Installation & Setup

Because chrlauncher is a strictly portable application by design, it does not use a traditional Windows installer (like .msi or setup.exe). Installation simply involves extracting the files to your preferred directory.

System Requirements

Before downloading, ensure your host system meets the following minimal requirements:

  • Operating System: Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10, or 11.
  • Architecture: 32-bit (x86), 64-bit (x64), or ARM64.
  • CPU: An SSE2-capable processor (standard on nearly all processors manufactured after 2003).
  • Windows 7 Note: If you are deploying chrlauncher on an older Windows 7 machine, the KB3063858 update must be installed. This update provides modern Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) support required for secure TLS connections during the update process.

Setup Instructions

  1. Download the Release: Navigate to the official GitHub releases page and download the latest .zip archive for your architecture (usually chrlauncher-win64.zip).
  2. Extract the Archive: Unpack the contents of the archive to an empty directory.
  3. (Optional) Verify Signature: To ensure supply-chain security, official binaries are shipped with a detached GPG signature (chrlauncher.exe.sig) located in the root folder.
    • Public key file: pubkey.asc (Key ID: 0x5635B5FD)
    • You can verify this using GnuPG: gpg --verify chrlauncher.exe.sig chrlauncher.exe
  4. Run: Double-click chrlauncher.exe. If you are running this for the first time and no browser binaries exist in the bin folder, chrlauncher will immediately reach out to the Chromium API and begin downloading the default browser package.

Best Practices for Directory Placement

Because chrlauncher updates itself by deleting and writing new files inside its own directory, you must place it in a location where you have full read/write permissions.

  • ✅ Recommended Locations:
    • C:\PortableApps\chrlauncher
    • D:\Browsers\chrlauncher
    • E:\ (A USB Flash Drive)
    • %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\chrlauncher
  • ❌ Locations to Avoid:
    • C:\Program Files\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\
    • Windows User Account Control (UAC) restricts standard applications from writing to these directories. If placed here, chrlauncher will likely fail to download and extract updates unless constantly run as Administrator (which is a severe security risk for a web browser).

Example Directory Structure

After your first successful run and update, your directory will look like this:

chrlauncher/
├── bin/                   # Contains the actual Chromium binaries (chrome.exe, .pak files, etc.)
├── profile/               # Contains your isolated user data (History, Extensions, Bookmarks)
├── chrlauncher.exe        # The main executable you run
├── chrlauncher.ini        # Your configuration file
└── SetDefaultBrowser.bat  # Registration script

Setting as the Default System Browser

By default, a portable browser won't be recognized by Windows when you click links in other applications (like Discord or Outlook). chrlauncher includes a batch script to safely register your portable instance as a system-level default browser.

How to Register:

  1. Navigate to your chrlauncher installation directory.
  2. Right-click SetDefaultBrowser.bat and select Run as administrator. (Administrator privileges are required because it modifies system registry keys).
  3. The script writes the necessary file associations and URL protocol handlers (HTTP/HTTPS) into HKLM\Software\Classes and HKLM\Software\Clients\StartMenuInternet.
  4. Open the Windows Settings app or Control Panel.
  5. Navigate to Apps -> Default Apps (or Default Programs -> Set your default programs in older Windows versions).
  6. Locate chrlauncher in the list of web browsers, select it, and set it as the default.

Troubleshooting Registration

  • Links opening in old browser: Ensure you ran the script as administrator. If Windows Settings doesn't show chrlauncher, restart your computer to force Windows to rebuild its Start Menu Internet cache.
  • Moving the folder: If you move the chrlauncher folder to a new drive or path, the registry keys will point to the old location. You must re-run SetDefaultBrowser.bat from the new location to update the Windows Registry paths.