Google Chrome – Stuck Updating (Click to Relaunch) Solution

So the other day I was trying to update my Google Chrome version 55.x to the latest 57.x and it kept telling me that I was “Almost there! Click relaunch to complete!” or something like that. I would click “Relaunch” and it would seem to do the update and relaunch but when you check the version it still said version 55.x and to click the relaunch button again!

I took a look at the directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application) and saw that there were indeed two versions sitting there. Version 55x and 57x. If you ran the file called “new_chrome.exe” it would launch and appear to be the latest version. This is not the ideal solution, I shouldn’t have to do this every time.

I tried to rename the “C:\Program Files (x86)\Google” folder to “Google_old” and re-install manually. Didn’t work. The install created a new “google” folder but the application wasn’t installed at all.

What I did notice at this point, was that there were a lot of “GUMxxxx.tmp” folders. When I took a look inside these folders I saw what appeared to be install packages for Chrome that were leftovers from failed installs.

To resolve my update issues I again renamed the “Google” folder to something else, and then also renamed all the “GUMxxxx.tmp” folders to “old_GUMxxxx.tmp” and reinstalled Chrome.

What I found was that the installer file again created a “GUM” folder and the “Google” folder, but when the install was over the “GUM” folder disappeared and the newest version of Chrome was working as intended.

What I can tell is that this does not affect anything that you had open before (all my tabs were still there) and the Google login was preserved. I lost nothing, and everything appeared to be in it’s rightful place.

So… the short version of this solution would be:
-Rename the “Google” folder to something else
-Rename all “GUMxxxx.tmp” folders to something else
-Reinstall Chrome.

Hope this helps someone else.

-Ryan