Chrome – How to prevent Chrome Canary from updating -OR- How to sync two Chrome profiles with the same account

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I might have a bit an unusual request, but my situation is as follows:

  • I have a low-end pc, which means, I need to be careful about performance
  • This is why I need to deactivate automatic updates in Chrome
  • I also need to use Chrome in two versions (both of them syncing bookmarks with my Google account): with and without extensions (however, in both versions I want to be logged in, so I cannot use the Incognito mode for the no-extensions version)

I already tried:

  • Using Incognito mode for the no-extensions version, but there I'm not logged in by default
  • Using Chrome profiles, but I somehow cannot sync two profiles with the same account…
  • Using Chrome and Chrome Canary, but I failed to deactivate automatic update for Canary…

Is there a way to use Chrome parallel with and without extensions, while having the bookmarks always in sync with the Google account?

Best Answer

Hmmm. Just found out Google doesn't allow you to have multiple profiles with the same email for some reason. Anyway, there's always a workaround. Here's one that involves creating a new profile independent of your default one:

  • Create a new shortcut to chrome.exe (or just copy-paste an existing one), place it on the desktop and name it whatever you want.

  • Right-click it, click Properties and go to the Shortcuts tab.

  • In the Target box, at the end, insert a space, followed by --user-data-dir="C:\path\to\dir" where path\to\dir is the folder where you want to store your profile. Eg:

"C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --user-data-dir="C:\Chrome\Profile1"

Now just double-click your shortcut, sign-in and follow Garrett's instructions to selectively sync only what you want.

Or instead of having 2 separate Chrome profiles, you could just create a second shortcut that has extensions disabled. Same as before, just create a shortcut to chrome.exe and in the target box insert --disable-extensions at the end. Although, you can't have this chrome open alongside the main window. It's either one or the other.

Here's a bunch of command line options for Chrome that you can checkout.

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