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Google Chrome Portable launcher keeps running after exit

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mod_wastrel
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Google Chrome Portable launcher keeps running after exit

This isn't a new issue, but I've yet to see anything that actually answers the question: why does the launcher process GoogleChromePortable.exe keep running after Chrome has been exited?

The actual Chrome processes end as they should; just the launcher process keeps running. This happens immediately after installing both the platform and the application (before any kind of setting changes could be made)--everything is at its default value (latest versions of both as of 26Feb2014). If Chrome is started again, it runs not as a child process to either the old or a new launcher process (which as far as I can tell never actually starts--either the old one keeps a new one from starting or a new one is so quickly stopped that it's never seen in the process list) or of the platform. Chrome is not installed locally, so there's not conflict potential there. The only way to get rid of the process is to kill it; it never ends on its own.

I can't say that the issue causes any problems with how the browser itself works if it's restarted (though since it's not running as a child process to a launcher, I'd have to presume there would be no cleanup performed). No problem is apparent unless one looks at the process list; it just seems that the launcher should terminate after the browser processes end.

John T. Haller
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Iron

Are you using Iron as well? Iron is now the same process (chrome.exe) as Chrome.

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mod_wastrel
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Nope

The only other browser installed is Firefox (and IE, of course). (Firefox is installed locally, but I almost exclusively use Firefox Portable.)

John T. Haller
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All Processes

Are you sure you're showing all processes? Only a running chrome.exe will cause the launcher to stick around.

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mod_wastrel
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Found it...

there was another Chrome.exe running quite a bit further up the list--seems it was started 4 days ago from an earlier config of testing Chrome Portable (one where I actually sign in to Gmail) before I noticed a launcher still running, hiding in plain sight (not grouped with recent runs near the bottom). That config actually results in a Chrome.exe sticking around after the browser has been exited. Once I kill that process, the launcher finally terminates.

Well, I've got more testing to do to find out just what causes that to happen.

Thanks.

Edit: It seems to have something to do with being signed in to Chrome (not simply signed in to your Google account), which would have something to do with sync'ing stuff. (need to test some more)

John T. Haller
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Background Tasks

Any chance you have background tasks enabled? If so, that would be it. Chrome is becoming more like an OS (background tasks, apps, etc) and less like a browser, so it just keeps running all the time.

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mod_wastrel
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I tried both...

enabled and not enabled, worked the same either way--chrome.exe process kept running. Speaking of OS... you wouldn't know if one of the sync'd Chrome instances being a Chromebook would be part of the issue? That's the only reason I'm playing around with the Chrome browser anyway--helping my sister in getting things sync'd up between her Chromebook and her PC for printing and such. (And, no, Cloud Print hasn't really come into it yet.)

Thanks.

mod_wastrel
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Take two...

I tried a second install/setup where I played around less (as in, hardly at all) with the settings, and--so far--no chrome.exe hangs around when I exit the browser (so the launcher terminates right after). I guess I'll just attribute the first install's problem to some glitch with Chrome in enabling and disabling certain settings (I've noticed a glitch or two). Anyway, doesn't seem to be a PAc issue regardless.

Thanks, again.

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