iMac Migration Causes Chrome Confusion: Identifying Two Devices
You've just purchased a brand new iMac and migrated your files from your MacBook Air using the Migration Assistant.app. After setting up everything, you went to check your Google account's device activity only to find two active devices. This article will help you understand what might have caused this and how to resolve it.
Understanding the Migration Assistant and Chrome Sync
Apple's Migration Assistant is a tool designed to transfer your data from one Mac to another. While it moves files and user settings, it does not directly affect your Chrome browser data. Chrome stores its user data, like bookmarks and browsing history, in a separate location, usually in iCloud for macOS users. Chrome Sync helps keep this data in sync between your devices.
What Caused Chrome to Show Two Devices?
If Migration Assistant moved your user data from the MacBook Air to the new iMac, it also copied the local Chrome data stored in the previous machine. Since your Google account on both devices has access to this synced data, Chrome treats the iMac as a separate device because it has a different set of local Chrome data than the MacBook Air. This scenario causes the confusion of displaying two devices in the Google account's device activity list.
Resolving the Chrome Device Confusion
You can resolve this issue by removing the local Chrome data from your new iMac, but keep in mind that this will also delete the bookmarks, browsing history, and other data specific to your MacBook Air. To continue syncing, make sure your Chrome browser on your MacBook Air stays signed in to your Google account. Follow the steps below to reset your Chrome data on the new iMac:
- Close all open Chrome windows.
- Press Shift + Command + U to open the Utilities folder.
- Launch the Terminal application.
Enter the following command in the terminal:
rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome/
Additional Steps to Ensure Chrome Data Sync
You may find that some data was not synced from your MacBook Air to the iMac, and some data on your MacBook Air is now missing. You can fix this by following these steps:
- Launch Chrome on your MacBook Air and sign in to your Google account.
- Click on the three dots (
⋮) in the upper-right corner and select "Settings". - Click "You and Google" on the left side.
- Click "Sync and Google services" and enable "Sync everything".
- Launch Chrome on your iMac, sign in to your Google account, and follow the same steps.
- Migration Assistant transfers user data between Macs, but not Chrome's sync data.
- Two devices show up on Chrome device activity due to separate sets of local Chrome data.
- Removing local Chrome data from your iMac and signing back into your Google Account resolves the issue.
- Ensure sync settings are enabled on both the MacBook Air and iMac.
References:
- Wiley, J. (2020). Mac Book Pro for Dummies (Mac Book Pro 2019 Edition).
- T, P. (2021). How to clear your Google Chrome browsing history.
- Google. (n.d.). Sync your Chrome booksmarks, history, passwords, and more.