I uninstalled Google Chrome for the specific reason that my profile was 645MB on my hard drive. I installed the portable version because it stores the profile in the same portable folder where it's installed. Only one problem: it has a shortcut in the main folder called GoogleChromePortable.exe. This shortcut launches the main program which is in the App\Chrome-bin folder. It's just called chrome.exe. Here are a couple of screenshots. When you launch the program with GoogleChromePortable.exe, all is good. The profile stays in the portable folder where I want it. But if you launch it directly from chrome.exe, it creates a profile folder on my hard drive and I'm right back where I started. Here's where it gets weird. I want to pin Chrome to the taskbar, but when I pin chrome.exe, it always creates the profile folder on the hard drive. But if I pin GoogleChromePortable.exe, it uses the portable folder but then it opens another icon and then I've got two Chrome icons on the taskbar. I can launch it with GoogleChromePortable.exe, but when I pin it to the taskbar, close the program and reopen it, it creates the profile folder on the hard drive. Right now I've just got a shortcut to GoogleChromePortable.exe in the start menu and it's working fine. But what I'd really like is just a pinned icon on the taskbar that doesn't open two icons and doesn't use the hard drive for my profile. Any suggestions? I've tried to explain the problem as best I can but if you need clarification just ask.
Check the shortcuts properties, you may just need to provide the right path for the "Start in" entry.
Can you please explain which "shortcut" you're referring to. And what path should be in the "start in" entry?
@Phil459 There is only one way, if You don't make your own/personal launcher, ie You must use Chromium command line arguments (sometimes also called as Chromium Command Line Switches) and and then You can store Your userdata folder where ever You want. And You'll get always only one icon on the taskbar. Code: https://gist.github.com/dodying/34ea4760a699b47825a766051f47d43b Example: Code: "C:\Your Crome folder name\Chrome-bin\chrome.exe" --user-data-dir="..\User Data" Remember, these two dots are mandatory if You dont want write full path of this folder. In this case the folder will made in Your Chrome folder, beside the Chrome-bin folder. And now you must have the same on the taskbar icon target path line, ie there must be also Code: "C:\Your Crome folder name\Chrome-bin\chrome.exe" --user-data-dir="..\User Data" More such a Command Line Switches is here Code: https://gist.github.com/dodying/34ea4760a699b47825a766051f47d43b
I appreciate the suggestion but this is way more trouble than I want to go to. I don't really want to force the profile folder to go where I want it, I just want to pin the icon to the taskbar and still have the profile go where it's supposed to. But it doesn't sound like that's possible without ending up with two icons on the taskbar so I'll just keep using the setup I have now.
If you mean the GoogleChromePortable.exe icon and the chrome.exe icon, of course you can't put them together, because they are two completely different things, and different things can't have the same icon and the same shortcut. Regardless of whether they have the same icon image and similar name. But I still don't understand what you really want or why you should use the protative version on a regular computer at all, and even more so, how can you have a icon of portables somewhere on the taskbar? So, what is your real problem? What kind of real problem You have with your Chrome?
thats not possible as you like to. you pin the starter and get additional the chrome process icon, or pin chrome and deal with switches or different profile folder. thats a major issue of "portable" browser which are not portable itself. even firefox is not portable without switch or starter, same behavior. pinning chrome without switches then you better deal with the regular installation. chrome will create anyhow its folders and registry settings. the starter may delete some of them but at least its a pointless create-delete-create-delete game.
