Failed to launch Firefox 41 with Geckodriver using Selenium 3.0.0-beta3

Question

I was running some quick tests using WebDriver. I downlowded the FirefoxWebDriver and the ChromeWebDriver; geckodriver-v0.10.0-win64.zip and chromedriver_win32.zip.

They are extracted to a path location and have been renamed accordingly; wires.exe and chromedriver.exe respectively.

When I created my test, did as follows:

DesiredCapabilities cap = DesiredCapabilities.firefox();
cap.setCapability("marionette", true);
WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver(cap);

//WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(DeesiredCapabilities.chrome());

and for Firefox, it failed to create a session (and failed the tests), where-as chrome succeeded and then passed the tests.

The Output from the test is as follows:

Sep 28, 2016 2:51:32 PM org.openqa.selenium.remote.ProtocolHandshake createSession
INFO: Attempting bi-dialect session, assuming Postel's Law holds true on the remote end
Sep 28, 2016 2:51:38 PM org.openqa.selenium.remote.ProtocolHandshake createSession
INFO: Falling back to straight W3C remote end connection
Sep 28, 2016 2:51:44 PM org.openqa.selenium.remote.ProtocolHandshake createSession
INFO: Falling back to original OSS JSON Wire Protocol.

org.openqa.selenium.remote.UnreachableBrowserException: Could not start a new session. Possible causes are invalid address of the remote server or browser start-up failure.
Build info: version: 'unknown', revision: 'c7b525d', time: '2016-09-01 14:57:44 -0700'
System info: host: 'CHI-CS-55DXX52', ip: '10.60.68.15', os.name: 'Windows 7', os.arch: 'amd64', os.version: '6.1', java.version: '1.8.0_77'
Driver info: driver.version: FirefoxDriver

 at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver.execute(RemoteWebDriver.java:618)
 at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver.startSession(RemoteWebDriver.java:242)
 at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver.<init>(RemoteWebDriver.java:129)
 at org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver.<init>(FirefoxDriver.java:231)
 at org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver.<init>(FirefoxDriver.java:219)
 at org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver.<init>(FirefoxDriver.java:214)
 at org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver.<init>(FirefoxDriver.java:131)
 at com.polymerdart.webdriver.MyFirstTest.startWebDriver(MyFirstTest.java:21)
 at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
 at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
 at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
 at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
 at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod$1.runReflectiveCall(FrameworkMethod.java:50)
 at org.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:12)
 at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod.invokeExplosively(FrameworkMethod.java:47)
 at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.InvokeMethod.evaluate(InvokeMethod.java:17)
 at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runLeaf(ParentRunner.java:325)
 at org.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:78)
 at org.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:57)
 at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.run(ParentRunner.java:290)
 at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$1.schedule(ParentRunner.java:71)
 at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runChildren(ParentRunner.java:288)
 at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.access$000(ParentRunner.java:58)
 at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$2.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:268)
 at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:363)
 at org.junit.runner.JUnitCore.run(JUnitCore.java:137)
 at com.intellij.junit4.JUnit4IdeaTestRunner.startRunnerWithArgs(JUnit4IdeaTestRunner.java:117)
 at com.intellij.junit4.JUnit4IdeaTestRunner.startRunnerWithArgs(JUnit4IdeaTestRunner.java:42)
 at com.intellij.rt.execution.junit.JUnitStarter.prepareStreamsAndStart(JUnitStarter.java:262)
 at com.intellij.rt.execution.junit.JUnitStarter.main(JUnitStarter.java:84)
 at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
 at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
 at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
 at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
 at com.intellij.rt.execution.application.AppMain.main(AppMain.java:147)
Caused by: org.openqa.selenium.SessionNotCreatedException: Unable to create new remote session. desired capabilities = Capabilities [{marionette=true, browserName=firefox, version=, platform=ANY}], required capabilities = Capabilities [{}]
Build info: version: 'unknown', revision: 'c7b525d', time: '2016-09-01 14:57:44 -0700'
System info: host: 'CHI-CS-55DXX52', ip: '10.60.68.15', os.name: 'Windows 7', os.arch: 'amd64', os.version: '6.1', java.version: '1.8.0_77'
Driver info: driver.version: FirefoxDriver
 at org.openqa.selenium.remote.ProtocolHandshake.createSession(ProtocolHandshake.java:80)
 at org.openqa.selenium.remote.HttpCommandExecutor.execute(HttpCommandExecutor.java:141)
 at org.openqa.selenium.remote.service.DriverCommandExecutor.execute(DriverCommandExecutor.java:82)
 at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver.execute(RemoteWebDriver.java:597)
 ... 34 more

I do see Firefox opening, but it just fails to create the session and the closes. I am currently running on this machine Firefox version 41.0

Answer 1

This is the incapability issue between Selenium3 and Mozilla Firefox version.

Actually Selenium3 supports executable geckodriver to launch Mozilla Firefox just like other driver now but executable geckodriver compatible with Mozilla Firefox >= v47, that's why you're in trouble.

There are two work around to get rid from this issue :-

• Downgrade your selenium version to Selenium2 as well.

• Upgrade your Mozilla Firefox >= v47 as well and try with Selenium3 and launching FirefoxDriver as below :-

  //Set system property with downloaded executable geckodriver from your system location 
  
  DesiredCapabilities cap = DesiredCapabilities.firefox();
  cap.setCapability("marionette", true);
  WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver(cap);