💥 Chrome crash after Ubuntu-upgrade?

After an upgrade, the UI freezes and Chrome no longer starts. Below are both the quick fix and the permanent solutions.

Quick Fix

Launch Chrome without GPU acceleration and Ozone/Wayland support:

google-chrome --disable-gpu --disable-features=UseOzonePlatform

Result: Chrome launches normally again. Performance remains nearly the same, while stability improves.

Why This Works

After some Ubuntu upgrades, a mismatch can occur between Chrome’s rendering layer (Ozone/Wayland) and the GPU driver (Intel/NVIDIA/AMD). By bypassing hardware acceleration, you force stable software rendering.

Make It Permanent (choose one)

• Modify launcher (quickest): Edit the command in your application launcher and add the flags.
• Alias in your shell:

  echo 'alias chrome="google-chrome --disable-gpu --disable-features=UseOzonePlatform"' >> ~/.bashrc
  source ~/.bashrc
  chrome

• Desktop entry override (clean method):
  1. Copy the desktop file:

     mkdir -p ~/.local/share/applications
     cp /usr/share/applications/google-chrome.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/

  2. Edit the Exec= line:

     Exec=/usr/bin/google-chrome --disable-gpu --disable-features=UseOzonePlatform %U

  3. Update the desktop database (optional):

     update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications

Extra Checks (optional, for administrators)

• Fully update your system:

  sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y

• Reinstall GPU drivers (NVIDIA/Intel):

  sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall
  sudo reboot

• Check session type and kernel version:

  lsb_release -a && uname -r && echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE

Final Notes

Still stuck? Launch Chrome from the terminal with the flags above to observe logs and behavior. Share your Ubuntu version and driver setup in comments—this helps others resolve the same crash faster.

Posted for sysadmins, developers, and Linux users who want to get back to work quickly after an update.