2023-04 Cumulative update causes -> Opening chrome causes default app settings to open each and every time.

Fuhrman, Todd 171

Opening chrome causes default app settings to open each and every time. After today's cumulative update for Windows 10 and 11, 2023-04, every time I open Chrome the default app settings of windows will open. I've tried many ways to resolve this without luck. This is happening to all 600 systems with the update. Removing the update makes the issue go away. Anyone else having this issue? This does not occur when opening edge or brave browser, only chrome for us.

Chris Heilman 10 Reputation points

2023-04-12T14:50:01.3133333+00:00

Good morning Todd, We're having the same issue through our organization as well. We're on Windows 10 machines and pushed updates the last couple days. Many machines here seeing the issue. We may have just found a fix. Remove the Security Update KB5025221 and restart, this removes the problem. Looks to have fixed several machines just these last few minutes. May need to block KB5025221 until its reissued.
Fuhrman, Todd 171 Reputation points

2023-04-12T14:58:17.1566667+00:00

Yes, removing that update fixes it. It is definately the problem. However that is the monthly cumulative update and alll other patches/fixes are uninstalled with it. If they don't address it, I'm thinking May's cumulative will do the same thing. Sorry you're having the issue also but there is comfort in knowing I'm not the only one. Sometimes it takes hitting critical mass to get these things resolved.
Anonymous

2023-04-12T15:13:08.06+00:00

We're having the same issue through our organization as well. We're on Windows 10 and 11 machines and pushed upadtes the last couple days too.
Chris Heilman 10 Reputation points

2023-04-12T15:46:04.16+00:00

Todd - Simon, We decided on our end not to remove the update but we're updating end users to let them know that the issue occurs due to updates and that hopefully it'll get hotfixed soon.
Bruce Spies 60 Reputation points

2023-04-12T16:47:21.8533333+00:00

We have this issue on all our test Windows 10 21H2 Enterprise edition 64-bit systems. We also discovered the same issue with a laptop we just deployed yesterday afternoon, and that machine is not even patched yet (not in the test group). BUT, it has this "KB5026037: Out of Box Experience update for Windows 10, version 20H2, 21H2, and 22H2: April 11, 2023" and uninstalling that patch from the new laptop resolved the issue. Therefore I think KB5026037 and April patches are causing the same issue.
Jason Sears 0 Reputation points

2023-04-12T18:48:37.67+00:00

Same issue as well Windows 10 2009/21H2/22H2 as well as Windows 11 21H2
Bruce Spies 60 Reputation points

2023-04-12T19:45:55.8266667+00:00

I have done some testing with Process Explorer and found svchost.exe is launching the Default Apps window; specifically the one with -k DcomLaunch -p in the command line ..
Fuhrman, Todd 171 Reputation points

2023-04-13T03:34:57.0433333+00:00

Changing this registry value to 0 also works if you want to reinstall the security update. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome Value Name: DefaultBrowserSettingEnabled Setting the policy to False or 0 stops Google Chrome from ever checking if it's the default and turns user controls off for this option. A Andrew O'Neil 6 hr. ago Can confirm the registry change is a valid work around. Seems to have a side effect of requiring Chrome to be reapplied as default browser in some circumstances. Last edited 6 hr. ago U Usr54321 5 hr. ago Registry change worked perfectly. Thanks for the suggestion!
Rodolfo Pena Cedeno 26 Reputation points

2023-04-13T07:21:34.85+00:00

Hi Guys, We are facing the same issue in our organization. Windows 10-21h2 I hope a solution is release soon. Best regards, Peace.
Townend , Craig 5 Reputation points

2023-04-13T07:41:46.98+00:00

We are having the same issue too, i have seen the workaround, our GPO has it under a user policy for "set google chrome as default browser" set to enabled, so for us the reg key is under HKEY_CURRENT_USER instead of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. But we are unsure of applying the workaround as we dont want chrome to stop the check for being the default browser......
Rodolfo Pena Cedeno 26 Reputation points

2023-04-13T08:26:10.44+00:00

Hi Guys, I don't think it is a good idea to modify the registry or disable the gpo hklm/hkcu. I think the key here is patience. I am sure Microsoft or chrome will release a solution for this. Best, Peace.
Mike B 0 Reputation points

2023-04-14T13:53:16.3166667+00:00

Why is it not a good idea to tweak this registry key? There are tweaks that need to be applied all the time. Whether it is a GPO, GPP or manually going into the registry the same thing is being done.
It is good practice to backup your registry prior to manually tweaking it and if you are experienced at doing this process it is now that big of a deal.
Eric Burnett 1 Reputation point

2023-04-14T14:55:21.2033333+00:00

This kb5025221 CVE-2023-28252 Default Settings Apps to change to Edge We applied this registry key
HKLM\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome\DefaultBrowserSettingEnabled REG_DWORD=0 This solved our issue
Larry Summers 0 Reputation points

2023-04-15T18:37:13+00:00

MS you should be ashamed for releasing this horrendous update!! This update really screwed up my pc big time. Do you just release this crap without checking it???

