Increase Cache size of Google Chrome

1. Download and install VHD Attach (version 3.20 at time of this post) from

vhd attach

2. Navigate to the Chrome cache folder in Windows Explorer (C:\Users\%USER%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default)

3. DELETE the "Cache" folder. Leave explorer window open, you'll need it later.

4. Launch VHD Attach.

5. Use the "New" button to create a new VHD disk. I would suggest sizing it to 60 MB, and make it *Fixed size* rather than "Dynamically expanding".

6. Click "Create", this will prompt you to save the VHD. Location for saving the VHD should be in the Chrome cache folder (The one you navigated to in Step 2). IMPORTANT: Name the VHD something other than "Cache"! I named it "real_cache".

7. Click "Format disk" button when asked, and complete the formatting process.

8. In Start menu, type "disk", then find "Create and format hard disk partitions".

9. In Disk Management window, find the volume that corresponds in size to the VHD that you created.

10. Right-click on that, select "Change Drive Letter and Paths".

11. In the window that pops up next, select and delete everything. Then click "Add".

12. Select the option that says, "Mount in the following empty NTFS folder".

13. Browse to the folder where the Cache folder is supposed to be. This means stop at the User Data\Default folder. You'll notice that there is no Cache folder (Of course, you deleted it in Step 3).

14. Click on "New Folder", and name it "Cache" (w/o quotation marks!)

15. Start clicking the OK buttons. You'll be back at Disk Management.

16. It's a good idea to label the VHD. My label is "Google Chrome Cache". The way to do it, right click the volume, select Properties.

17. We're not done! We want to make this persist across reboots, which is why we downloaded VHD Attach in Step 1. Go to the VHD Attach, click the tiny Options button (Second from right).

18. In the Options window, there is a section to "Auto-attach VHDs". Click "Add", find the real_cache vhd, and click Open, then OK.

19. That's it, you're done! Now clicking on the Cache folder's Properties will show you that it acts like a hard disk, and will not go over the 60 MB limit you specified in Step 5. Of course, if you'd like more cache size, those VHD's are easy to change and manage. And rebooting will not make you lose the hard work of following the steps.

Of course, it would be nice if Google had a decent option in Settings, but this is a good way to create OS-enforced cache limits.