Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

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 Fail to Start Chrome Navigator

Larissa Reis's profile image
Larissa Reis posted Mon June 16, 2025 08:10 AM

Hi everyone,

I'm using IBM RPA version 23.0.19.0, and I'm facing an intermittent error when executing a script in RPA Studio—specifically when using the browser profile options UserProfileOptimized or StrictUserProfile.

Here’s what I’ve tried so far, without success:

  • Updated Google Chrome;

  • Updated the ChromeDriver;

  • Placed the updated driver in the path:
    C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\IBM Robotic Process Automation\pacotes\23.0.19.0.

Despite these steps, the issue persists. The execution fails after 60 seconds with the following exception:

System.Exception: Fail to start Chrome navigator ---> OpenQA.Selenium.WebDriverException: The HTTP request to the remote WebDriver server for URL http://localhost:51773/session timed out after 60 seconds. ---> System.Net.WebException: O tempo limite da operação foi atingido em System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetResponse() em OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.HttpCommandExecutor.MakeHttpRequest(HttpRequestInfo requestInfo) --- Fim do rastreamento de pilha de exceções internas --- em OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.HttpCommandExecutor.MakeHttpRequest(HttpRequestInfo requestInfo) em OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.HttpCommandExecutor.Execute(Command commandToExecute) em OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DriverServiceCommandExecutor.Execute(Command commandToExecute) em OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebDriver.Execute(String driverCommandToExecute, Dictionary2 parameters) em OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebDriver.StartSession(ICapabilities desiredCapabilities) em OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebDriver..ctor(ICommandExecutor commandExecutor, ICapabilities desiredCapabilities) em OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome.ChromeDriver..ctor(ChromeDriverService service, ChromeOptions options, TimeSpan commandTimeout) em WDG.Automation.Browser.AutomationChromeBrowser.GetWebDriverInstance(DriverService driverService, DriverOptions driverOptions) em WDG.Automation.Browser.AutomationChromiumBrowser1.<Initialize>d__16.MoveNext() --- Fim do rastreamento de pilha do local anterior onde a exceção foi gerada --- em System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() em System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task) em WDG.Automation.Browser.AutomationChromeBrowser.<CreateInstance>d__4.MoveNext() --- Fim do rastreamento de pilha do local anterior onde a exceção foi gerada --- em System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() em System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task) em WDG.Automation.Browser.BrowserInstance.<CreateAutomationBrowser>d__3.MoveNext() --- Fim do rastreamento de pilha do local anterior onde a exceção foi gerada --- em System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() em System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task) em WDG.Automation.Browser.BrowserInstance.<CreateBrowserInstace>d__2.MoveNext() --- Fim do rastreamento de pilha do local anterior onde a exceção foi gerada --- em System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() em System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task) em WDG.Automation.Browser.WebStartCommand.<CreateBrowser>d__88.MoveNext() --- Fim do rastreamento de pilha de exceções internas --- em WDG.Automation.Browser.WebStartCommand.<CreateBrowser>d__88.MoveNext() --- Fim do rastreamento de pilha do local anterior onde a exceção foi gerada --- em System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() em System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task) em WDG.Automation.Browser.WebStartCommand.<Execute>d__87.MoveNext() --- Fim do rastreamento de pilha do local anterior onde a exceção foi gerada --- em System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() em WDG.Automation.Language.CommandInterpreter.<Run>d__12.MoveNext() --- Fim do rastreamento de pilha do local anterior onde a exceção foi gerada --- em System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() em WDG.Automation.Language.ScriptInterpreter.<RunCore>d__17.MoveNext()

This issue does not occur when using the default automation profile. However, I need the browser to be logged into a Google account, which requires using a user profile.

Has anyone in the community faced this issue or found a workaround?

Thank you in advance!

Atanas Atanasov's profile image
Atanas Atanasov posted Tue June 17, 2025 01:45 AM

Hi,

I had a similar issue and got it fixed by replacing current version of chrome with this one:

https://developer.chrome.com/blog/chrome-for-testing

You need to close chrome, kill every remaining processes, rename the folder in program files, extract this version there, rename it as the original folder and rename the update folder (to stop auto updates) as well.

Let me know if this helped.

Tarcio Alonso Mota's profile image
Tarcio Alonso Mota posted Tue June 17, 2025 07:13 AM

Possibly related to KI DT437589.

Are you using Chrome v136 or higher?
In Chrome v136, they implemented a security measure that no longer allows Selenium to work with the default profile folder.

In order to use the logged-in user's profile, you must create another profile using a folder other than the default one.
This functionality (to allow the user provides a custom profile folder) was added to IBM RPA 23.0.20 (FP 003) and v 30.0.0.
However, if you open a ticket, the support team can provide you with a custom build based on version 23.0.20 (FP 002) - current latest version.

When the support team provides you with the custom build, they will send you the step-by-step instructions for configuring the user profile with the new folder for use in IBM RPA.

Larissa Reis's profile image
Larissa Reis posted Mon June 30, 2025 02:20 PM

Hi Atanas,

Thanks for your suggestion!

I replaced the standard Chrome with the Chrome for Testing version as you described, and the RPA script no longer throws the timeout error — so that part seems fixed .

However, there's still an issue:
The browser doesn’t load the logged-in user profile automatically. It always opens asking to sign in to the Google account again.

Larissa Reis's profile image
Larissa Reis posted Wed July 02, 2025 04:37 PM

Hi Tarcio,

Thanks for the detailed explanation!

I’ve just updated IBM RPA to version 30.0.0, and I can now see the option to specify a custom user profile folder as mentioned.

With this version, the browser launches without any errors when using a custom profile path.
However, I’m still facing one issue: the browser doesn't open already logged into the Google account - it always asks me to sign in again.

I’ve pointed to the exact folder where the Chrome profile is already logged in, but it still prompts for login.

Do you know if there's anything else I need to configure to make IBM RPA use that profile with the saved Google login session?

Thanks again for your help!

Trong Nguyen's profile image
Trong Nguyen posted Thu July 03, 2025 12:40 AM

we got same issues with chrome 136+
we still alive at chrome 135

some machine still get error with chrome driver and they ask checksum of version 138.!?!

There is no hope for chrome version 138+.

Tarcio Alonso Mota's profile image
Tarcio Alonso Mota posted Thu July 03, 2025 07:26 AM

Apparently the problem reoccurred in Chrome v138 even when using the automation profile (not using the user-specific profile).
https://www.reddit.com/r/chrome/comments/1ll0din/facing_issue_with_chrome_138_and_chromedriver_138/


But it seems that in Chrome v139 the problem has been resolved.

Larissa Reis's profile image
Larissa Reis posted Wed July 09, 2025 07:40 AM

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to share that I was able to solve the issue with the Google login not being preserved when launching the browser via IBM RPA.
What worked for me was starting the browser using the bot (with the correct user profile folder configured), then manually logging into the Google account in that same session. After logging in, I simply closed the browser. From that point on, every time the bot launches the browser, it opens already logged into the Google account, without prompting for sign-in again. It looks like doing the login manually once, within the bot-launched instance, was the key to making the session persist correctly.
Hope this helps others facing the same issue. 
Thanks again for all the support!

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