[🐛 Bug]: New TAB is not opening when Chrome browser is launched with incognito mode

[nageshkarup]

What happened?

When I launch the chrome browser with incognito mode, I can not open new tab using driver.switchTo().newWindow(WindowType.TAB) option whereas I can open new tab using Javascript executor. I can open new window that is working fine.

Below is the stack trace:

Exception in thread "main" org.openqa.selenium.WebDriverException: unknown error: unhandled inspector error: {"code":-32000,"message":"Failed to open new tab - no browser is open"}
(Session info: chrome=131.0.6778.70)
Build info: version: '4.12.1', revision: '8e34639b11'
System info: os.name: 'Windows 11', os.arch: 'amd64', os.version: '10.0', java.version: '17.0.10'
Driver info: org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver
Command: [787830e999d11bcf297d00743524056b, newWindow {type=tab}]
Capabilities {acceptInsecureCerts: false, browserName: chrome, browserVersion: 131.0.6778.70, chrome: {chromedriverVersion: 131.0.6778.85 (3d81e41b6f3a..., userDataDir: C:\Users\hp\AppData\Local\T...}, fedcm:accounts: true, goog:chromeOptions: {debuggerAddress: localhost:59976}, networkConnectionEnabled: false, pageLoadStrategy: normal, platformName: windows, proxy: Proxy(), se:cdp: ws://localhost:59976/devtoo..., se:cdpVersion: 131.0.6778.70, setWindowRect: true, strictFileInteractability: false, timeouts: {implicit: 0, pageLoad: 300000, script: 30000}, unhandledPromptBehavior: dismiss and notify, webauthn:extension:credBlob: true, webauthn:extension:largeBlob: true, webauthn:extension:minPinLength: true, webauthn:extension:prf: true, webauthn:virtualAuthenticators: true}
Session ID: 787830e999d11bcf297d00743524056b
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:77)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)
at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstanceWithCaller(Constructor.java:499)
at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:480)
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.codec.w3c.W3CHttpResponseCodec.createException(W3CHttpResponseCodec.java:200)
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.codec.w3c.W3CHttpResponseCodec.decode(W3CHttpResponseCodec.java:133)
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.codec.w3c.W3CHttpResponseCodec.decode(W3CHttpResponseCodec.java:52)
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.HttpCommandExecutor.execute(HttpCommandExecutor.java:191)
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.service.DriverCommandExecutor.invokeExecute(DriverCommandExecutor.java:196)
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.service.DriverCommandExecutor.execute(DriverCommandExecutor.java:171)
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver.execute(RemoteWebDriver.java:602)
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver$RemoteTargetLocator.newWindow(RemoteWebDriver.java:1166)
at nk.selenium.testcases.Sample.main(Sample.java:17)

How can we reproduce the issue?

Here is the code snippet

package nk.selenium.testcases;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WindowType;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeOptions;

public class Sample {
    public static void main(String[] args){
        ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions();
        options.addArguments("--incognito");

        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(options);
        driver.manage().window().maximize();
        driver.get("https://www.google.com/");
        System.out.println(driver.getTitle());
        driver.switchTo().newWindow(WindowType.TAB);
        driver.get("https://www.yahoo.com/");
        System.out.println(driver.getTitle());
        driver.quit();
    }
}

Relevant log output

Exception in thread "main" org.openqa.selenium.WebDriverException: unknown error: unhandled inspector error: {"code":-32000,"message":"Failed to open new tab - no browser is open"}
  (Session info: chrome=131.0.6778.70)
Build info: version: '4.12.1', revision: '8e34639b11'
System info: os.name: 'Windows 11', os.arch: 'amd64', os.version: '10.0', java.version: '17.0.10'
Driver info: org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver
Command: [787830e999d11bcf297d00743524056b, newWindow {type=tab}]
Capabilities {acceptInsecureCerts: false, browserName: chrome, browserVersion: 131.0.6778.70, chrome: {chromedriverVersion: 131.0.6778.85 (3d81e41b6f3a..., userDataDir: C:\Users\hp\AppData\Local\T...}, fedcm:accounts: true, goog:chromeOptions: {debuggerAddress: localhost:59976}, networkConnectionEnabled: false, pageLoadStrategy: normal, platformName: windows, proxy: Proxy(), se:cdp: ws://localhost:59976/devtoo..., se:cdpVersion: 131.0.6778.70, setWindowRect: true, strictFileInteractability: false, timeouts: {implicit: 0, pageLoad: 300000, script: 30000}, unhandledPromptBehavior: dismiss and notify, webauthn:extension:credBlob: true, webauthn:extension:largeBlob: true, webauthn:extension:minPinLength: true, webauthn:extension:prf: true, webauthn:virtualAuthenticators: true}
Session ID: 787830e999d11bcf297d00743524056b
	at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:77)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)
	at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstanceWithCaller(Constructor.java:499)
	at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:480)
	at org.openqa.selenium.remote.codec.w3c.W3CHttpResponseCodec.createException(W3CHttpResponseCodec.java:200)
	at org.openqa.selenium.remote.codec.w3c.W3CHttpResponseCodec.decode(W3CHttpResponseCodec.java:133)
	at org.openqa.selenium.remote.codec.w3c.W3CHttpResponseCodec.decode(W3CHttpResponseCodec.java:52)
	at org.openqa.selenium.remote.HttpCommandExecutor.execute(HttpCommandExecutor.java:191)
	at org.openqa.selenium.remote.service.DriverCommandExecutor.invokeExecute(DriverCommandExecutor.java:196)
	at org.openqa.selenium.remote.service.DriverCommandExecutor.execute(DriverCommandExecutor.java:171)
	at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver.execute(RemoteWebDriver.java:602)
	at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver$RemoteTargetLocator.newWindow(RemoteWebDriver.java:1166)
	at nk.selenium.testcases.Sample.main(Sample.java:17)

Operating System

Windows 11

Selenium version

Java 4.12.1

What are the browser(s) and version(s) where you see this issue?

Chrome 131.0.6778.70

What are the browser driver(s) and version(s) where you see this issue?

chromedriverVersion: 131.0.6778.85

Are you using Selenium Grid?

No response

[github-actions]

@nageshkarup, thank you for creating this issue. We will troubleshoot it as soon as we can.

---

Info for maintainers

Triage this issue by using labels.

If information is missing, add a helpful comment and then I-issue-template label.

If the issue is a question, add the I-question label.

If the issue is valid but there is no time to troubleshoot it, consider adding the help wanted label.

If the issue requires changes or fixes from an external project (e.g., ChromeDriver, GeckoDriver, MSEdgeDriver, W3C), add the applicable G-* label, and it will provide the correct link and auto-close the issue.

After troubleshooting the issue, please add the R-awaiting answer label.

Thank you!

[pujagani]

Thank you for sharing the details. I was able to reproduce the issue. I am looking into it. Though high chances this is not specific to Selenium.

[pujagani]

This is a known Chromium issue and was fixed last month https://issues.chromium.org/issues/42323352. Once it is available there, you should be good to go.

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically locked since there has not been any recent activity since it was closed. Please open a new issue for related bugs.