Running Your Desktop as a Chrome App

A frequent issue when accessing a desktop environment inside a browser tab is that certain keyboard shortcuts—like Ctrl+W or Ctrl+F4—get captured by the browser, preventing the desktop from receiving them.

A straightforward workaround is to turn the page into a standalone app using Chrome (or any Chromium-based browser).

1. Go to More Tools and then select "Create shortcut" to place an icon on your computer desktop.

Option to create a desktop shortcut from the browser menu

2. Tick the "Open as window" checkbox when you’re asked how to create the shortcut.

Configuring the shortcut to open as a window

3. Launch your new app by double-clicking the desktop shortcut you just created.

The desktop shortcut icon ready to use

4. Now you can use the application and all your keyboard shortcuts will function as expected.