Skip to content

Konstantinos Tsoukalas

Konstantinos is the founder and administrator of Wintips.org. Since 1995 he works and provides IT support as a computer and network expert to individuals and large companies. He is specialized in solving problems related to Windows or other Microsoft products (Windows Server, Office, Microsoft 365, etc.).

30 Comments

  1. Roger Black
    May 12, 2018 @ 2:14 am

    On Windows 10, if you cannot stop Chrome from running, you cannot change the name of the User Data file.

    Reply

  2. iNiC
    January 17, 2018 @ 4:05 am

    I was very happy to see this error pop up on my, sorry, Google's Chrome browser. It's just one more thing Google CANNOT see and I have no problem with that. One Stalker down, several more to go. It would be nice if I could disable the notice. But, it's not my browser – is it. It's Google's.
    If the Fox would get over it's Hate-on for Flash, which too many sites still use, I'd opt for real privacy and switch back to Fire Fox.

    Reply

  3. greg field
    June 14, 2017 @ 11:29 pm

    Thanks for ignoring the existence of macs. You're a big help

    Reply

    • Bob
      February 19, 2019 @ 11:07 pm

      He's still helping 99% of the user network :)

      Reply

  4. Alec Hughes
    June 6, 2017 @ 4:19 pm

    I came across this persistent bug a few days back with the pop up "Your Preferences Cannot Be Read, Some Features May Be Unavailable and Changes To Preferences Won't Be Saved." continuously presenting itself every time i opened up chrome.

    I had been trying numerous different angles of unsuccessfully trying to fix this problem, and by the time i ended working this bug out i had messed up a lot of my saved preferences i had in place for chrome.

    So i thought at this stage the best thing to do is try and save what original files were left in the "C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Folder" and my folders size was somewhat large 100 gigs, so i just let it save a copy on another drive when after some time i had a message pop up saying that i could not move the file "C:\Users\Me\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data" as it did not have any permissions for the move..?

    So there was the clue and i thought well lets try and assign the fie some permissions to see if it will then move' and yes i hit try again and success so i thought i wonder if chrome will work now with out the bugging pop up and restricted usage i had been facing of late with chrome?

    Well yes it worked and all i had to do was grant the file "Local" some permissions and privileges and then open up chrome and sign in to my account used previously with chrome and surf!

    Reply

  5. Lewis Lafontaine
    October 8, 2016 @ 9:18 pm

    I followed your instructions and when done read down further and it says we can "restore our bookmarks."

    How do I do this as they now appear to be gone?

    Thank you

    Reply

    • lakonst
      October 9, 2016 @ 9:26 am

      @Lewis Lafontaine: The 'bookmarks' file is located at the 'User Data.OLD' folder. ("C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data.OLD\Default\".
      Just copy the 'bookmarks' file from the above location to the new 'User Data' folder: "C:\Users\
      \AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\

      Reply

  6. Charity
    April 24, 2016 @ 10:16 pm

    It wont let me delete the folder as it says Chrome is still open but it is not, also can't even open chrome anymore?

    Reply

    • lakonst
      April 25, 2016 @ 9:00 am

      @Charity: Try to reboot your computer in Safe Mode and perform the Chrome removal. Then Restart (in Normal Mode) and re-install Chrome as described here.

      Reply

  7. prajwal
    January 22, 2016 @ 5:55 pm

    thanks

    Reply

  8. chuck
    January 18, 2016 @ 12:53 am

    Very helpful.. Keep up the good work..

    Reply

  9. Joe
    October 28, 2015 @ 4:56 pm

    A couple of points…
    I was able to achieve with just clicking on "show hidden files". I did not have to uncheck "Hide protected O/S files. If you have to…so be it.
    My main point regardless….BE SURE TO GO BACK AND RETURN TO UNDO WHICHEVER ONES YOU DID" before you shutdown your computer. If you don't, especially if you unchecked the protected O/S files, you may have a problem when you reboot your computer next time. It will hang up on the Welcome – Please wait screen.

    Reply

  10. Mike
    August 27, 2015 @ 2:55 pm

    Don't listen to the idiots at Google on this. Just follow joe lion's reply which I copied below. It's much quicker and easier. I was able to delete my preferences file and when I restarted, I had Chrome back with all my settings and bookmarks. These idiots at google are just that, idiots. Thanks joe.

    1: close chrome and rename “user data” folder (example: user data1)
    2: open chrome which will automatically create a new “user data” folder
    3: delete all of the data in the new “user data” folder
    4: copy the old data from the old “user data” folder from step 1
    5: navigate to C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default and delete the “preferences” file(s) (not the “secure preferences” file)

    Restart chrome and a newly repaired “preferences” file will be created automatically. This worked for me.

