Try something like this
Option Explicit
Sub drv()
MsgBox ChromeDownloadFolder
End Sub
Function ChromeDownloadFolder()
Dim sPref As String
Dim iFile As Long, iStart As Long, iEnd As Long
Dim sBuffer As String, sSearch As String, sDownloads As String
'Chrome preferces file, no extension
sPref = Environ("LOCALAPPDATA") & "\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Preferences"
'marker
sSearch = """download"":{""default_directory"":"
'read the whole file into buffer
iFile = FreeFile
Open sPref For Input As #iFile
sBuffer = Input$(LOF(iFile), iFile)
Close #iFile
'find start of marker
iStart = InStr(1, sBuffer, sSearch, vbTextCompare)
'find comma
iEnd = InStr(iStart + Len(sSearch), sBuffer, ",", vbTextCompare)
'pull out path
sDownloads = Mid(sBuffer, iStart + Len(sSearch) + 1, iEnd - iStart - Len(sSearch) - 2)
'remove double back slashes
ChromeDownloadFolder = Replace(sDownloads, "\\", "\")
End Function