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Since Chrome version 38, there's a pretty ugly button in the title bar of the Chrome window that allows you to switch profiles quickly. Since I'm the only one that uses my computer, this is not really useful to me, and I'd rather reclaim the space for more open tabs. I've looked in the settings but don't see a way to disable it. How can I get rid of the button?

Image showing button to switch profile and window that pops up when you click the button

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  • 3
    This answer should be updated to reflect that the chrome://flags solution no longer works as of Chrome 45. On Windows, the only way to disable it is to use the --disable-new-avatar-menu CLI argument. For OSX, well, there really isn't an easy way. You can try the solutions at superuser.com/questions/271678/…
    – RHPT
    Sep 7, 2015 at 1:07
  • @RHPT The answer I accepted back in June (three months ago) is accurate and has the information you mention here.
    – jstricker
    Sep 8, 2015 at 14:08
  • @jstricker Oops. You're right. I was looking at the most voted answer, which is incorrect.
    – RHPT
    Sep 8, 2015 at 19:07
  • Work-around: Force Install Chrome 43, then the flag options and argument flags work as before. Copy can be found on filehippo: filehippo.com/download_google_chrome/62226 Dec 17, 2015 at 1:56
  • An alternative is install Slimjet from slimjet.com, a Chromium derivative, which offers a simple option "Show profile switching button on Window caption" to turn on/off this particular button. Jan 21, 2016 at 21:48

7 Answers 7

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The following instructions only work for versions of chrome < 44 or version 46:

Disable this via chrome://flags

It's accessible by copy/pasting this URL in the omnibox:

chrome://flags/#enable-new-avatar-menu

Disable it to remove the button.

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    Does not seem to work anymore with Chrome 40 (on Linux at least).
    – gtirloni
    Feb 15, 2015 at 13:44
  • 11
    This no longer works in 45.0.2414.0 dev (Mac).
    – Chappers
    May 29, 2015 at 22:05
  • 7
    It looks like there was a change in Chrome 45 that broke disabling the profile icon. There's a discussion going on code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=496829 if you want to read more.
    – jstricker
    Jun 7, 2015 at 3:11
  • 9
    So, that's a WONTFIX even for single-user because Google uses it for signin/sync errors, where previously the hamburger menu was used for that. What a regression, horror vacui at its worst.
    – Lloeki
    Jun 7, 2015 at 11:34
  • 6
    It seems this no longer works, as the enable-new-avatar-menu flag does not seem to exist anymore. Any suggestions for re-disabling it?
    – Kelmikra
    Jul 25, 2015 at 14:37
53

For Chrome 45 and higher:

  • Not possible. Sadly, you're stuck with it.

For Chrome 44:

  1. Edit your Chrome shortcut and add the parameter --disable-new-avatar-menu
  2. Restart Chrome

For Chrome 43 and lower:

  1. Copy/paste the following into the omnibox: chrome://flags/#enable-new-avatar-menu
  2. Set the value to "Disabled"
  3. Restart Chrome
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    It worked! If anyone is wonder how to add a parameter to a shortcut, you just need to right click on the shortcut > "Propreties" > "Shortcut" then add --disable-new-avatar-menu to the right of the "Target" attribute. In my case it became "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --disable-new-avatar-menu Jun 15, 2015 at 4:35
  • 9
    @Eirik not sneaky, stupid.
    – degenerate
    Jul 22, 2015 at 13:13
  • 4
    And how do you remove this for Chrome 44 on Mac?
    – Jacket
    Jul 24, 2015 at 10:23
  • 7
    This no longer appears to work in Chrome 46 Nov 19, 2015 at 16:51
  • 8
    The --disable-new-avatar-menu parameter stopped working after being updated to Chrome 47 for Mac. Is there another workaround?
    – Applecot
    Dec 1, 2015 at 23:55
11

For those who use OS X and Chrome 44 you can apply the following command in Terminal:

open -a "Google Chrome.app" --args -disable-new-avatar-menu

Make sure you have your Chrome closed before you do this.

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5

tl;dr: you can disable it. copy/paste this URL it in the omnibox: chrome://flags/#enable-new-avatar-menu, click disable, and click restart at the bottom.


Chrome recently launched a new update to the profile switching UI on desktop Chrome. Here are some of the potential advantages of the new UI:

  • Improved profile experience for multiple people sharing the same computer
  • Guest mode on desktop Chrome, increasing your privacy when you let a friend on your computer
  • More visible sign-in indication and transparency into browser state

Chrome says "There’s still polishing left to do, and we’re working hard to satisfy as many workflows as possible."

Profile switching takes longer?

If you're finding that profile switching now takes an extra action, there are some opportunities. On mac and ubuntu-unity, you can switch profiles via the “People” menu in the toolbar in two clicks. Chrome indicates there are more improvements on the way for all platforms, but a fix for now is enabling the fast-user-switching flag in Chrome experiments:

  1. Go to chrome://flags
  2. Search for enable-fast-user-switching
  3. Enable this flag, and restart your browser

This will put a list of profiles in the drop-down menu.

Yellow triangle next to profile name?

enter image description here

If you're seeing a yellow triangle next to your profile name, then it means there's an error in the Account Sync. Click into it and you can re-authenticate with your password so that Chrome is signed in with your Google account. (There's a few benefits of that) That will take care of the yellow triangle and get your Chrome back to a happy state.

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  • 2
    This no longer works. Use the --disable-new-avatar-menu shortcut flag instead. That still works on Chrome 44 (July 2015)
    – degenerate
    Jul 22, 2015 at 13:14
5

Unfortunately Google has completely deactivated the settings workaround since Chrome 45

More about it officially right here: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/ixjLlM-Bmgc

One workaround is to force install version 46 of Chrome and pass in the parameter or set the flag. It's hard to get your hands on an .exe installer that doesn't auto-redirect you to the latest chrome version.

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On Chrome 44 and newer on Windows, I managed to do it using the /disable-new-avatar-menu flag.

One of the other answers suggests adding --disable-new-avatar-menu to a shortcut, but this didn't work for me on Windows 8.1 (on Linux it did). On Windows, the trick was to replace -- with \, so now my shortcut has Target: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" /disable-new-avatar-menu

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  • This works for me as well in 44 (probably temporarily) +1: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" /disable-new-avatar-menu"(replace the 2 dashes (--) with a forward slash (/)
    – paul bica
    Aug 15, 2015 at 14:15
-1

You can use the enable-new-profile-management flag to disable the multi-user mechanism altogether. Paste the this URL in the Omnibox chrome://flags/#enable-new-profile-management and switch the flag value to Disabled.

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