How to start fresh Chromium instance?

Question

I am testing web applications. I therefor always need a browser that does not have any cookies, saved logins, etc. Put shortly: a fresh instance.

As we just work with Chromium, I wonder how to start such an fresh instance.

I don't want to set up my regular Chromium installation to not save cookies and such. I want an extra instance.

You can create a new window in a temporary profile or use incognito mode. — Salem, Jun 05 '13 at 09:37

score 5 · Answer 1 · edited Aug 15 '19 at 13:52

5

There is a flag in chromium, which when set starts Chromium with a temporary profile: --temp-profile

I have the following script that I use when I want a clean instance of chromium:

#!/bin/bash
chromium-browser --temp-profile $*

edited Aug 15 '19 at 13:52

answered Dec 15 '16 at 19:34

Dave Smith

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 30 '18 at 21:32

3

There are two ways to solve that problem:

Open a new window in Incognito mode (Ctrl+Shift+N) (thanks to @Salem) for temporary usage
Create a new profile with chromium-browser --user-data-dir=/new/directory. In this new profile, you can switch off all cookies, plugins, etc. and restart it with the same command whenever you need it.

edited Jan 30 '18 at 21:32

galoget

answered Jun 05 '13 at 09:58

mcbetz

BTW those options can also be accessed with a right click on the Chromium launcher icon (with Unity). – Salem Jun 05 '13 at 11:32
Opening an incognito window does not *guarantee* a fresh instance. Multiple simultaneous incognito windows will share a context. – Brent Bradburn Jan 14 '20 at 06:15

2 Answers2