12 answers

Bruce Spies 60 Reputation points

2023-04-13T15:28:07.63+00:00

I think 'Townend , Craig'; and 'Fuhrman, Todd'; have nailed it! We use the Chrome ADMX as well to set that gpo setting, "set google chrome as default browser" .. but guess what, the notes in that GPO say it only applies on Windows 7. I just set my test OU's GPO for this to 'not configured' and the issue went away on my test systems that I have checked so far. So in my opinion this GPO setting is probably safe to remove, because it wasn't working anyway, given it says there it only applies to Windows 7.
some documentation on this key: https://admx.help/?Category=Chrome&Policy=Google.Policies.Chrome::DefaultBrowserSettingEnabled
and how Google says to set the default browser:
https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/7009292?hl=en
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10 people found this answer helpful.
MP 5 Reputation points

2023-04-13T17:17:58.4433333+00:00

This was it!! GG

Rodolfo Pena Cedeno 26 Reputation points

2023-04-14T07:58:36.76+00:00

Hi Bruce, Thank you for taking the time to share this with us. As indicated by bruce, the GPO: "set google chrome as default browser", Is an old Setting that is only compatible with WIn7. For win10/11, In order to set Chrome as default browser by GPO, an XML file is required. In our environment, we have disabled the GPO and since we already configured the default browser by GPO with the XML file, the incident has been solved. We are now deploying to all the PRoduction clients. Thank you and best regard guys, Peace.

Townend , Craig 5 Reputation points

2023-04-14T09:42:48.98+00:00

We have also disabled the gpo as we had it set in the XML file too, so this has sorted it :) thanks for the assistance guys.

Andrea Soc 1 Reputation point

2023-04-14T10:26:39.8566667+00:00

thanks ! work it .. it would be curious to know why after years that it was set and it didn't go as a GPO configuration, now it seems to go .. but badly

Matt Broman 0 Reputation points

2023-04-14T16:03:29.73+00:00

This worked for me.
Five locations, 300+ computers/laptops.
"Domain Policy\Computer Configuration\Policies\Admin Templates\Google\Google Chrome\Set Google Chrome as Default Browser". Changed it to "Disabled", had users reboot, all set.

MadMaxZ1R 0 Reputation points

2023-04-19T15:35:28.8533333+00:00

Thank you!!! FWIW I updated my Chrome ADMX Templates (dated 4/17/2023) and that didn't help (I didn't necessarily expect it to) ...but there are some really new templates available. I changed my 'Set Google Chrome as Default Browser' from configured to unconfigured and that seemed to do the trick as well. You can't always be sure what moving from Configured to Not Configured or Disabled might do.
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Fabrizio Alberti 10 Reputation points

2023-04-17T06:45:18.91+00:00
Same problem here, after applying the latest KB. To override this beauvoir must go to a administrative prompt and do:

reg add HKLM\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome /v DefaultBrowserSettingEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
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2 people found this answer helpful.
Mateusz Gajewski 20 Reputation points

2023-04-18T11:09:07.9+00:00

It works, thanks ;)

Ben Antill 0 Reputation points

2023-04-18T15:34:44.56+00:00

We had the same issue here, one device out of ~30. Seems to be the only user that had Chrome set as the default browser. Other users without this set prior to the update can open Chrome with no issues.

This fix from Fabrizio did the trick.
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Rui Encarnação 10 Reputation points

2023-06-15T09:51:02.7333333+00:00

Greetings,

I've tried every solution on the internet, however, the only one that worked for me was, renaming chrome.exe.

Go to C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\ and rename Chrome.exe to Chrome_new.exe for example and then Open Chrome.
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2 people found this answer helpful.
Marc Rasquinha 0 Reputation points

2023-06-20T13:47:07.2466667+00:00

This worked, thanks for the help.

The Wise 5 Reputation points

2023-06-21T14:10:16.38+00:00

This works, as well as crashes the browser.

Ezra Kopelowitz 0 Reputation points

2023-06-23T07:01:56.5533333+00:00

This solution works. Thank you.
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Mathias IT 5 Reputation points

2023-04-13T09:14:24.5233333+00:00

Same problem in our company, more than 400 computers facing the same issue. Waiting for a solution from Microsoft.
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1 person found this answer helpful.

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RAIN Nicolas 5 Reputation points

2023-04-14T09:35:19.0033333+00:00

We have the same issue in our company. I hope that a KB from Microsoft will fix it.
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1 person found this answer helpful.

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