Microsoft has fixed a known issue causing its Family Safety parental control service to block Windows users from launching Google Chrome and other web browsers.
Family Safety helps parents monitor their children’s activity and provides screen time management, app controls, communication monitoring, content filtering, location tracking, and activity reports.
Microsoft acknowledged the bug in late June 2025 after widespread reports that users were unable to launch Google Chrome on their PCs or experienced the web browser randomly crashing on devices running Windows 10 22H2 and Windows 11 22H2 or later.
As explained at the time, the issue is caused by Family Safety’s web filtering tool, which prompts children to ask their parents for approval to use other browsers. However, the bug also causes Family Safety to block new versions of previously approved web browsers, inadvertently preventing them from launching or causing them to shut down unexpectedly.
“The blocking behavior continues to work, however, when a browser updates to a new version, the latest version of the browser cannot be blocked until we add it to the block list. Microsoft is currently adding the latest versions of Chrome and other browsers to the block list,” the company notes on the Windows release health dashboard.
“As Microsoft continues to update the block list, we’ve received reports of a new issue affecting Google Chrome and some browsers. When children try to open these browsers, they shut down unexpectedly.”
Service‑side fix pushed in early February
This week, Microsoft confirmed that it addressed the issue with a service‑side fix earlier this month, nearly eight months after first receiving reports of web browsers shutting down unexpectedly.
Affected users are advised to connect their devices to the Internet to receive the fix, which should address the bug and prevent similar problems in the future.
“This issue has been resolved through a service‑side fix. The rollout began early February 2026 and should reach all affected devices over the coming weeks,” Microsoft said. “If your device presented this symptom, please let it connect to the internet to receive the resolution. No other action is required.”
Those who can’t get online to receive the fix are advised to turn on the ‘Activity reporting’ feature under Windows settings in Microsoft Family Safety, which will allow parents to receive approval requests as expected and allowlist newer browser versions.
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