Can I put two chrome (different users) on my launcher?

Question

On Windows, Google Chrome has the option to create a shortcut on the desktop for each Chrome user. For example, I have my personal Google Account and I also have my company Google Account. So, I setup Google Chrome with two users and I created two shortcuts on desktop for each user.

On Ubuntu, I also created two users and I setup my accounts. But I can't create two "shortcuts" on launcher for each user. Is that possible? Today, on Ubuntu, I have to change between the users directly on chrome. I am not complaining about this, but I am used to have more chrome shortcuts.

I can also get used in Ubuntu is this is not possible.

My versions:

• Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
• Chrome 35.0.1916.153

Solution 1

It is quite simple to do this in Windows but not the same in Ubuntu.

For Ubuntu, I found two ways. Personally I recommend method 2 because you don't need to install anything. It also allows you to access the second profile from "Activities" (Ubuntu) without using any commands.

Please note that either way you choose, you have to know YOUR_PROFILE_NAME.

YOUR_PROFILE_NAME is normally Default for the first profile you created. The second profile is named Profile\ 1. The third is Profile\ 2, and so on (You can also give custom names for profiles). You can identify which profile is currently loaded by opening chrome://version inside Chrome and looking at Profile Path.

1. Follow Filippo's answer but change the Command to:

   google-chrome --profile-directory=YOUR_PROFILE_NAME  
   

2. Put this code in any text editor and name it anything .desktop.

   #!/usr/bin/env xdg-open
   [Desktop Entry]
   Version=1.0
   Type=Application
   Terminal=false
   Icon[en_US]=google-chrome
   Exec=google-chrome --profile-directory=YOUR_PROFILE_NAME
   Name[en_US]=Chrome-YOUR_PROFILE_NAME
   Name=Chrome-YOUR_PROFILE_NAME
   Icon=google-chrome
   

   Right-click the file. Open "Properties". Go to "Permissions" tab. Click Allow executing file as program.

   You can keep the .desktop file in ~/.local/share/applications/ so that your Application Launcher can locate it easily. Now simply press super and search for Chrome-YOUR_PROFILE_NAME (value given for Name), you will find the second profile appearing in the search results!

Solution 2

This is what I did to achieve the same thing:

sudo apt-get install gnome-panel
gnome-desktop-item-edit ~/Desktop/ --create-new

to create the first "Application Launcher" with the Command:

google-chrome --user-data-dir=/home/XXXXX/.config/google-chrome/Profile\ 1

Then drag the icon created from the desktop to the launcher. Repeat for the Profile 2.

Solution 3

All the other answers have a caveat: the shortcut will open tabs or new windows and group them with the official Google Chrome shortcut.

I wanted to make the new shortcut to open windows in its own icon, so I can place both icons in my dock and easily switch between the different Chromes.

I discovered that you basically need to use the flags --class and --user-data-dir to Chrome's executable.

So I wrote a script to make this automatically and if you want to try (don't worry, it won't perform any action before you confirm -- unless you use --force), just run:

bash -c "$(curl -fsSL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/felipecassiors/dotfiles/master/scripts/create_alternative_chrome_shortcut.sh")"

If you want to know more about it, take a look here.

The only caveat is that since it uses --user-data-dir instead of --profile-directory, the new Chrome instance will act like a fresh new. This is needed because of this bug.

In the end, you'll end up with something like this:

[

Solution 4

Edit the main shortcut file:

/usr/share/applications/google-chrome.desktop

The section [Desktop Entry] find the option Actions= and add your new action (use semi-colon to separate and at the end):

Actions=new-window;new-private-window;new-window-myprofile;

Create a new section with the same name given on the action above. The Name is the submenu item that will be shown.

The "Profile 1" must be the same as you get on the chrome://version/ (use it on the URL using the desired profile to configure) in the line Profile Path.

[Desktop Action new-window-myprofile]
Name=New Window as MyProfile
Exec=/usr/bin/google-chrome-stable %U --profile-directory="Profile 1"

On my example "as Zoop" is the Profile 1 and "as Renan" is the Profile 2

View more solutions

Comments

[Admin]

This page may have to command you need. If so, you you can then edit the .desktop files. peter.sh/experiments/chromium-command-line-switches

[Admin]

IMHO, you should complain, and that loudly, at the Chrome support forums. Programs can and do create desktop shortcuts, so it is odd that Chrome doesn't ask.

[Admin]

Another easy option is installing chrome beta channel for personal account (sudo apt install google-chrome-beta). Should be relatively safe to use.

[humungs]

I did exactly what you said. The shortcut is created, but when I open Google Chrome is look like a new installation asking if I want to set Chrome as default browser. My command: google-chrome --user-data-dir=/home/rgiaviti/.config/google-chrome/Profile‌​\ 1. I double checked the path and it's OK.

[Marecky]

@RicardoGiaviti don't use --user-data-dir=... instead use --profile-directory=Profile\ 1 or --profile-directory=Default

[Tiziano S.]

Thanks for the good answer, I suppose this still work year and a half later. How could one figure out what the profiles are named, exactly? Are there any available commands or paths to check? And if so, please add this to the answer as it would be super handy to know this. Thank you

[Anshuman Kumar]

Hi, it doesn't appear to work.

[felipecrs]

@AnshumanKumar I just tested here and it's working, Pop!_OS 20.04.

[Seff]

This works, but the changes will be gone when the package updates.

[mchid]

@Denny cat ~/.config/google-chrome/Local\ State | jq .profile should list all the profiles. If you have more than one, it should be "Default", "Profile 1", "Profile 2" . . . and so on and so forth.

[masterfloda]

Exactly what I was looking for, thank you! Although you shouldn't ask people to just run a bash script from the internet. Yours is harmless, but others might be malicious.

[Jander]

@Seff Add a copy of this .desktop to ~/.local/share/applications/ and edit this copy.

[Admin]

Solution is almost perfect but I have one issue. Right now all commands that would open a browser (i.e. gcloud auth login) open tab in the default Chrome without user-data-dir... is there a way to somehow adjust it?