Reports about problems to run Google Chrome on Windows started to emerge in early June 2025 on the official Chrome forum. Users claimed that they could not run the Google browser anymore on their Windows devices. Chrome would not start or close itself immediately after start; attempts to fix the issue, e.g., by uninstalling and reinstalling the browser, were unsuccessful reportedly.
The issue affects Chrome on Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices according to the reports. While Microsoft has not published an official response to the claims yet, Google did.
A Google community manager confirmed the issue on the official support forum. According to the notice, Google’s support team investigated the issue and discovered that Microsoft Family Safety was responsible for the unintended behavior.
Microsoft Family Safety is a parental control software. Chrome may not start if the child safety software is enabled on the device.
Google provided a suggestion on resolving the issue. The company said that unblocking Chrome in Microsoft Family Safety would resolve it and allow affected users to run the browser again on the Windows machine.
Here is how that is done:
- Open the Microsoft Family Safety website, or the mobile app.
- Select the affected child.
- Go to Windows tabs > Apps & Games.
- Unblock Chrome there.
Chrome should run again on the Windows devices after the changes have been made. Note that a parent or legal guardian needs to make the change, as minors do not have access to the administrative options.
Microsoft did provide the same solution to Windows users who reported the issue to the company’s support team.
It is unclear why the parental controls software started to block Google Chrome for some Windows users. Microsoft has not confirmed the issue officially. It is likely caused by a false positive or a bug, one that has the pleasant side-effect of pushing Chrome users to other browsers, for instance Microsoft’s own, Microsoft Edge.
They probably did it just to see if they could get away with it. The current administration in the US prioritizes large corporations over all else so why wouldn’t the corporations take this opportunity to increase profit by any means?