Google Chrome: Force Restore Previous Session from Command Line
Contributed by Rob Rogers 
Tagged: Google Did you accidentally close your browser and it wasn’t set to restore the pages that were open last? Instead of being frustrated, simply use a command line switch for Chrome and restore the previous session. I do this enough that I went ahead and made a Restore Session shortcut on my desktop that sits next to my regular Google Chrome shortcut.
To do this from a command prompt, use one of the following:
Vista:
C:\Users\
XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\
where username is the username whose profile contains the Google Chrome installation.
To create a shortcut:
1. Copy the shortcut for Google Chrome and paste it on the desktop.
2. Rename the shortcut to Restore Last Session.
3. Right-click the new icon and select Properties.
4. In the Target textbox, go to the end of the path and after chrome.exe, insert a space and input the following:
--restore-last-session
5. Click OK.
Now you have a way to restore the last session, regardless of the way you have configured Google Chrome to startup.
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sss said on November 21, 2008
it doesnt work buddy.. properties would not allowe the change and addition… is it a scam or what+
nick said on January 3, 2009
or you can use FF :)
sue said on August 16, 2009
nope, doesn’t work. guess i should have read the comments first, eh?
Mr Anderson said on September 7, 2009
works fine, thanks for the tip !
Hector Leach Clay said on November 2, 2009
Wats a command prompt?
Shotty said on December 3, 2009
For the shourtcut you should add ‘-restore-last-session’ at the end of the , just one dash at the beginning(without the quotes)
From the command prompt enter C:UsersYourUserNameHereAppDataLocalGoogleChromeApplicationchrome.exe -restore-last-session, replacing YourUserNameHere with(obviously) your username.
Shotty said on December 3, 2009
First sentence should read “For the shourtcut you should add ‘-restore-last-session’ at the end of the target text box, just one dash at the beginning(without the quotes)”
Should have proofread :/
Shotty said on December 3, 2009
The command prompt brings up a text based user interface similar to DOS. It has very little use for most computer users, but for geeks it’s a useful tool. See http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial76.html for more information.
Name said on January 5, 2010
“I do this enough that I went ahead and made a Restore Session shortcut on my desktop that sits next to my regular Google Chrome shortcut.”
Uh… If you do it “enough,” then why don’t you just configure Chrome to restore your session upon startup by default?
And to the person who said “use FF,” FF is garbage. It’s bloated, slow and clunky.
Didn't worked for me said on May 26, 2010
I tried man, but it did not work. I don’t have the application data folder, or I have it but in another adress. thank you
Didn't worked for me said on May 26, 2010
I tried man, but it did not work. I don’t have the application data folder, or I have it but in another adress. thank you
Tam said on June 28, 2010
Great it just did restore my _current_ session …..
Hotboxsnowcave said on November 19, 2010
Nice – works a treat. Thanks.
Rod said on January 22, 2011
Worked fine here. That’s exactly what I was looking for, thanks.
Aaaaa said on March 12, 2011
it didn’t work buddy in windows 7 !
Tim said on September 7, 2011
With current version of Chrome, if you always want your last session restored, this can be achieved by simply going into Options and at the top of the Basics panel select “Reopen the pages that were opened last”
human mathematics said on January 29, 2012
To everybody leaving comments like “Look in recently closed tabs” or “Set your default to open pages that were open on the last session” or “Ctrl + Shift + T”:
that DOES NOT WORK every single time. If the system crashes it’s possible that none of the pre-set methods will work. This kind of advice is just insulting, like asking if you’ve restarted your computer. Yes: I’ve already tried that; I’m not stupid.