Chrome Updates Are Disabled by Your Administrator – How to Fix

Evan Gower September 19, 2019

If you are trying to manually update Google Chrome, you may encounter an error that says: ’Chrome updates are disabled by your Administrator.’ This will stop you from updating Chrome and probably leave you frustrated since there are no clear settings to solve this.

Chrome Updates Are Disabled by Your Administrator - How to Fix

Most users do not come across these issues, especially since they are letting Chrome perform the updates automatically. But if you want to manage the updates yourself, this can prove frustrating.

Luckily, there are two simple methods that should solve this issue. With the tips you’re about to read in this article, you should be able to fix the error in a few steps.

The First Method: Reset Google Chrome

Most of the time, a simple restart of the app should do the trick. To restore Google Chrome to its default settings, you need to:

Open Chrome.
Click the ‘More’ icon (three vertical dots) on the top-right of the screen.
Select ‘Settings.’
Click the ‘Advanced’ settings at the bottom of the page.
Select ‘Restore settings to their original defaults’ under the ‘Reset and clean up’ section.
Click the blue ‘Reset settings’ button when the window pops up.

You can also perform a reset by typing: chrome://settings/reset into the address bar, which effectively replaces steps 1-4 from above.

This should reset your browser and fix the issue.

The Second Method: Modify the Registry

If the above method didn’t work, you may have to modify the registry. This is a more reliable method, but it involves tweaks in the registry database. This can cause some system issues if you don’t execute it properly, so you should be extra careful.

To edit the registry, you need to:

Press the Win key + ‘R’ to open the ‘Run’ window.
Enter ‘regedit’ in the dialog box.
Click ‘OK.’
Navigate to the following registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREGoogleUpdate.
If you can’t locate it, try: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREGoogleUpdate.
Double-click the ‘(Default)’ registry.
Type ‘1’ in the dialog box under ‘Value data.’
Press ‘OK.’
Exit the registry.

Now you should restart Chrome for the changes to be applied, and then try to update your browser. Everything should work fine now.

Turning Automatic Updates On and Off

Now that you have resolved your issues with Chrome updates, you can choose to manage future updates on your own or let Chrome do it automatically. Usually, Chrome uses two system services to look for updates and then automatically updates the browser. If you opt for the former, you will thus need to turn off these two services manually.

To enable or disable automatic updates, first you need to close the browser, and then follow these steps:

Hold the Windows Key and ‘R’ to open the ‘Run’ window.
Type ‘msconfig’ to open the System Configuration window.
Press ‘OK’ and the window should appear.
Click the ‘Services’ tab on the top of the window.
Look for two particular services: ‘Google Update Service (gupdate)’ and ‘Google Update Service (gupdatem).’
Untick the boxes next to these two options to disable automatic updates, or tick them to enable automatic updates.
Click the ‘Apply’ button.
Press ‘OK’ to close the window.

Keep in mind that it is always recommended to keep the automatic update services enabled. There’s a possibility that certain apps or website features will not work properly with older versions of Google Chrome, so you should only manage the updates manually if you have some specific reasons.

The Harder Way Is Riskier

As you can see, the first method from the article is simple, while the second requires some work within the system registry. Even though the steps are straightforward, you should always back up all the important data, especially from Google Chrome, before you decide to change the registry values. Otherwise, you are at risk of losing valuable information.

Do you know of some other methods to solve the ‘updates disabled by administrator’ issue? If so, leave a comment below and share it with the community.