[🐛 Bug]: (Java) Launching Browser in Incognito Mode with BiDi Enabled is causing start-up failures

[MustafaAgamy]

What happened?

When using Selenium WebDriver with the WebDriver BiDi protocol enabled, launching Chrome in incognito mode results in a startup failure.
The browser fails to open a new tab, and the WebDriver session cannot be established.
The issue occurs consistently when the --incognito argument is passed to ChromeOptions while enabling BiDi.

Please note I captured the logs using Selenium Logger

Issue Video Link

Please note that the Exception is thrown at this code block which is class "JdkHttpClient", Hope this helps.

How can we reproduce the issue?

@Test
    public void testIncognitoWithBiDi() {
        ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
        chromeOptions.setCapability("webSocketUrl", true);
        chromeOptions.addArguments("--incognito");

        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(chromeOptions);
    }

Relevant log output

SLF4J: Failed to load class "org.slf4j.impl.StaticLoggerBinder".
SLF4J: Defaulting to no-operation (NOP) logger implementation
SLF4J: See http://www.slf4j.org/codes.html#StaticLoggerBinder for further details.
2025-01-27 20:15:55 FINE Selenium [SeleniumManager getBinary] Selenium Manager binary found at: C:\Users\Agami\.cache\selenium\manager\0.4.28\selenium-manager.exe 
2025-01-27 20:15:55 FINE Selenium [SeleniumManager runCommand] Executing Process: [--browser, chrome, --language-binding, java, --output, json, --debug] 
2025-01-27 20:15:56 FINE Selenium [ExternalProcess] completed to copy the output of process 3256 
2025-01-27 20:15:56 FINE Selenium [SeleniumManager] chromedriver not found in PATH 
2025-01-27 20:15:56 FINE Selenium [SeleniumManager] chrome detected at C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe 
2025-01-27 20:15:56 FINE Selenium [SeleniumManager] Running command: wmic datafile where name='C:\\Program Files\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe' get Version /value 
2025-01-27 20:15:56 FINE Selenium [SeleniumManager] Output: "\r\r\n\r\r\nVersion=131.0.6778.265\r\r\n\r\r\n\r\r\n\r" 
2025-01-27 20:15:56 FINE Selenium [SeleniumManager] Detected browser: chrome 131.0.6778.265 
2025-01-27 20:15:56 FINE Selenium [SeleniumManager] Required driver: chromedriver 131.0.6778.264 
2025-01-27 20:15:56 FINE Selenium [SeleniumManager] chromedriver 131.0.6778.264 already in the cache 
2025-01-27 20:15:56 FINE Selenium [SeleniumManager] Driver path: C:\Users\Agami\.cache\selenium\chromedriver\win64\131.0.6778.264\chromedriver.exe 
2025-01-27 20:15:56 FINE Selenium [SeleniumManager] Browser path: C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe 
2025-01-27 20:15:56 FINE Selenium [RemoteWebDriver] Executing: newSession [null, newSession {capabilities=[Capabilities {browserName: chrome, goog:chromeOptions: {args: [--incognito], binary: C:\Program Files\Google\Chr..., extensions: []}, webSocketUrl: true}]}] 
2025-01-27 20:15:56 FINE Selenium [DriverService start] Starting driver at C:\Users\Agami\.cache\selenium\chromedriver\win64\131.0.6778.264\chromedriver.exe with [--port=33018] 
2025-01-27 20:15:56 FINE Selenium [UrlChecker waitUntilAvailable] Waiting for [http://localhost:33018/status] 
2025-01-27 20:15:56 FINE Selenium [UrlChecker] Polling http://localhost:33018/status 
2025-01-27 20:15:56 FINE Selenium [UrlChecker] Polling http://localhost:33018/status 
2025-01-27 20:15:56 FINE Selenium [UrlChecker] Polling http://localhost:33018/status 
2025-01-27 20:15:56 FINE Selenium [JdkHttpClient execute0] Executing request: (POST) /session 
2025-01-27 20:15:57 FINE Selenium [JdkHttpClient execute0] Ending request (POST) /session in 856ms 
2025-01-27 20:15:57 FINE Selenium [UrlChecker waitUntilUnavailable] Waiting for http://localhost:33018/shutdown 
2025-01-27 20:15:57 FINE Selenium [UrlChecker] Polling http://localhost:33018/shutdown 
2025-01-27 20:15:57 FINE Selenium [ExternalProcess] completed to copy the output of process 18404 
2025-01-27 20:15:57 FINE Selenium [UrlChecker] Polling http://localhost:33018/shutdown 
2025-01-27 20:15:57 FINE Selenium [RemoteWebDriver] Exception: newSession Could not start a new session. Response code 500. Message: unknown error: unhandled inspector error: {"code":-32000,"message":"Failed to open new tab - no browser is open"}
  (Session info: chrome=131.0.6778.265) 
Host info: host: 'DESKTOP-M0F1IJA', ip: '192.168.1.7'
Build info: version: '4.28.1', revision: '73f5ad48a2'
System info: os.name: 'Windows 10', os.arch: 'amd64', os.version: '10.0', java.version: '21.0.1'
Driver info: driver.version: ChromeDriver 

