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I'm trying to find a shell command that will open Google Chrome with specific x and y coordinates (so that I can set the position of the window when it opens.) Is it possible to do this using command line-arguments?

I need to modify the following command in order to achieve this:

google-chrome http://www.google.com/

Anderson Green
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6 Answers6

50

When you're using Google's Chrome, there is a shorter way:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" 
     --profile-directory="Default"
     --app="data:text/html,<html><body><script>window.moveTo(580,240);window.resizeTo(800,600);window.location='http://www.test.de';</script></body></html>"

Pro:

  • Automatically opens the window
  • Avoids the popup-blocker
  • Opens multiple windows on different monitors (multi monitor setup, requires two or more Chrome profiles)

Con:

  • Only seems to work in "app" Mode
  • Not tested with other browsers
nitram509
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28

http://peter.sh/experiments/chromium-command-line-switches/ says --window-position=x,y is what you're looking for.

Updating this years later to include a small shell script I wrote years ago (but after answering this question) that provides an example of how to start chrome with custom window sizes/position and has the ability to create 'fake' user data directories by name.

It may or may not still work, and has some dangerous options set, but you get the idea.. Do not use this verbatim, some of the flags may have been renamed or been removed entirely.. (like the socks proxy commands did)

#!/bin/bash -x

FAKEUSER="${1:-fake-chrome-user}"
CHROMEROOT=$HOME/.chromeroot/

mkdir -p ${CHROMEROOT}

export PROFILE="${CHROMEROOT}/${FAKEUSER}-chromium-profile"
export DISK_CACHEDIR="${CHROMEROOT}/${FAKEUSER}-chromium-profile-cache"
export DISK_CACHESIZE=4096
export MEDIA_CACHESIZE=4096

PARANOID_OPTIONS="\
        --no-displaying-insecure-content \
        --no-referrers \
        --disable-zero-suggest \
        --disable-sync  \
        --cipher-suite-blacklist=0x0004,0x0005,0xc011,0xc007 \
        --enable-sandbox-logging >/dev/null 2>&1
        "


/Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome \
        --remember-cert-error-decisions \
        --ignore-certificate-errors \
        --ignore-urlfetcher-cert-requests \
        --allow-running-insecure-content \
        --window-position=2400,400 \
        --window-size=1500,1000 \
        --no-pings \
        --user-data-dir=${PROFILE} \
        --disk-cache-dir=${DISK_CACHEDIR} \
        --disk-cache-size=${DISK_CACHESIZE} \
        --media-cache-size=${MEDIA_CACHESIZE} \
        2>&1


#--proxy-server="socks4://localhost:30604" \
#--host-resolver-rules="MAP * 0.0.0.0 , EXCLUDE localhost" \
synthesizerpatel
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    Can it also be done for Firefox and IE? i posted a question here:http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26626884/chrome-app-equivalent-in-firefox-ie – liorafar Oct 29 '14 at 09:56
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    Saddly this doesn't always work. See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14592020/google-chrome-new-window-switch-ignores-window-position-and-window-size#comment30263659_14592020 – Greg Bray Mar 06 '16 at 03:03
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    It does work, @GregBray, but you need to set the `--user-data-dir` flag, too. – Frederik Krautwald Oct 06 '16 at 13:08
26

To build on @synthesizerpatel's answer, --window-position won't work on it's own.

You'll need to launch it as it's own new instance using --user-data-dir or --chrome-frame like:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe"  --user-data-dir=XXXXXXXXXX --window-size=800,600 --window-position=580,240 --app="http://www.google.com/"
or
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --chrome-frame --window-size=800,600 --window-position=580,240 --app="http://www.google.com/"

Unfortunately for me, having it as a new instance means it doesn't carry over the session/cookie/etc info from other instances, so I've had to open it normally (with only the --app parameter), then have javascript in the page I open do:

window.moveTo(580,240);
window.resizeTo(800,600);

I guess if you were opening a webpage owned by someone else, you could open your own webpage that has the above js, and then navigates to their webpage.

Redzarf
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    the option --chrome-frame didn't work for me, but with `--user-data-dir` i got it working. thanks – eeezyy Sep 24 '14 at 22:17
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    Looks like it has been deprecated – geotheory Oct 20 '14 at 11:53
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    Can it also be done for Firefox and IE? i posted a question here:http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26626884/chrome-app-equivalent-in-firefox-ie – liorafar Oct 29 '14 at 09:55
  • Works for me on a Raspberry Pi running Raspbian and lightdm. – Brad Mar 19 '20 at 03:52
  • The `--user-data-dir` option works for me (on MacOS), but the command will now block. To work around this, the command has to be suffixed by an `&` on the command line, or the user has to press Ctrl+C after they're done (closing the window does not unblock the process) – raner Feb 25 '23 at 21:46
4

I've used this:

google-chrome "data:text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1,<html>
    <head></head><body><script language=\"javascript\">
        window.open('http://perso.f-hauri.ch/~felix/svg/dustin_w_Clock_autonom.svg',
             'clock','toolbar=0,location=0,status=0,menubar=0,scrollbars=1,'
             +'resizable=1,width=600,height=600,top=100,left=120');</script>"

but google-chrome block popup windows, so this:

google-chrome "data:text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1,<html><head></head><body>
    <button onclick=\"javascript:window.open(
        'http://perso.f-hauri.ch/~felix/svg/dustin_w_Clock_autonom.svg',
        'clock','toolbar=0,location=0,status=0,menubar=0,scrollbars=1,'
        +'resizable=1,width=600,height=600,top=100,left=120');\"> clock </button>"

give a nice way to do this.

Nota: This work as well with firefox too.

F. Hauri - Give Up GitHub
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1

With my latest version of Chrome - I only needed the following. Everytime I closed the app, it remembered my window size and position.

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --chrome-frame --app=https://mightytext.net/web8/?exp=1

This worked for me in Version 48.0.2564.48 beta-m (64-bit) and Version 48.0.2564.48 beta-m (64-bit)

Floern
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BickiBoy
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  • The problem is that it requires manually adjusting the position and size first; they cannot be incorporated into the launching command.com – Synetech Dec 28 '16 at 03:23
0

This worked for me.

"C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --user-data-dir="C:\Users\hello\gtemp\123" --window-size=100,1000 --window-position=3000,0 "https://www.openchromeonadifferentwindow.com"
  1. Need user-data-dir.

In order to run multiple separate Chrome browser processes, each of them needs its own profile. You can specify --user-data-dir="path/to/profile/#" (change # to a different number or use an entirely different path) when you run each browser instance. Note - the path does not have to exist, it only has to be legal (and Chrome should have permissions to create it in case it does not exist). Chrome will create profile paths that do not exist yet

.. Found it on this link helpful.

  1. The window-position=3000,0 helps to move the window position to another monitor
  2. Need to change the user-data-dir # to a different number if you want to open another instances with different settings
KKW
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