How to Downgrade and Install Older Version of Chrome

Google Chrome team regularly releases a new build of its Chrome browser. While you aren’t going to witness the addition of new features with each new build, there are always some under-the-hood changes and patching of bugs and issues.

With that said, in some instances, the update might break in some functionalities, support some third-party apps or plugins, and even cause your PC to slow down considerably.

While these issues aren’t on a large scale, the ones on the receiving end find it quite challenging to deal with all this, and understandably so. In this regard, switching to a different browser is not the most viable option, especially if deeply engrossed in the Google ecosystem.

Furthermore, the browser also has a Beta and Canary build, but they are mainly used for experimental purposes and might not be the preferred choice for general users.

So all this leads to one route – downgrade and installing an older version of Chrome. And in this guide, we will show you how to do just that. Without further ado, let’s get started.

First, you will have to uninstall the currently installed build of Chrome and its associated data. After that, you may download and install an older version of this browser. Finally, you would then have to disable Chrome’s automatic update process. Follow along for detailed instructions.

Uninstall Chrome

Since it’s not a system app like Microsoft Edge for Windows or Safari for macOS, we can uninstall the Google Chrome browser from the Windows Control Panel.

Here are the steps to uninstall the browser from the computer:

1. Bring up the Run dialog box via Windows + R shortcut keys.
2. Type in appwiz.cpl and hit Enter.
   This shall take you to the list of all the installed apps.
3. Select Google Chrome from the list, and hit on the Uninstall command.
   
4. Follow the onscreen instructions, and the browser shall now be removed from your PC.

Delete Chrome Data

While you have successfully uninstalled Chrome, some of its data might still be present. This might lead to a conflicting situation when you are installing an older build of the browser. Hence it is recommended to delete these old data files.

Here are the steps to delete local data:

1. Open File Explorer on your Windows PC.
2. Head over to the below location:

   %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data

   You find any remaining files and folders after uninstalling the Chrome browser

3. Delete all files/folders and send them to Recycle Bin.
   

Download the Older Version

There is no official repository from where you could get your hands on an older build of this browser. However, there do exist some handy alternatives that you could refer to. These include the likes of FileHippo, Chromium Cypress, etc.

So download the preferred Chrome version from any of these sites and proceed with the onscreen instructions to download and install Chrome.

Disable Chrome Auto-Updates

The browser doesn’t have a built-in option to disable the auto-update features. So you would have to take the help of the Windows Services page and disable the ones responsible for Chrome’s automatic updates.

1. Bring up the Run dialog box via Windows + R shortcut keys.
2. Type in msconfig command, and hit OK button.
   This will open the Microsoft System Configuration window.
3. Switch the Services tab and uncheck the Hide all Microsoft Services option at the bottom left.
4. Next, uncheck the options for Google Update Service (gupdate) and Google Update Service (gupdatem).
   
5. Finally, Hit on Apply > OK to close the window. and
6. Restart your PC to make these changes effective.

That’s it. We have successfully disabled the Google Update Service that will essentially be used for auto-updates. Now Google won’t be updated to the next or current live version. However, we can still manually visit About Chrome for updating.

Bottom Line

So this was all from this guide on downgrading and installing a previous version of Chrome. While downgrading might lead to a few security risks, in some instances, it becomes an absolute necessity.

However, the absence of an official source from which one could download an older browser build and the inability to disable automatic updates directly via the browser might put a seed of doubt into users’ minds.

So in this regard, the Silicon Valley giants could have taken a page from the Firefox book, which has efficiently dealt with both these functionalities.

On that note, we round off this tutorial. Do let us know in the comments if you have any queries about performing the instructions above.

FAQs

Now, let us go through the frequently asked questions regarding how to downgrade and install an older version of Chrome.

Lastly, if you've any thoughts or feedback on How to Downgrade and Install Older Version of Chrome, then feel free to drop in below comment box. You can also report the outdated information.