org.openqa.selenium.SessionNotCreatedException: Could not start a new session. Response code 500. Message: unknown error: unhandled inspector error: {"code":-32000,"message":"Failed to open new tab - no browser is open"}
  (Session info: chrome=131.0.6778.265) 
Host info: host: 'DESKTOP-M0F1IJA', ip: '192.168.1.7'
Build info: version: '4.28.1', revision: '73f5ad48a2'
System info: os.name: 'Windows 10', os.arch: 'amd64', os.version: '10.0', java.version: '21.0.1'
Driver info: org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver
Command: [null, newSession {capabilities=[Capabilities {browserName: chrome, goog:chromeOptions: {args: [--incognito], binary: C:\Program Files\Google\Chr..., extensions: []}, webSocketUrl: true}]}]

	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:187)
	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:72)
	at TestChrome.beforeMethodSetup(TestChrome.java:25)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DirectMethodHandleAccessor.invoke(DirectMethodHandleAccessor.java:103)
	at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:580)
	at org.testng.internal.invokers.MethodInvocationHelper.invokeMethod(MethodInvocationHelper.java:141)
	at org.testng.internal.invokers.MethodInvocationHelper.invokeMethodConsideringTimeout(MethodInvocationHelper.java:71)
	at org.testng.internal.invokers.ConfigInvoker.invokeConfigurationMethod(ConfigInvoker.java:400)
	at org.testng.internal.invokers.ConfigInvoker.invokeConfigurations(ConfigInvoker.java:333)
	at org.testng.internal.invokers.TestInvoker.runConfigMethods(TestInvoker.java:833)
	at org.testng.internal.invokers.TestInvoker.invokeMethod(TestInvoker.java:600)
	at org.testng.internal.invokers.TestInvoker.invokeTestMethod(TestInvoker.java:230)
	at org.testng.internal.invokers.MethodRunner.runInSequence(MethodRunner.java:63)
	at org.testng.internal.invokers.TestInvoker$MethodInvocationAgent.invoke(TestInvoker.java:992)
	at org.testng.internal.invokers.TestInvoker.invokeTestMethods(TestInvoker.java:203)
	at org.testng.internal.invokers.TestMethodWorker.invokeTestMethods(TestMethodWorker.java:154)
	at org.testng.internal.invokers.TestMethodWorker.run(TestMethodWorker.java:134)
	at java.base/java.util.ArrayList.forEach(ArrayList.java:1596)
	at org.testng.TestRunner.privateRun(TestRunner.java:739)
	at org.testng.TestRunner.run(TestRunner.java:614)
	at org.testng.SuiteRunner.runTest(SuiteRunner.java:421)
	at org.testng.SuiteRunner.runSequentially(SuiteRunner.java:413)
	at org.testng.SuiteRunner.privateRun(SuiteRunner.java:373)
	at org.testng.SuiteRunner.run(SuiteRunner.java:312)
	at org.testng.SuiteRunnerWorker.runSuite(SuiteRunnerWorker.java:52)
	at org.testng.SuiteRunnerWorker.run(SuiteRunnerWorker.java:95)
	at org.testng.TestNG.runSuitesSequentially(TestNG.java:1274)
	at org.testng.TestNG.runSuitesLocally(TestNG.java:1208)
	at org.testng.TestNG.runSuites(TestNG.java:1112)
	at org.testng.TestNG.run(TestNG.java:1079)
	at com.intellij.rt.testng.IDEARemoteTestNG.run(IDEARemoteTestNG.java:65)
	at com.intellij.rt.testng.RemoteTestNGStarter.main(RemoteTestNGStarter.java:105)

Operating System

Windows 10

Selenium version

4.28.1

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

Chrome 131.0.6778.265

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

Any Driver

Are you using Selenium Grid?

No

[github-actions]

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

---

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Thank you!

