MacOS – Opening Chrome icon flashes up then disappears

google-chromemacmacos

A friend has just downloaded and installed Chrome for Mac OS (current version 51).

When they click to open Chrome the icon appears briefly in the dock, then disappears and Chrome closes.

The behavior is replicated if you try to launch Chrome form the command line using

/Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome

They get an error

Failed to create /Users/NAME/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/SingletonLock

If they run with sudo they are able to start Chrome.

sudo /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome

How can we fix this? We've tried reinstalling Chrome and the problem persists.

Best Answer

We fixed this by deleting the lock file in ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome/SingletonLock and everything else in the profile running

rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome

Seems related to the Chrome is not opening on the Google Chrome Help forum.

Related Question