? Article 10: Fix “Chrome update failed”

OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS • macOS Sequoia • Windows 10/11
Goal: Get Google Chrome updated (or cleanly reinstalled) with minimal fuss.

???? Before you start (all OS)

1. Check version: Menu ≡ → Help → About Google Chrome (keeps the update page open).
   
   

2. Close all Chrome windows (including background processes).
   
   

3. Check internet/proxy/VPN (updates need access to dl.google.com and update.googleapis.com).
   
   

4. If device shows “Managed by your organization” and updates are blocked, follow the Enterprise/Policy note in each OS section.
   
   

???? Windows 10 & 11

A) Quick retry (About page)

1. Open About Chrome again → let it “Checking for updates”.
   
   

2. If it errors, click Relaunch (if shown). If still failing, continue.
   
   

B) Ensure Google Update services are running

1. Press Win + R → type services.msc.
   
   

2. Find Google Update Service (gupdate) and Google Update Service (gupdatem).
   
   

• gupdate → Startup type Automatic (Delayed Start) → Start.
  
  

• gupdatem → Startup type Manual → Start (if stopped).
  
  

C) Run scheduled tasks manually

1. Press Win + R → taskschd.msc.
   
   

2. Task Scheduler Library → Google → Update.
   
   

3. Right-click each GoogleUpdateTask… → Run.
   
   

D) Clear the update cache

1. Close Chrome completely (check Task Manager → end any chrome.exe).
   
   

2. Delete update folders (they’ll be recreated):
   
   

• %ProgramData%\Google\Update
  
  

• %LocalAppData%\Google\Update
  
  

Reopen Chrome → About Chrome.

E) Update via package manager (Windows 10/11 with Winget)

Open Command Prompt (Admin):

winget upgrade --id Google.Chrome -s winget

F) Offline reinstall (keeps user data)

1. Download Chrome Standalone (Enterprise) MSI from Google.
   
   

2. Apps & features → uninstall Google Chrome (don’t tick “Also delete browsing data”).
   
   

3. Install the standalone MSI, then check About Chrome.
   
   

G) Enterprise / Policy check (updates disabled)

1. Press Win + R → regedit.
   
   

2. Navigate to:
   
   

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Update
  
  

Ensure UpdateDefault is 1 (enabled). If it’s 0, updates are blocked by policy.
???? If managed, ask IT to change the policy or push the latest MSI.

???? macOS Sequoia (Apple Silicon & Intel)

A) Quick retry

1. Chrome → About Google Chrome → wait for “Checking for updates”.
   
   

2. If it fails, Quit Chrome (⌘Q) and try again.
   
   

B) Run Google’s updater once (Keystone)

Open Terminal and run:

"/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/MacOS/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent" -runMode oneshot

Then reopen About Chrome.

C) Reset the updater cache (user-level)

1. Quit Chrome.
   
   

2. In Finder: Go → Go to Folder… and open these paths (move folders to Trash if present):
   
   

• ~/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/
  
  

• ~/Library/Caches/com.google.SoftwareUpdate/
  
  

Reopen About Chrome.

D) Clean reinstall (keeps user data unless you remove it)

1. Quit Chrome.
   
   

2. Delete Applications/Google Chrome.app (drag to Trash).
   
   

3. Download fresh Chrome DMG from Google, drag to Applications.
   
   

4. Open Chrome → About Chrome.
   (If you need a fully clean slate, also remove ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome — this deletes profiles & data.)
   
   

E) Enterprise / Profile policy

• Check System Settings → Privacy & Security → Profiles.
  
  

• If a profile enforces Chrome settings/updates, remove the profile (or ask IT to update policy).
  
  

• Also check /Library/Managed Preferences/ for Google plists (managed Macs).
  
  

???? Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

A) Check installed package & version

google-chrome --version

B) Normal update (APT)

sudo apt update

sudo apt --only-upgrade install google-chrome-stable -y

C) Fix typical APT/dpkg problems

If you see dpkg or broken packages errors:

sudo dpkg --configure -a

sudo apt -f install

sudo apt clean

sudo apt update

sudo apt --only-upgrade install google-chrome-stable -y

D) (Re)add Google’s repo + key (if repo/key issue)

1. Add signing key:
   
   

curl -fsSL https://dl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | \

gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/google-linux-signing-keyring.gpg >/dev/null

2. Add repo list:
   
   

echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/google-linux-signing-keyring.gpg] \

http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" | \

sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list

3. Update & upgrade:
   
   

sudo apt update

sudo apt install --only-upgrade google-chrome-stable -y

E) Manual reinstall (.deb) (keeps profile in home dir)

wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb || sudo apt -f install -y

Then check:

google-chrome --version

F) Enterprise / Policy (managed Linux)

• Check /etc/opt/chrome/policies/managed/ and /etc/chromium/policies/managed/ for JSON policy files.
  
  

• If updates are blocked by policy or repo mirroring, coordinate with IT to allow Google’s repo or push a new .deb.
  
  

???? Quick error-to-fix map

• “Update failed (error: 3, 7, 11, 12)” → Restart device, run OS steps above to reset updater/cache, then reinstall.
  
  

• “Updates disabled by administrator” → Policy/GPO/Mac Profile/Linux JSON policy (see Enterprise/Policy).
  
  

• “Not enough disk space” → Free 2–3 GB, retry.
  
  

• Behind proxy/VPN → Allow dl.google.com & update.googleapis.com; retry on a different network to confirm.
  
  

✅ Final verification

1. Open About Google Chrome → must show a newer version + “Chrome is up to date”.
   
   

2. Visit chrome://version → confirm version/date.
   
   

3. Test browsing a few HTTPS sites.