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Whenever I click a link from something like outlook or a program opens a web page (not when I click a link from within chrome). It opens up in Chrome since it is my default browser but if I already have a page open it will open in a new tab on that same window. I can't tell you how many times I forget about this and close the window out, accidentally losing the other tab too. Ofcourse, I can open a new chrome window and find it under recently closed tabs but I would really just prefer if they opened in their own window so I can prevent this.

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4 Answers

up vote 7 down vote

There doesn't appear to be a user-friendly option to change this inside Chrome (presumably because most people prefer the new tab).

However, you can change this manually by editing the command specified in your Windows registry used to open an http url.

To do this, open regedit and:

  1. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\http\shell\open\command
  2. You should see one key, named (Default). Double click this to get an editing popup.
  3. At the end of the Value data: field you should see the text -- "%1". Change this to --new-window "%1".

That will instruct Windows to open all http links in a new window of Chrome instead of a new tab.

Presumably, the same general idea is true for Mac and Linux, but I don't know offhand where they store the command to open urls.

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When I double click default the pop has a field called Value Data it is empty. Should I just add --new-window or --new-window "%1" Also I am using Win7 if it matters. – JD Isaacks Jul 22 '10 at 14:39
I tested that on Windows XP, and that key is where the default browser command is stored. Not sure if Windows 7 is the same, or you just don't have a default browser selected. The whole value should look something like: "C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --new-window "%1" – Cerin Jul 22 '10 at 16:42
Note, if you search the registry for any other keys containing "chrome.exe", and find one with a value containing " -- %1", then adding my change should work. – Cerin Jul 23 '10 at 13:42
Worked like a charm: start chrome.exe --new-window – Oak Apr 26 at 20:01
up vote 2 down vote

Problem
For Linux, if you have multiple VNC servers, this same problem will occur.
That is, 

$ google-chrome
Created new window in existing browser session

And no google chrome window will appear in the current X VNC session (a new tab will appear in the X session with the first instance of google-chrome).

Solution
A simple workaround is to run

$ google-chrome "--user-data-dir=${HOME}/.google-chrome/session${DISPLAY}"

This sets a unique user directory based on the X VNC instance in use. The user directory will be created as needed. The new google-chrome process will display within the current X VNC session.

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up vote 1 down vote

In case any Linux users are wondering the same thing, I did this by copying /usr/share/applications/chromium.desktop to ~/.local/share/applications and then editing it as follows:

--- /usr/share/applications/chromium.desktop    2012-08-10 17:02:01.000000000 +0100
+++ /home/sam/.local/share/applications/chromium.desktop    2012-08-23  10:33:21.987359591 +0100
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@
 Comment[zh_CN]=访问互联网
 Comment[zh_HK]=連線到網際網路
 Comment[zh_TW]=連線到網際網路
-Exec=/usr/bin/chromium %U
+Exec=/usr/bin/chromium --new-window %U
 Terminal=false
 X-MultipleArgs=false
 Type=Application

If you're using the Debian chromium package, and you don't mind setting this as the default for all users on the system, you can instead edit /etc/chromium/default and add --new-window to the CHROMIUM_FLAGS variable.

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up vote 1 down vote

You can use the "New Tab, New Window" extension for this. They way it works is moving the newly created tab quickly to a new window. So there is a bit of redrawing, but it does work pretty well (for me at least).

Note, as @John mentions below, this extension makes the default behavior for all new tabs (even ones created from inside Chrome).

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1  
this extension is not good... it always opens a new window, even when command-clicking from within chrome itself – John Mar 15 at 6:42
I actually think that is a good thing (I hate tabs :), but I agree given the question I needed to make that clearer in my answer. I've updated it. – studgeek Apr 11 at 20:40

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