Here are some simple tips on how to get back to the desktop version of Chrome

Apr 26, 2013 14:25 GMT  ·  By

Google Chrome, the world’s number one browser at this point according to StatCounter, comes with a dedicated option that allows Windows 8 users to quickly launch the app in the Metro UI of Microsoft’s latest operating system.

While this is quite a nice feature for those who love the Metro interface and wish to run all apps in this environment, some users have reported problems after turning on this option.

Basically, users need to click on the settings icon in Google Chrome and, if they are running Windows 8, they are provided with a dedicated option to “Launch Chrome in Windows 8 Mode.”

Clicking this option instantly gets you to the Modern UI, closing the desktop apps and moving all loaded tabs in this full screen working environment available exclusively to Windows 8 users.

As said, this is indeed a great feature, but we’ve heard that many users are actually stuck with this mode and can’t get back to the desktop version, as the dedicated setting in this regard doesn’t seem to work.

Whenever you click on the desktop icon of Google, you’re taken back to the Modern UI and provided with this version of the browser.

Fixing the bug only takes a few seconds.

Basically, users who want to fix it need to perform a simple registry tweak. So go over to the Start Screen and type “regedit” to launch the Registry Editor. Navigate to this path:

code
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Chrome\Metro
On the right-hand side of the screen you should see an entry called “launch_mode” whose default value should be set to “0.” Simply double-click it to launch the editing dialog and instead of “0” type “1.” This should basically enable the desktop mode and disable Metro altogether.

That’s about it. If you wish to re-enable the Windows 8 mode, simply change the value back to “0.”

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