[🐛 Bug]: Screenshot fails with UnreachableBrowserException in Selenium 4.39.0 (works in 4.38.0)

[haci56]

Description

Calling TakesScreenshot#getScreenshotAs(...) throws org.openqa.selenium.remote.UnreachableBrowserException in Selenium 4.39.0, while the exact same code works in 4.38.0.

The failure occurs regardless of whether OutputType.FILE or OutputType.BYTES is used.

Environment

• OS: Windows 11 (amd64)
• Java: 11.0.19
• Browser: Chrome 143.0.7499.170
• ChromeDriver: 143.0.7499.169

Build tool: Gradle

✅ Working configuration

implementation "org.seleniumhq.selenium:selenium-java:4.38.0"
implementation "org.seleniumhq.selenium:selenium-devtools-v142:4.38.0"

❌ Failing configuration

implementation "org.seleniumhq.selenium:selenium-java:4.39.0"
implementation "org.seleniumhq.selenium:selenium-devtools-v142:4.38.0"

(Also fails with selenium-devtools-v143:4.39.0)

** Observed behavior **

org.openqa.selenium.remote.UnreachableBrowserException:
Error communicating with the remote browser. It may have died.

Command: [sessionId, screenshot []]
	at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver.getScreenshotAs(RemoteWebDriver.java:350)


Browser process is still running, but screenshot fails immediately.

** Expected behavior **

Screenshot should be captured successfully, as it is in Selenium 4.38.0 with the same Chrome / ChromeDriver versions.

Reproducible Code

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

driver.get("https://www.google.com");

byte[] screenshot = ((TakesScreenshot) driver)
        .getScreenshotAs(OutputType.BYTES); // fails in 4.39.0

driver.quit();

---

ℹ️ Last known working version: 4.38.0

[selenium-ci]

@haci56, thank you for creating this issue. We will troubleshoot it as soon as we can.

Selenium Triage Team: remember to follow the Triage Guide

[haci56]

@titusfortner did you have any chance to check this issue? or somehow do I miss anything about reporting? Because most of the issues are being answered about 1-2 days. But this has been about a week.

[asolntsev]

@haci56 Can you provide more details how to reproduce your problem?
And please, the error message with full stracktrace.

I've tried your code - and it works fine (Chrome: 144.0.7559.60, Selenium 4.39.0).
Code:

import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.openqa.selenium.OutputType;
import org.openqa.selenium.TakesScreenshot;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class ScreenTest {
  @Test
  void SCREENSHOT() {
    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

    driver.get("https://www.google.com");

    try {
      byte[] screenshot = ((TakesScreenshot) driver)
        .getScreenshotAs(OutputType.BYTES); // fails in 4.39.0



      System.out.printf("Took screenshots: %s bytes%n", screenshot.length);
      // Output:  "Took screenshots: 255423 bytes"
    }
    finally {
      driver.quit();
    }
  }
}