This Microsoft feature is accidentally ‘blocking' Google Chrome on Windows

Microsoft
's
Family Safety tool
is reportedly preventing
Google Chrome
from opening on some Windows devices. According to a report by The Verge, the issue was first noticed on June 3, and since then, more users have complained about it. It is affecting those who have enabled Family Safety on their devices, causing Chrome to either close immediately or fail to launch at all. Other web browsers, such as Firefox and Opera, however are not affected.
What is Microsoft's Family Safety feature
The Family Safety feature is commonly used by schools and parents through Microsoft 365 subscriptions to limit online access for children. The bug, as per the report, has now been active for over two weeks, with no update or resolution from Microsoft at the time of publication.
Google Chrome acknowledges the issue
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The Verge report quotes Chrome support manager Ellen T who said 'Our team has investigated these reports and determined the cause of this behavior. For some users, Chrome is unable to run when
Microsoft Family Safety
is enabled.'
While Chrome has acknowledged the issue, Microsoft is yet to issue a public statement or a timeline for a fix. 'We've not heard anything from Microsoft about a fix being rolled out,' a Chromium engineer wrote in a bug report dated June 10. 'They have provided guidance to users who contact them about how to get Chrome working again, but I wouldn't think that would have a large effect.'
Some users have found that renaming the Chrome executable file (e.g., from Chrome.exe to Chrome1.exe) allows the browser to function. Disabling the 'filter inappropriate websites' option in Family Safety also resolves the issue, but removes content restrictions for children.
While the issue is believed to be accidental, Microsoft has previously faced criticism for trying to steer users away from Chrome and toward its own Edge browser, using popups, misleading messages, and in some cases, altering search results.
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