System users vs local settings profiles
A User Profile is system specific, stored in its User folder through that %LOCALAPPDATA%. Meaning that if you log on into Windows with two different users you cannot access eachother's user profile folder without prior linking or other form of permission access and setup.
C:\Users\Adam\
C:\Users\Eve\
Eve can't load Adam's cookies or saved passwords, nor vice-versa.
Basically it ties those User Profile folders in Adam and Eve to the local security layer and permissions defined for each user in questions, including Admins.
The Browser profiles in-browser User is in case you have need for a different set of settings for a site or just want a fresh profile without extensions to test or browse in case some extensions make trouble.
For example: you don't want to create a new system User for your sister just so she can go on Facebook and have to switch between accounts through the shut down button or task manager, you'll use your own user, so if you both want to log onto Facebook, each with your own account, at the same time, you have to create a new browser profile in-browser User. In the Default profile in-browser User you are logged in with yours and you have your own settings, cookies, passwords and in the second profile in-browser User your sister will get her own privileges without interference, both of them can run simultaneously, switching between them is simpler and faster. All extensions need to be installed again in the second profile if need be.
Fixed meaning, typically Google should have used the 'profile' and 'user' words accordingly, a user is a private account, similar to the local user account, and a profile a second separation entity which is working within the same local user account. Mozilla named them accordingly: profiles, Google named them Users they should have named them in-browser Users if they wanted to stick with the word.
It's been a long time, but Chrome recently added "Open as..." to the context menu when you right-click a link. If you have only one other profile, it'll just offer that; if you have more, there's a submenu from which you can choose the profile that you want to open the link with.
Best Answer
The command line argument you're looking for is
--profile-directory=Default.Here's the complete command line for Mac OS X:
Note: The
opencommand therefore does not launch new instances, as many applications will not be able to deal with multiple instances running as the same user. However there's the-nargument to do that anyway, but it may break the application.And for Linux:
It expects the internal names of the profiles: My second profile, named "Lemonade" by Chrome, would be
--profile-directory="Profile 1".Determine the profile name by trial and error, or looking in the
Local Statefile (see Justin Buser's answer).On Mac OS X, the directories are located in
~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome. In Linux they are located in~/.config/google-chrome. In Win7 they are located in%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data.