[nvborisenko]

Not reproducible in C#:

var options = new ChromeOptions { UseWebSocketUrl = true };
options.AddArgument("--incognito");

using var driver = new ChromeDriver(options);

driver.Url = "https://www.google.com";

20:42:12.756 TRACE SeleniumManager: DEBUG chromedriver not found in PATH
20:42:12.778 TRACE SeleniumManager: DEBUG chrome detected at C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
20:42:12.778 TRACE SeleniumManager: DEBUG Running command: wmic datafile where name='C:\\Program Files\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe' get Version /value
20:42:12.778 TRACE SeleniumManager: DEBUG Output: "\r\r\n\r\r\nVersion=132.0.6834.111\r\r\n\r\r\n\r\r\n\r"
20:42:12.778 TRACE SeleniumManager: DEBUG Detected browser: chrome 132.0.6834.111
20:42:12.778 TRACE SeleniumManager: DEBUG Discovering versions from https://googlechromelabs.github.io/chrome-for-testing/known-good-versions-with-downloads.json
20:42:12.778 TRACE SeleniumManager: WARN There was an error managing chromedriver (error sending request for url (https://googlechromelabs.github.io/chrome-for-testing/known-good-versions-with-downloads.json)); using driver found in the cache
20:42:12.778 TRACE SeleniumManager: INFO Driver path: C:\Users\Nick\.cache\selenium\chromedriver\win64\132.0.6834.83\chromedriver.exe
20:42:12.779 TRACE SeleniumManager: INFO Browser path: C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
20:42:12.779 TRACE SeleniumManager: Driver path: C:\Users\Nick\.cache\selenium\chromedriver\win64\132.0.6834.83\chromedriver.exe
20:42:12.779 TRACE SeleniumManager: Browser path: C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
Starting ChromeDriver 132.0.6834.83 (03d59cf5ecf1d8444838ff9a1e96231304d4ff9c-refs/branch-heads/6834@{#3390}) on port 57395
Only local connections are allowed.
Please see https://chromedriver.chromium.org/security-considerations for suggestions on keeping ChromeDriver safe.
ChromeDriver was started successfully on port 57395.
20:42:12.864 DEBUG HttpCommandExecutor: Executing command: []: newSession {"capabilities":{"firstMatch":[{"browserName":"chrome","webSocketUrl":true,"goog:chromeOptions":{"args":["--incognito"],"binary":"C:\\Program Files\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe"}}]}}
20:42:12.871 TRACE HttpCommandExecutor: >> POST RequestUri: http://localhost:57395/session, Content: System.Net.Http.ByteArrayContent, Headers: 2
{"capabilities":{"firstMatch":[{"browserName":"chrome","webSocketUrl":true,"goog:chromeOptions":{"args":["--incognito"],"binary":"C:\\Program Files\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe"}}]}}

DevTools listening on ws://127.0.0.1:57401/devtools/browser/28b46954-cc06-4411-864f-1554363b808a
20:42:13.646 TRACE HttpCommandExecutor: << StatusCode: 200, ReasonPhrase: OK, Content: System.Net.Http.HttpConnectionResponseContent, Headers: 1
20:42:13.653 DEBUG HttpCommandExecutor: Response: (53c79c88af1238631d4e2a2b3a711360 Success: System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.String,System.Object])
20:42:13.658 DEBUG HttpCommandExecutor: Executing command: [53c79c88af1238631d4e2a2b3a711360]: get {"url":"https://www.google.com"}
20:42:13.660 TRACE HttpCommandExecutor: >> POST RequestUri: http://localhost:57395/session/53c79c88af1238631d4e2a2b3a711360/url, Content: System.Net.Http.ByteArrayContent, Headers: 2
{"url":"https://www.google.com"}
[25632:17588:0127/204215.184:ERROR:device_event_log_impl.cc(201)] [20:42:15.184] USB: usb_service_win.cc:105 SetupDiGetDeviceProperty({{A45C254E-DF1C-4EFD-8020-67D146A850E0}, 6}) failed: Element not found. (0x490)
20:42:15.342 TRACE HttpCommandExecutor: << StatusCode: 200, ReasonPhrase: OK, Content: System.Net.Http.HttpConnectionResponseContent, Headers: 1
20:42:15.342 DEBUG HttpCommandExecutor: Response: ( Success: )
20:42:15.343 DEBUG HttpCommandExecutor: Executing command: [53c79c88af1238631d4e2a2b3a711360]: quit {}
20:42:15.344 TRACE HttpCommandExecutor: >> DELETE RequestUri: http://localhost:57395/session/53c79c88af1238631d4e2a2b3a711360, Content: null, Headers: 2
20:42:15.383 TRACE HttpCommandExecutor: << StatusCode: 200, ReasonPhrase: OK, Content: System.Net.Http.HttpConnectionResponseContent, Headers: 1
20:42:15.383 DEBUG HttpCommandExecutor: Response: ( Success: )

Probably just try to upgrade chrome/driver? I used v132.

[MustafaAgamy]

It's Java related and I'm using Chrome latest version iirc

But let me double check

[nvborisenko]

Using v131 in C# leads to the same error:

Unhandled exception. OpenQA.Selenium.UnknownErrorException: unknown error: unhandled inspector error: {"code":-32000,"message":"Failed to open new tab - no browser is open"}
  (Session info: chrome=131.0.6778.264)

[MustafaAgamy]

Seems to be working after I updated to the latest Chrome today 132

But there's another issue, will discuss it on slack first

I'll close this one

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.