This week I encountered an interesting problem that drove me nuts. I made a list of Google Chrome extensions that I wanted to review. But when I tried to install the first one, I couldn’t. My browser got stuck in the "CHECKING…" state. After doing some digging, I found a quick workaround that you can try if you encounter this problem.

This type of problem is very annoying. You know there's an issue, but you're not getting program feedback. You're left scratching your head wondering how to fix it. The first thing I wanted to determine was whether the problem was with this specific extension or with my browser. When I tried to install a different Chrome extension, I again hit the dreaded CHECKING… This made me think the issue was with Chrome and not the extensions.

I thought a browser setting was to blame. As it turns out, Google Chrome did not recognize my download folder location. Although I had selected a drive and folder, the location did not show. The text box was blank. I'm not sure if Google Chrome has an issue with using an external drive as the download location. But when I change the location to C:\test, my problem went away. If I changed back to my networked drive, the problem resurfaced.

Checking your Google Chrome download location

1. Click the wrench icon toward the top right of your browser.
2. From the drop-down menu select, “Settings”

3. In the Search settings textbox toward the top center, type “downloads”. A Search results page shows similar to the one below.

4. Check that the Download location: folder is correct. In my case, the text box was blank.
5. Click Change… and navigate to your new folder.
6. Make sure that your entry sticks.
7. Try to install the Google Chrome extension again.

Interestingly, I had no issues installing Chrome extensions before so I’m not sure if a browser update caused this CHECKING dilemma or some other event. Although I got past the issue, it’s not a true solution. I still want to save downloads to my network drive.

Related Tutorial:

• How to Uninstall Google Chrome Extensions