Chrome won't start from the launcher

Question

I have Ubuntu 13.10 64-bit and chrome 64-bit.

I can start chrome from the command line with google-chrome-stable and lock it to the launcher, but when I try to launch chrome from the launcher nothing happens.

What do I have to do to make chrome working with the launcher?

Solution 1

You probably have an old version, or a version with an error, of the .desktop file in ~/.local/share/applications. The "reading priority" of the launcher is:

1. the local directory for desktop files in in ~/.local/share/applications,
2. the global directory for desktop files in /usr/share/applications.

That means that if you start the application from the "right" (global) .desktop file, the launcher will check for a local version of the .desktop file on the next occasion and use the contents of that file.

You will have to remove the local .desktop file, log out and in, and lock the icon to the launcher again.

Solution 2

In my case, the problem was that the local launcher definition (~/.local/share/applications/google-chrome-stable.desktop) was pointing to the wrong path for the chrome executable. Using whereis google-chrome-stable I replaced to the right path, then started google-chrome-stable & from terminal, locked to the launcher, voila.

Comments

[Dean Schulze]

I copied the file /usr/share/applications/google-chrome.desktop to my Desktop and I can launch it from there. It still doesn't work from the Launcher, however.

[Eugene Bulkin]

I have this issue too. Hope someone can figure this out.

[Domi]

Still have this issue with Ubuntu 14.0* and Chrome 38

[web.learner]

Why would this be happening? Do you know?

[Domi]

Nope. The icon is blinking for a while, then stops blinking. Chrome has never started.

[Domi]

That solved it! Great! When using Super and searching for chrome, it finds two. One is called "Chrome - Google Chrome" and one is just called "Google Chrome". The former one does not work, and its what was linked against the launcher for some reason.