Chrome not listed in default programs

Question

After switching browsers from Firefox to Google Chrome I've tried all the solutions that I know of, going into the registry and manually changing the default program there, going into the control panel and trying to figure out how to manually change the protocol, uninstalling Firefox completely, restarting my computer, downloading Default Programs Editor, and running every single one of these in administrator mode.

I STILL cannot get Chrome to open ANY hyperlinks in Skype or program links or anything that involves FTP, HTTP, or HTTPS protocol. I haven't even been able to find Chrome in the list of available programs that I'm allowed to set the protocol to. I'm getting pretty tired of even thinking about forcing the protocol as Google Chrome.

Here's an imgur album of the screenshots that I'd imagine would help: http://imgur.com/a/53NE5

Answer 1

I had the same issue (Google Chrome not appearing in the default programs list) and it was caused by an incorrect registry value. This is what I did to solve it, which should hopefully work for you too:

• Open the registry editor by pressing the Windows key + r, or by clicking on the Start Menu and searching for "run", and then type "regedit.exe" into the Run dialogue box.

• Navigate to "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\chromeHTML\shell\open\command"

• There should be one value in there: (Default) -- double click on it

• Change the value data in the Edit String window that appears to match the location of Google Chrome's executable. And make sure to append -- "%1" to the end of the file location string. For me, this is what I needed to enter, including all the quotation marks:

  "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" -- "%1"

• Click OK and reopen the Default Programs list. Google Chrome should now be listed there and can be set to default.

Answer 2

I've just faced the same problem. The reason is that I had installed Chrome as a normal user, not as an administrator. So when I opened it it told me it wasn't the default browser, and offered to set it as such, but it didn't work. And even going to Settings -> Make default didn't do anything. Google should really fix this so that you get a message that explains why.

The solution: call an administrator and ask him to reinstall it for you. In my case he could reuse the same ChromeSetup.exe file I had downloaded, and I didn't even need to close the browser during the installation - when he was finished I just closed the old one, then I started the new one, set it as default, and it worked. All the settings were kept, and even my session. I unpinned the old icon from the taskbar, pinned the new one, and that was it. It now appears in the list of programs that can be chosen as default, and indeed it is the default browser.

In your question you say that you tried to run it as administrator. You don't need to run it as admin, you must (re)install it as admin. Then you can run it with a regular, limited account and it will work.

Answer 3

There are several different places in the registry that need to be modified in order to set a browser as the “default”. It is not advised to modify these manually; instead you should let the browser itself decide what needs to be changed.

If you use Windows’ Default Programs function, you should use the Set Default Programs function to set associations by program rather than individually by type (figure 1).

Even better would be to just use Chrome’s own built-in association function by going to the page chrome://settings and clicking the button [Make Google Chrome my default browser…] under the Default Browser section.

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Figure 1: Using Windows’ Default Programs function to set Chrome as the default for all types and protocols that it supports

Answer 4

Reinstalling as administrator, works. Even if you are an administrator, try uninstall and run the chromeinstall.exe as administartor will work.