Google Chrome developer tools disabled

Question

My Google Chrome developer tools are disabled. I'm not sure how it happened. I was using them in the morning then went to use them in the afternoon and the F12 button wouldn't do anything. Same with ctrl+shift+i.

If I navigate the 'Tools' menu, I can see the 'developer tools' link, but it is grayed out and disabled. Does anyone have any idea how to re-enable them? I uninstalled/re-installed chrome twice but no help.

Whencesoever

Is there an answer for MacOS, I wonder? (the question does not stipulate Windows...) – Ur

@EdRandall Here's a question for macOS: superuser.com/questions/1466649 – Monaco

@EdRandall I finally managed to solve it on my macOS #39491517 – Seacock

Answer 1

Delete the DeveloperToolsDisabled registry key in Software\Policies\Chromium\DeveloperToolsDisabled

https://chromeenterprise.google/policies/#DeveloperToolsAvailability

Armand

Any idea how that entry might have gotten set? – Whencesoever

Note that this solution is specific to a particular OS (Windows in this case), though the OP's question does not specify an OS. However, the link in this answer contains solutions for a variety of operating systems. Also, check chrome://policy. – Idaho

Answer 2

I found it named slightly differently (Win7):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome\DeveloperToolsDisabled

I set it to zero and restarted Chrome --> all is well. No idea how it got set.

Update 5/30/2014: This value was set again, there must be some security policy against this flag where I work. I deleted the key completely and will report back if it appears again.

Update 6/13/2014: Definitely we've got a security policy that is setting this key daily. As a workaround I've created a file, "fix_developer_options.reg" with the following contents and put it on my Desktop:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome]
"DeveloperToolsDisabled"=dword:00000000

This file, when double-clicked, will automatically make this setting in the registry. After that, you need to restart Chrome to get the change. (One step better would be to have this executed when you log in.)

Update 3/4/2018: In Windows 10 this setting has moved under HKEY_CURRENT_USER as @DGinzberg mentions below in the comments. I found it here on a new computer:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome]

Nombril

Depending on your system settings and the cause of DeveloperToolsDisabled being set, you may also find it in HKEY_CURRENT_USER instead – Layer

@skelliam, Thanks it worked. We use enterprise chrome and my admin policy by default disables the dev tools & inspect elements from some where. But I added reg entry setting to zero. Gave back that option. – Literator

Answer 3

check policies - type chrome://policy/ in url bar. if DeveloperToolsDisabled is set to true, update the registry entry

Folksy

The DeveloperToolsAvailability policy setting was the problem for me, but I couldn't change it because my browser was "managed": support.google.com/chrome/answer/9281740 – Narine

Answer 4

I just came across a similar issue on my university's website where I could not open the dev tools. Dev tools were opening on other websites in adjacent tabs but not on this site.

Solution: What worked for me was that I clicked on the address bar of the browser and pressed F12. And it worked. It did not work afterward when I un-selected the address bar and tried again. But worked again when I did it by selecting the address bar.

Hope it would help someone.

Ingratiate

LMAO why does this work – Bast

Answer 5

Found another issue with the Dev Tools not opening/ working

If the Block access to a list of URLs Enabled and "file", "" is in it or file:// is not in the whitlist of url, the DEV Tools wont open either :)

Maybe that helps someone

Gaona

Rollback... damn mistake :) – Gaona

in the URL Whitelist only add this line "chrome-devtools://*" and then the Developer Toolbar will work again, when blocking URL "*" – Gaona

Answer 6

Open regedit (Registry Editor) and find the DeveloperToolsAvailability key by first going to this path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome\

... then click Chrome and select DeveloperToolsAvailability from the list on the right. Double click it and change it from 2 to either 1 or 0. Click OK and close regedit, then close Chrome and re-open it. Chrome dev tools should now be enabled.

However, depending on your system, you may instead have the DeveloperToolsDisabled key in that same path. If so, delete that.

Chau

Answer 7

If you are using a Google Workspace account and have Google Admin Console permissions, you can follow the below steps to enable the Developer mode of Chrome browser for the entire organization or just an OU.

1. Log into the Google Admin console (admin.google.com).
2. Navigate to Device>Chrome>Settings (https://admin.google.com/ac/chrome/settings/user).
3. On the left, select the proper organization unit which contains the user/s you want to change the configuration for.
4. Update the "Developer Tool" settings with “Always allow use of built-in developer tools”.
5. SAVE changes.

Plaque

Answer 8

You can enable the Developer tools option in Chrome browser by executing the below script in Windows PowerShell in Administrator mode.

Set-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome' -Name DeveloperToolsDisabled -Value 0

It updates the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome registry's DeveloperToolsDisabled key's value to 0.

Antihistamine

Answer 9

I witnessed a website which has webtools were disabled, how ??

I pressed F12 but it wasn't working on it, but was working for other websites. on the same browser.

I noticed that right click selection too was disabled. I tested and found that when I disable right clicks and selection then somehow the developer tools too get disabled.

Tried and tested.

Supertanker