How to Open Google Chrome from Command Line (CMD Prompt)

With a simple Windows command, you can open Google Chrome from command line aka, the Command Prompt. Here are the steps you should follow.

Though not every time, there might be use cases where you need to open the Chrome browser from command-line tools like Command Prompt. For example, if you are creating custom scripts, you need to use the command to run Google Chrome. In fact, you can also use the command to launch Google Chrome on schedule or open a web page on schedule using Task Scheduler.

The good thing is, you can easily open the Chrome window via the Command Prompt. Not only the regular Chrome but the incognito mode too.

So, without further ado, let me show you the procedure to open Google Chrome from the Windows command line.

Jump to:

• How to open Chrome from command-line
• How to open Chrome in incognito mode from Command Prompt
• How to Open Chrome with Run command

1. How to open Chrome from command-line

To open Chrome from Command Prompt you can use the start command. Here is how you can do it.

1. Open the Start menu.
2. Search for “cmd” and open the Command Prompt.
3. After opening the Command Prompt, execute the below command to open the Chrome browser.
   start chrome

4. To open a web page or website from the command line, use the below command. Replace example.com with the web address of your choice.
   start chrome https://example.com

5. As soon as you execute the command, Windows will open the website in the Chrome browser.

2. How to open Chrome in incognito mode from Command Prompt

You can also open the Chrome incognito mode directly from the Command Prompt. All you have to do is execute the below command.

1. Press the Windows key to open the Start menu.
2. Search for “Command Prompt” and open it.
3. In the Command Prompt window, execute the below command to open the Chrome incognito browser window.
   start chrome /incognito
4. Of course, you can also launch a web page in incognito mode using this command. Replace the dummy URL with the actual web page URL.
   start chrome /incognito https://example.com

3. How to Open Chrome with Run command

When needed, you can use the run dialog box to open the Chrome browser or any web page in the Chrome browser. Here’s how.

1. Open the Run window with the “Windows Key + R” shortcut.
2. Type “chrome” in the field and press “Enter”.
3. As soon as you press the button, Chrome will open itself.
4. You can also launch a specific web page. Just use the “chrome https://example.com” command. Don’t forget to replace the dummy web page URL with the real URL.

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A quick note:

When you open Chrome from the command line, it opens the default or last opened Chrome profile. As of now, there is no way to open a specific Chrome profile. If you want to open a specific Chrome profile, I recommend you make that profile the default one in Windows. Also, as of now, there is no way to open multiple URLs from the command line.

That is all. I hope that helps. If you are stuck or need some help, comment below and I will try to help as much as possible.

Update (18/10/2023): I’ve updated the Run command to work with the latest Windows 11 versions.