    Reply

  11. simionica antonia
    August 5, 2015 @ 1:06 pm

    i cannot delete or rename user data.

    Reply

    • lakonst
      August 5, 2015 @ 2:38 pm

      @Boot Windows in Safe mode and then delete it.

      Reply

    • Spades
      August 21, 2015 @ 6:14 pm

      Works great! If you cannot delete or rename User Data: Ctrl-Alt-Del then Start Task Manager and look for the chrome.exe file and End Process. Even when you close Chrome some part of it remains running and you need to close that too.

      Thanks for the fix!

      Reply

  12. joe lion
    June 23, 2015 @ 3:30 am

    The original answer work's but it wipes out all of your important stored data like saved passwords and multiple google/youtube accounts..etc. This might not matter to some but to those with multiple website passwords and google/youtube accounts, this could be a pain. A more efficient remedy would be to:

    1: close chrome and rename "user data" folder (example: user data1)
    2: open chrome which will automatically create a new "user data" folder
    3: delete all of the data in the new "user data" folder
    4: copy the old data from the old "user data" folder from step 1
    5: navigate to C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default and delete the "preferences" file(s) (not the "secure preferences" file)

    Restart chrome and a newly repaired "preferences" file will be created automatically. This worked for me.

    NOTE: One would think that it would be easier to simply delete the "preferences" file in the original user data folder but for some reason, windows would not allow this and generated permissions errors when tried. If you can skip these steps then more power to ya! hope this helps!!

    Reply

  13. Christy
    June 20, 2015 @ 10:15 pm

    My computer won't let me rename or delete the file, any ideas?
    Already reinstalled chrome before looking online

    Reply

    • lakonst
      June 21, 2015 @ 11:14 am

      @Christy: Start your computer in "Safe Mode" and then delete the file.

      Reply

    • scott
      November 8, 2015 @ 11:28 pm

      you have to right click on the folder and change the permissions Unclick "read only" then it will let you delete the folder. if you try to rename it you have to go in and change permissions for all the folders in that folder. I deleted it and when I started chrome and signed in it re downloaded all my apps etc I had to enter in some passwords again but that was not hard

      Reply

  14. Prashant
    May 31, 2015 @ 6:06 am

    did all this. Still getting the error.

    Reply

    • lakonst
      May 31, 2015 @ 11:15 am

      @Prashant: Install a totally fresh copy of Google Chrome by following these instructionss.

      Reply

  15. Learjet
    April 21, 2015 @ 10:35 am

    These instructions are a Godsend! I've been dicking around with this all day long, then I stumbled across these instructions here and it's fixed in under five minutes! Awesome!

    Reply

  16. Bobby Mukherjee
    April 17, 2015 @ 11:15 am

    How to Finish This problem……!! this is my daily problem…..please any body help me :(

    Reply

    • lakonst
      April 17, 2015 @ 5:06 pm

      @Bobby Mukherjee: 1. Scan you computer for malware by following this Guide
      2. If you have installed extensions: disable all of them and then enable each one per time to find out which of them causes the problem.

      Reply

  17. Hazel
    February 7, 2015 @ 3:39 pm

    I have had this problem multiple times before and found that a quicker solution is to go to the settings bar at the far right of the url search bar and then to settings in the drop down. Where it says Sign In on the new page, either sign in with your email or disconnect your Google account (if it says you are already signed in) and sign in again. That usually works for me.

    Reply

  18. Jirka Bolech
    January 28, 2015 @ 12:16 pm

    I don't have the User Data folder on my machine at all. In other words, the advice doesn't work for me. I get the message on booting the operating system only and Chrome starts up faster than before this error started showing up. I am mainly confused by the fact that my Chrome is logged in to my Google account where all my 'preferences' are supposed to be stored. Is this why I don't have the User Data folder? Could this error message be actually no sign of an error? I am not aware of any malfunctions.

    Reply

    • lakonst
      January 29, 2015 @ 7:28 pm

      @Jirka Bolech: Enable Hidden files first and then you 'll to see the User Data folder.

      Reply

  19. ACES
    January 23, 2015 @ 8:56 am

    It worked, thanks!

    Reply

  20. Gary Braverman
    December 7, 2014 @ 4:24 pm

    I've about had it with most everything thst Goog tries to make a Better App but adds more complexities to a 100X browser
    I have found the answer.and Google knows it well
    LEAVE EM & go to the fox

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *