Microsoft is blocking Google Chrome through its family safety feature

Earlier this month, Microsoft’s Family Safety feature, chiefly utilized by parents and schools arsenic a acceptable of parental controls and filters, started randomly blocking Google’s Chrome browser from opening connected Windows. The archetypal reports surfaced on June 3rd, with immoderate Chrome users noticing the browser kept closing oregon wouldn’t open.

Microsoft has introduced a bug into Family Safety that specifically targets the Chrome browser and prevents it from functioning connected Windows. “Our squad has investigated these reports and determined the origin of this behavior,” says Chrome enactment manager Ellen T. “For immoderate users, Chrome is incapable to tally erstwhile Microsoft Family Safety is enabled.”

Other browsers similar Firefox oregon Opera look to beryllium unaffected, and some users person adjacent recovered that renaming Chrome.exe to Chrome1.exe works astir this issue. Schools oregon parents who person enabled Family Safety arsenic portion of a Microsoft 365 subscription tin besides disable the “filter inappropriate websites” mounting successful Family Safety to get Chrome up and moving again, but this does permission children capable to entree immoderate website.

It’s unclear erstwhile Microsoft volition hole the issue, which has been ongoing for much than 2 weeks. We reached retired to Microsoft to remark connected this occupation earlier this week, but astatine the clip of publication, the institution hasn’t responded.

“We’ve not heard thing from Microsoft astir a hole being rolled out,” wrote a Chromium technologist successful a bug tracking thread connected June 10th. “They person provided guidance to users who interaction them astir however to get Chrome moving again, but I wouldn’t deliberation that would person a ample effect.”

Microsoft has a habit of doing weird things connected Windows to steer radical distant from utilizing Chrome. While this Family Safety contented is apt an guiltless bug, Microsoft has used prompts, fake AI answers, malware-like popups, and adjacent a poll injected connected Google’s Chrome download page to effort and sway radical to power to its Edge browser. Earlier this year, Microsoft adjacent utilized Bing to trick radical into thinking they were connected Google.