Cannot update Google Chrome portable

Question

It said that update server is not available when I hit about google chrome in the options. What do I do?

Answer 1

The portable version of Chrome is not upgradeable because its directory structure is different to that of the regular, installed Chrome. The application can detect the difference and halts the update process - this would fit with the error code of 1.

Answer 2

Why not download the latest standalone version of Google Chrome here? If you're worried about settings and bookmarks; Google Chrome can sync between versions of GC you use.

Answer 3

With regard to paubbessley's answer - it appears then that Google Chrome Portable can't be updated with the About Google Chrome update feature. I have also noticed this and I consider this a bug in Google Chrome Portable. Google Chrome should be able to detect the difference between a "regular full install" and a the "portable" version and allow the user to properly update the Portable version as well straight into the same directory that they are running Google Chrome Portable from. Right now I have to manually download and install the latest version of Google Chrome Portable Beta from SourceForge. This is a nuisance and is a bug in my book. I have suggested that the developers fix this issue in the Google Forum.

Answer 4

Can be more specific about the error number that you are seeing ? Google Chrome help lists different variations of "Update server not available"

Update server not available (error: 1)

Error 1 means that Google Chrome can't be upgraded in its current directory.

Update server not available (error: 3)

Error 3 is a failure to communicate with Google Update. There are two known reasons for this:

You're running Vista and you have configured Google Chrome to always run as administrator. This is a known issue with the Google Chrome auto-updating mechanism and can be avoided by simply running Google Chrome as a normal user. Additionally, keep in mind that for security reasons we recommend that you don't elevate the privilege of Google Chrome to administrator.

Google Update isn't registered properly. To fix this, verify that GoogleUpdate.exe exists in the location specified in the Windows Registry Editor.

Update server not available (error: 7)

Error 7 means the update was downloaded successfully, but it failed to install properly.

Try restarting your computer. Then check your Windows Task Manager and see if GoogleUpdate.exe appears in the list of processes. If it does, try updating again through the browser again. If you're still encountering problems, try reinstalling Google Chrome from http://www.google.com/chrome

If that still doesn't fix the problem, help us investigate by reporting the problem.

Checking for update never completes

If you see the message "Checking for updates" and a little icon that spins forever, it means that Google Update was unable to communicate with Google Chrome. Make sure that you are using the latest version of Google Chrome, available at http://www.google.com/chrome

Answer 5

If you are using the version from PortableApps, you can simply download the latest version and install it to the PARENT of the folder that contains it, this will upgrade. Doing this will keep all settings including add-ins, history, etc.

@Wollen Muts: The reason for not using the Google Standalone version will be that it will not install without at least local admin rights. Not everyone has this capability on corporate PC's.