Launch HTML file in Chrome with parameters

Question

I want to create a shortcut that launches chrome with an HTML file in the same directory as the shortcut. I also need it to launch chrome with the following parameters --new-window --disable-web-security --user-data-dir="c:/chromedev"

Currently the "Target" line of my shortcut looks like this:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" ./specViewer.html --new-window --disable-web-security --user-data-dir="c:/chromedev"

Launching this gives me the ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED error

I've also tried this:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" specViewer.html --new-window --disable-web-security --user-data-dir="c:/chromedev"

With no such luck, as then it tries to search the internet for my file.

Any ideas on a solution to properly launch the local file in chrome with the command line parameters?

Answer 1

The OP's answer is correct as far as it goes. However, you can get a Windows shortcut to launch relative to the current directory.

While you can use Windows Environment Variables in shortcuts, there are a few volatile ones that cannot be used (such as %CD%).

As the OP suggested, using a batch file is an excellent way to bypass this restriction:

@echo off
start "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" "file:///%CD%/specViewer.html" --user-data-dir="C:/chromedev" --disable-web-security --new-window

You can also create a New Shortcut with the following properties:

Target:      "%WINDIR%\system32\cmd.exe" /c start "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" "file:///%CD%/specViewer.html" --user-data-dir="C:/chromedev" --disable-web-security --new-window
Start in:    
Change Icon: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe"

CRITICAL: make sure Start in is empty; this will start command prompt in the current directory.

Notice how we launched command prompt, which can use dynamic variables such as %CD%. And you'll probably want to change the icon on the shortcut to look like Google Chrome, or whatever program you are launching.

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For more on the peripheral details, see this question:

Making a Windows shortcut start relative to where the folder is? - Stack Overflow

Answer 2

I was able to solve my problem by instead using a .bat file and using this as it's content

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" "file:///%cd%/specViewer.html" --user-data-dir="C:/chromedev" --disable-web-security --new-window 

Note: prefixing that command is START breaks it.