selenium.common.exceptions.WebDriverException: Message: unknown error: Failed to create a Chrome process error with ChromeDriver Chrome Selenium

Question

I am trying to code basic python-Google Chrome interactions with webdriver but I constantly get the same error while trying to launch a link on my browser.

Here is my code:

from selenium import webdriver
import os

class Instagrambot:
    def __init__(self, username, password):
        self.username = username
        self.password = password

        self.driver = webdriver.Chrome('./chromedriver.exe')


if __name__ == '__main__':
    ig_bot = Instagrambot('temp_username', 'temp_password')

I have the chromedriver in the current directory, and I am using the correct version of the chromedriver (79.0.3945.36) for my browser (Chrome 79.0.3945.88) . The full error I am getting is:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "c:/Users/Arthur/Documents/instabot/bot.py", line 16, in <module>
    ig_bot = Instagrambot('temp_username', 'temp_password')
  File "c:/Users/Arthur/Documents/instabot/bot.py", line 12, in __init__
    self.driver = webdriver.Chrome('./chromedriver.exe')
  File "C:\Users\Arthur\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37-32\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\chrome\webdriver.py", line 81, in __init__desired_capabilities=desired_capabilities)
  File "C:\Users\Arthur\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37-32\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\remote\webdriver.py", line 157, in __init__self.start_session(capabilities, browser_profile)
  File "C:\Users\Arthur\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37-32\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\remote\webdriver.py", line 252, in start_session response = self.execute(Command.NEW_SESSION, parameters)
  File "C:\Users\Arthur\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37-32\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\remote\webdriver.py", line 321, in execute
    self.error_handler.check_response(response)
  File "C:\Users\Arthur\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37-32\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\remote\errorhandler.py", line 242, in check_response 
    raise exception_class(message, screen, stacktrace)
selenium.common.exceptions.WebDriverException: Message: unknown error: Failed to create a Chrome process.

I have already tried:

Writing the full executable path towards chromedriver.exe (same folder of bot.py)

Overriding the Chrome binary location as suggested in this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/53078276/11206079

If anyone can help me or give any insight about how to fix it I would be really glad!

Answer 1

This error message...

selenium.common.exceptions.WebDriverException: Message: unknown error: Failed to create a Chrome process.

...implies that the ChromeDriver was unable to initiate/spawn a new Browsing Context ie Chrome Browser session.

I don't see any such issue in your code block. However, a bit more details about your Test Environment with respect to version of the binaries and user type you are using would have helped us to debug the issue in a better way. However most possibly you are executing your test as an administrator

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Thumb rule

A common cause for Chrome to crash during startup is running Chrome as root user ( administrator ) on Linux. While it is possible to work around this issue by passing --no-sandbox flag when creating your WebDriver session, such a configuration is unsupported and highly discouraged. You need to configure your environment to run Chrome as a regular user instead.

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Additional considerations

Ensure that:

• Selenium is upgraded to current levels Version 3.141.59 .
• ChromeDriver is updated to current ChromeDriver v79.0.3945.36 level.
• Chrome is updated to current Chrome Version 79.0 level. (as per ChromeDriver v79.0 release notes )
• Clean your Project Workspace through your IDE and Rebuild your project with required dependencies only.