Home / ubuntu / Questions / 35392
Accepted
Nathan Osman
Asked: 2011-04-16 19:21:11 +0800 CST

How to launch a new instance of Google Chrome from the command line?

  • 772

Is there any way I can launch a new instance of Google Chrome from the command line? I'm not referring to opening a new window - I want a new instance. Here's why:

Suppose I open Chrome and navigate to a page somewhere. Then I SSH into the same account from somewhere else. When I run:

google-chrome

...all I get is a new tab in the existing window. This is absolutely useless when I'm connected via SSH.

How can I launch a separate instance of Chrome that runs in the same account, but is usable with SSH?

ssh

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    This is a known bug. A workaround is to pass the argument --user-data-dir=$(mktemp -d) (or you can use any temporary or empty directory) to start a new session.

    • 56

  2. I do this

    cd ~/.config/google-chrome
mkdir /tmp/chrome2
find . -print | cpio -mpdv /tmp/chrome2 # there was no cp -R in my day!
rm -fr /tmp/chrome2/Singleton*
rm -fr /tmp/chrome2/Session* 
google-chrome --user-data-dir=/tmp/chrome2/

    Instead of the cpio/rm lines I'm using this now

    rsync -av --delete --exclude=/Singleton* --exclude=/Session* ~/.config/google-chrome/ /tmp/chrome2/
    • 13

  3. Use --new-window parameter.

    Like: 

    google-chrome --new-window www.google.com
    • -1