How to get the version number of Google Chrome installed on OS?

Question

I am trying to write a selenium script that can work without needing any updates. I'd like to be able to run the program, and determine which Google Chrome version is currently installed on OS (it can be either Windows or Linux), and then install the compatible ChromeDriver from there.

I already tried this to simply attempt printing the value:

    public static void chromeVersion() throws IOException {
        String installPath = "";
        Process userProcess;
        BufferedReader usersReader;
        if(SystemUtils.IS_OS_WINDOWS) {
            installPath = "C:/Program Files/Google/Chrome/Application/chrome.exe";
            userProcess = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(installPath + " --version");
            usersReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(userProcess.getInputStream()));
            String p;
            while ((p = usersReader.readLine()) != null){
                System.out.println(p);
            }
        }
        
    }

But it prints a runtime error saying that the path cannot be found. Even if the path was correct, I doubt that this is the best solution since the path technically could vary even from one Windows computer to another.

What else can I do to accomplish this task?

EDIT: after further research, it seems that this may not be possible in Java? Thoughts?

EDIT: Hulk in the comments pointed out that I can do this:

    public static void chromeVersion() throws IOException {
        String installPath = "";
        Process userProcess;
        BufferedReader usersReader;
        if(SystemUtils.IS_OS_WINDOWS) {
            installPath = "reg query 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Google\\Chrome\\BLBeacon' /v version";
;
            userProcess = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(installPath);
            usersReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(userProcess.getInputStream()));
            String p;
            while ((p = usersReader.readLine()) != null){
                System.out.println(p);
            }
        }
        
    }

This however does not print anything, but if I run reg query "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Chrome\BLBeacon" /v version from CMD then I get this:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Chrome\BLBeacon
    version    REG_SZ    93.0.4577.82

Good catch. I tested this in CMD and the path still isnt found even though I thought this was the correct default path — mcool, Oct 06 '21 at 14:21
Does this answer your question? [How to get chrome version using command prompt in windows](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/50880917/how-to-get-chrome-version-using-command-prompt-in-windows) — Hulk, Oct 06 '21 at 14:21
It seems this is tricky, and changed several times in the past, with versions of chrome and windows.... — Hulk, Oct 06 '21 at 14:23
That seems to work in command line fine, I'll just have to parse the returned value after I figure out how to get that value in java. — mcool, Oct 06 '21 at 14:26

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 06 '21 at 14:44

I managed to get it to work like this:

    public static void chromeVersion() throws IOException {
        
        Runtime rt = Runtime.getRuntime();
        Process proc = rt.exec("reg query " + "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Google\\Chrome\\BLBeacon " +  "/v version");
        BufferedReader stdInput = new BufferedReader(new 
                 InputStreamReader(proc.getInputStream()));

            BufferedReader stdError = new BufferedReader(new 
                 InputStreamReader(proc.getErrorStream()));

            // Read the output from the command
            System.out.println("Here is the standard output of the command:\n");
            String s = null;
            while ((s = stdInput.readLine()) != null) {
                System.out.println(s);
            }

            // Read any errors from the attempted command
            System.out.println("Here is the standard error of the command (if any):\n");
            while ((s = stdError.readLine()) != null) {
                System.out.println(s);
            }
        
    }

This will print:

Here is the standard output of the command:


HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Chrome\BLBeacon
    version    REG_SZ    93.0.4577.82

Here is the standard error of the command (if any):

How to get the version number of Google Chrome installed on OS?

1 Answers1