted and new_chrome.exe cannot be renamed to chrome.exe. Chrome is notorious for launching multiple instances of itself, chewing up lots of RAM memory. This renaming bug could be due to an instance of chrome.exe that was not closed properly.

If this tip doesn't solve your Chrome updating problem, it's possible that firewall software on your computer is blocking Chrome from checking for updates. (If you didn't install a third-party firewall app, then this is unlikely.)

In any case, the procedure described above worked for me and other Chrome users. I have not seen the relaunch loop since; but then, I have not received another update yet. If you have a problem with the Chrome browser not being updated automatically, give this a try.

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