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If Selenium reports SessionNotCreatedException while starting Chrome, first check that Chrome and ChromeDriver are compatible and that Selenium is using the driver you expect. Then verify the driver can run on your system and inspect ChromeDriver’s startup log if the versions and permissions look right. This error happens before Selenium has a usable browser session; it is different from a later screenshot-capture failure.
What “session not created” means
WebDriver raises a session-creation error when it cannot establish a new browser session. Chrome may have failed to start, the browser and driver may be incompatible, or the requested capabilities may not match the environment. The wording alone does not identify which cause applies.
For example, an error that says ChromeDriver supports only a particular Chrome major version is a strong version-mismatch clue. “Chrome failed to start” is less specific: check the startup log and configuration rather than assuming the versions are wrong. Selenium lists incompatible browser and driver versions, system-level restrictions, and an absent, inaccessible, or non-executable driver among possible causes (Selenium troubleshooting).
Fix the startup failure in order
- Record the complete error and environment. Save the full exception and ChromeDriver startup log. Note your Selenium binding and version, Chrome version, operating system, whether the run is local, remote, or containerized, and the driver path if known. Without these details, the error text may not distinguish a version problem from a launch or host-configuration problem.
- Compare Chrome and ChromeDriver versions. Check the installed Chrome version and the version of the driver Selenium actually launches. They must be compatible. Selenium’s troubleshooting documentation illustrates the problem with ChromeDriver 113 and Chrome 115; do not treat that historical example as a current version recommendation.
- Find out which driver Selenium selected. Check your code for an explicitly supplied driver executable or system property, then inspect
PATHfor another ChromeDriver. Either can cause Selenium to use a stale binary instead of the one you expected. Selenium Manager is a fallback when no driver is supplied; Selenium’s project article also describes it warning about an incompatible driver found onPATH(Selenium 4.11.0 release article, July 31, 2023). Correct or remove a stale entry if the logs show it is selected. - Check driver access and execution permissions. Confirm the executable exists at the configured path and the process can access it. On Linux or macOS, check its executable bit; Selenium gives
chmod +x /path/to/driveras a possible correction. On macOS, review Privacy & Security if the operating system blocks the driver. - Inspect Chrome startup configuration. If versions and permissions are sound, use the ChromeDriver log to examine the configured Chrome binary, options or capabilities, profile selection, and runtime restrictions. A startup failure does not prove that a particular flag is required. Avoid adding generic container flags unless the log or environment points to them.
- Retry session creation before testing screenshots. First confirm Selenium can create a new Chrome session. Only then issue the screenshot command. If that command reports a screen-capture problem, troubleshoot it separately.
Choose a way to keep the driver aligned
| Approach | When it fits | Trade-off to check |
|---|---|---|
| Selenium Manager fallback | You want Selenium to manage the driver and do not explicitly supply one. | Manager behavior depends on the Selenium release. It is shipped with Selenium releases beginning at 4.6, according to Selenium’s 2023 release article; verify the behavior supported by the version in your project. An explicit driver or a driver on PATH can affect selection. |
| Manually pinned ChromeDriver | You intentionally control the browser/driver pair. | Update and verify the driver when Chrome changes, and confirm Selenium is using the pinned executable rather than another path entry. |
| Pinned Chrome for Testing browser and driver | You need a controlled, non-evergreen test browser and driver pair. | Selenium’s 4.11.0 article describes Chrome for Testing management features added in that release. Check current official setup guidance for availability and exact configuration; the historical article is not a current installation recipe. |
Distinguish session startup from screenshot capture
A driver-construction failure means there is no working session for a screenshot command to use. By contrast, WebDriver lists unable to capture screen separately from session not created (MDN WebDriver error reference). If a session starts successfully but the later capture fails, investigate the screenshot command and active browser window rather than continuing to treat it as a session-creation error.
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