You may not realize it, but Chromium is the basis for many of today’s most popular browsers, including Google Chrome, Opera and the latest iteration of Microsoft Edge. Chromium itself is an open-source browser that can freely be used by other developers wishing to make their own browsers over the top of it, and you can use the base version of Chromium yourself, too.
Chromium used to be a bit fiddly to install on Windows but is now a whole lot simpler than it used to be. Here we show you how to install Chromium on Windows 10.
Also read:How to Find and Replace Text in Chrome and Firefox
You can always find the latest version of Chromium here on the Chromium website. You’ll see a warning saying that this is a “raw” version of Chromium and may therefore be buggy, but this is what you came for, so no point questioning it now!
Across the bottom of this page you’ll see links to different versions of Chromium, including a 32-bit version “for Windows x86.”
Once you’ve downloaded the ZIP file, extract it to the directory where you want Chromium installed.
Go to the directory once it’s extracted, then double-click the “chrome” executable.
You may get a notification saying that Microsoft Defender has “prevented an unrecognized app from starting.” If this pops up, click “More info” then “Run anyway.”
If you want, you can also pin Chromium to your taskbar or create a desktop shortcut. Just right-click the “chrome” executable, then click “Pin to taskbar” or “Create shortcut.”
And that’s it! You now have the latest build of Chromium running on your PC. Chromium doesn’t auto-update, so you’ll need to do so manually by going to that download link mentioned earlier in this guide.
If you want to compare the two biggest Chromium-based browsers, check out our Chrome vs. Microsoft Edge showdown. We also have a list of Chrome extensions that will make reading websites easier for you.
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