[🐛 Bug]: SessionNotCreatedException: Could not start a new session - Temp Dir Error (Window Realtime Protection interference)

[Red-Cloud2000]

What happened?

While attempting to create a new session using Selenium and ChromeDriver, the following error occurred:
org.openqa.selenium.SessionNotCreatedException: Could not start a new session. Response code 500. Message: session not created from unknown error: cannot create temp dir for user data dir

After investigation, I found that this issue is caused by Windows Real-Time Protection, which prevents the creation of temporary directories required for ChromeDriver.

##(need to mention that after figuring out the problem and disabling Windows real-time protection and leaving my laptop for a couple of hours, and then trying to rerun a test while Windows real-time protection was still disabled the error occurred again so I enabled then disabled Windows real-time protection and the error was gone {this happened only 1 time} )

How can we reproduce the issue?

1- Ensure Windows Real-Time Protection is enabled.

2- Use the following environment details:
  - OS: Windows 11 (64-bit) version 24H2
  - Selenium version: 4.27.0
  - ChromeDriver version: 131.0.6778.204
  - Browser: Google Chrome (Version 131.0.6778.205 (Official Build) (64-bit)).

3-Code to reproduce:

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

public class Tests {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
        driver.get("https://www.google.com/");
    }
}

Relevant log output

Exception in thread "main" org.openqa.selenium.SessionNotCreatedException: Could not start a new session. Response code 500. Message: session not created
from unknown error: cannot create temp dir for user data dir 
Host info: host: 'RED_CLOUD2000', ip: '###.###.###.#'
Build info: version: '4.27.0', revision: 'd6e718d134'
System info: os.name: 'Windows 11', os.arch: 'amd64', os.version: '10.0', java.version: '21.0.5'
Driver info: org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver
Command: [null, newSession {capabilities=[Capabilities {browserName: chrome, goog:chromeOptions: {args: [], binary: C:\Program Files\Google\Chr..., extensions: []}}]}]
	at org.openqa.selenium.remote.ProtocolHandshake.createSession(ProtocolHandshake.java:114)
	at org.openqa.selenium.remote.ProtocolHandshake.createSession(ProtocolHandshake.java:75)
	at org.openqa.selenium.remote.ProtocolHandshake.createSession(ProtocolHandshake.java:61)
	at org.openqa.selenium.remote.HttpCommandExecutor.execute(HttpCommandExecutor.java:162)
	at org.openqa.selenium.remote.service.DriverCommandExecutor.invokeExecute(DriverCommandExecutor.java:216)
	at org.openqa.selenium.remote.service.DriverCommandExecutor.execute(DriverCommandExecutor.java:174)
	at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver.execute(RemoteWebDriver.java:545)
	at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver.startSession(RemoteWebDriver.java:245)
	at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver.<init>(RemoteWebDriver.java:174)
	at org.openqa.selenium.chromium.ChromiumDriver.<init>(ChromiumDriver.java:114)
	at org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver.<init>(ChromeDriver.java:88)
	at org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver.<init>(ChromeDriver.java:83)
	at org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver.<init>(ChromeDriver.java:51)
	at Tests.main(Tests.java:6)

Process finished with exit code 1

Operating System

Windows 11 (64-bit) version 24H2

Selenium version

Java 4.27.0

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

Google Chrome (Version 131.0.6778.205 (Official Build) (64-bit)).

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

ChromeDriver version: 131.0.6778.204

Are you using Selenium Grid?

No

[github-actions]

@Red-Cloud2000, thank you for creating this issue. We will troubleshoot it as soon as we can.

---

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Thank you!

[github-actions]

Hi, @Red-Cloud2000.
This issue has been determined to require fixes in ChromeDriver.

You can see if the feature is passing in the Web Platform Tests.

If it is something new, please create an issue with the ChromeDriver team.
Feel free to comment the issues that you raise back in this issue. Thank you.

[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.