Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
- You can restart Google Chrome by simply closing and reopening the program, or force quitting it if necessary.
- You may need to restart Google Chrome to install updates or extensions or fix a glitching browser.
- There is a Chrome restart method that will make open tabs reappear once you restart.
- Visit Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories.
While Google Chrome makes it easy to navigate around online and have many sites open simultaneously without too many glitches, there are some occasions when you need to restart your browser.
Whether you're installing an update or a new extension or your pages are becoming unresponsive, sometimes a reboot is necessary.
Restarting your Chrome browser can be done in seconds whether you're on a Mac or a Windows PC. Google even has a way to guarantee that your open tabs immediately reappear after a restart.
How to restart a Chrome browser without losing tabs
If you need to restart Chrome but want to ensure the tabs you have open aren't lost in the process, there's a feature within the application that makes it possible.
On a Mac computer or Windows PC, type chrome://restart in the address bar of your Chrome browser, then hit the Enter or Return key on your keyboard to enter the command. The browser will automatically restart and the tabs you previously had open will reappear.
Insider
How to restart a Chrome browser on a Mac
If you don't need open tabs to re-open, you can restart Chrome on a Mac by simply shutting the application down and re-opening it. This can be done in several ways.
In the menu at the top of your screen, click Chrome button and click Quit Google Chrome from the dropdown menu, or enter the keyboard shortcut Command + Q. You can also quickly close your browser using the red window button in the top-left corner of the window.
Insider
If you're unable to close the window because the browser has become unresponsive, you may need to force quit Google Chrome.
When you want to re-open Chrome to restart it, you can simply click on the application icon on your desktop or in the Applications folder of your Mac's Finder.
How to restart a Chrome browser on Windows
If you want to restart Chrome on a Windows PC without re-opening open tabs, you can do so by going to the top-right side of the browser window and clicking on the X in the top-right corner of the window.
You could also click the three vertically stacked dots beneath that X to reveal a dropdown menu, then click Exit at the bottom of the menu to quit Chrome.
Insider
If your Chrome window has become unresponsive, you may need to force quit Google Chrome to close the program.
To reopen Chrome, simply double-click the app icon on your desktop, the Start menu, or in your computer's application folder.