ChromeDriver error "unknown error: cannot get automation extension" - selenium-webdriver

Question

Since the 7th of February all my tests are failing with the same error; the log entry reads:
RESPONSE MaximizeWindow unknown error: cannot get automation extension
from unknown error: page could not be found: chrome-extension://aapnijgdinlhnhlmodcfapnahmbfebeb/_generated_background_page.html
(Session info: chrome=57.0.2987.21)
I'm not sure if this is caused by a Chrome update or something else - the message is vague enough as it is.
EDIT: I am using C#, and the latest Chromedriver.

Answer 1

You need the latest version of chromedriver.exe. https://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org/chromedriver/downloads
This is needed for chromedriver version 57+
I was having this same issue. Once I updated the chromedriver version everything worked again.

Answer 2

Suddenly got this error -> Additional information: unknown error: cannot get automation extension from unknown error: page could not be found: chrome-extension..
This issue exists even when using ChromeDriver 2.29
What solved it though was removing this line.
driver.Manage().Window.Size = new Size(1024, 768);
A quick fix but really not the one I've been looking for.
Would be great to still use the sizing mechanism.

Answer 3

This could probably because the environment where you are running the tests is blocking all the third party extensions in chrome browser. Give it a try with disabling the extensions.
something like below:
ChromeOptions o = new ChromeOptions();
o.addArguments("disable-extensions");
o.addArguments("--start-maximized");
WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(o);

Answer 4

As mentioned above, it's related to the chromedriver.
In the release notes of version 2.33, it's mentioned that they fixed an issue related to resizing/positioning.
Latest Release: ChromeDriver 2.33
Supports Chrome v60-62
Changes include:
Fixes a bug which caused Resizing/Positioning Window commands to fail on Chrome 62+.

Answer 5

Instead of downloading the chrome driver manually, it's better to update the version of chromedriver in package.json (or similar file) and fire npm install to get the latest version auto downloaded.

Answer 6

Try to use Webdrivermanager from
io.github.bonigarcia library
It will automatically load the latest version of your's webdriver and so you will not need to update it from time to time.
Just call for example:
ChromeDriverManager.getInstance().setup();
before calling the webdriver itself to get the latest version of ChromeDriver.

Answer 7

Updating your chrome driver exe would not actually fixed this issue, if you observed, it is happening while you're re-sizing chrome
driver.Manage().Window.Maximize();
Try to comment this line and try again.
It's a quick fix, I'll update my answer once I find the root cause of this(however it seems because of browser update as nothing was changed in code for me).
Update:
For me, it seems to be because of browser update as once I updated again this issue was gone.

Answer 8

I faced the issue, too. I have replaced the existing chrome driver which I had in my C folder with new chrome driver downloaded from https://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org/chromedriver/downloads, which resolved the issue.

Answer 9

I had the same issue. Just downloaded the latest release of chromedriver and that solved the problem.
https://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org/chromedriver/downloads

Answer 10

With the last headless version, you can't resize the window as there isn't any window anymore.
For my own case, I was experiencing this issue with behat, I used to resize the window with previous versions of chrome of firefox, I surround the following line:
$this->getSession()->resizeWindow(1600, 1200, 'current');
with a simple check on the driver:
if (($this->getSession()->getDriver() instanceof Selenium2Driver)) {
$this->getSession()->resizeWindow(1600, 1200, 'current');
}

Answer 11

I had started getting the same error in April, shortly after this question. I was able to get around it by installing a new beta version and starting like so:
webdriver-manager start --versions.standalone 3.0.0-beta4 --versions.chrome=2.28
This was working perfectly until a few days ago. I tried removing the offending setSize() from my Protractor conf file and it works again. But whenever my tests start, it also spawns another Chrome window navigated to chrome://settings/help. Weird.
I checked my Chrome update history and see it updated from v61 to v62 last week, so that must have broken it. I guess I need to update my driver once more.
Update: For those that want to quickly know how to update their driver:
webdriver-manager update --versions.chrome=2.33
Don't forget to specify the driver when starting the server.

Answer 12

Thanks
for this -- it helped me after so much R&D
cannot-get-automation-extension
ChromeOptions o = new ChromeOptions();
o.addArguments("disable-extensions");
o.addArguments("--start-maximized");
WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(o);

Answer 13

My issue got resolved post adding this comment, thankyou so much.
ChromeOptions o = new ChromeOptions();
o.addArguments("disable-extensions");
o.addArguments("--start-maximized");
o.addArguments("--start-maximized");
WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(o);

Answer 14

update your protractor and run your test cases it will start executing, there are few new stuff added from Protractor, this method worked for me.
update protractor - npm install -g protractor
update webdrvier - webdriver-manager update

Answer 15

it supports the higher versions of chrome driver 2.29.
pls. find the latest chrome drivers in http://www.seleniumhq.org/download/