Scrogged your Chrome bookmarks? Here's how to restore them, from your last backup.

Whatever backup software you use, start by checking if you have a valid backup, from back when your Chrome bookmarks, cookies, plugins, and other "personality" settings were working, just the way you liked them. My own recent saga features another valiant rescue by Windows Server 2012 Essentials. I knew I had a backup from before I had accidentally wiped my bookmarks. How did I make this mistake? I had merely signed in to Chrome Version 27.0.1453.94 m, seen pictured above. This over-wrote everything. Oops! My next step was to restore just the 'User Data' folder for Chrome. If you're using WS2012E, and you try to restore to the original file location, you'll get errors on several of the files because of path length. Then the restore fails to complete. How to avoid that? Well, no problem, just follow along, using this exact sequence (for advanced users):

1. Close all copies of Chrome, closing it isn't enough, also use Windows Task Manager to be sure you've killed off all chrome.exe instances
2. Copy the below line into your clipboard, paste it into your Run dialogue 'Win+R, Ctrl+V" (where %USERNAME% is replaced by your username automatically)
   C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome
3. Click on the 'User Data' folder that's sitting in that 'Chrome' folder, and rename it to something like 'User Data-backup'
4. Open your WS2012E Dashboard, then choose the 'DEVICES' tab
5. Right-click on the appropriate computer you're restoring files from, chose 'Restore files or folders for the computer'

   

6. Navigate your way to the C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome directory, and restore just the 'User Data' folder to the root of your C: drive, or any other drive where you have space. My restore was 2.43GB in size, as pictured below.

   

7. Wait for restore to complete, mine took about 8 minutes, despite the time Task Manager 'Time remaining:' estimate of 13 minutes
8. Right-click on the C:\User Data folder you just restored, and drag it to your C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome folder, choosing 'Move' when prompted, then wait for the files to be moved to their proper home
9. Now launch Chrome, you'll see your cookies, bookmarks, history, and add-ins, right back the way you like them

In other words, you've successfully restored the entire personality of Chrome to that earlier point in time. Great job. Happy surfing!