Windows Server comes with Internet Explorer as the default browser. It blocks a lot of downloads and websites out of the box. That makes it a bad tool for daily work. Here is how to install Chrome on Windows Server instead, in under two minutes.
What you need
- A Hostner dedicated server running Windows Server
- Admin access to the server
- An active internet connection on the server (the script downloads Chrome, so this step will not work offline)
Step 1: Open PowerShell as admin
Click the Start button in the bottom left corner. Type “PowerShell” and wait for the search results. You will see “Windows PowerShell” in the list, with a dark blue icon. Right-click it. A menu opens. Click “Run as administrator” near the top of that menu.
Windows now asks: “Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?” Click “Yes”. A dark blue window opens. This is PowerShell. It is ready when you see a line ending in “>”.
Step 2: Install Chrome on Windows Server via script
Paste this into the PowerShell window and press Enter:
~ $ $LocalTempDir = $env:TEMP ~ $ $ChromeInstaller = “ChromeInstaller.exe” ~ $ (New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadFile(‘http://dl.google.com/chrome/install/375.126/chrome_installer.exe‘, “$LocalTempDir$ChromeInstaller”) ~ $ Start-Process -FilePath “$LocalTempDir$ChromeInstaller” -ArgumentList “/silent /install” -Wait ~ $ Remove-Item “$LocalTempDir$ChromeInstaller” -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
This downloads the Chrome installer straight from Google, runs it silently, and cleans up the installer file afterward. PowerShell shows no progress bar. The line just sits there for a few seconds. When you see the “>” prompt again, the script is done.
Step 3: Check the install
Click the Start button again. Type “Chrome”. You should see “Google Chrome” appear in the results, with a red, yellow, green and blue circular icon. Click it to open Chrome and confirm it works.
If nothing shows up after typing “Chrome”, the install did not finish. Go to “If it does not work” below.
If it does not work
No internet connection on the server is the most common cause. The script needs to reach Google’s servers to download the installer. Check your network config first if the install fails silently.
No managed support needed for this one. Copy the script, run it, done. Now you know how to install Chrome on Windows Server, the same script works on any Windows Server version.
See more guides in Docs, or check out how to create a VM in Proxmox if you want to run Windows Server itself as a virtual machine.