Failed to assume control of Microsoft Edge (Communication with browser failed. Try reloading extension).

[Jimbotron3000]

I've created a desktop flow that worked fine for a few weeks, but now it only works the first time after I reboot my computer. After that, it always hangs at "Launch new Microsoft Edge" with the error:

Failed to assume control of Microsoft Edge (Communication with browser failed. Try reloading extension).

Microsoft.Flow.RPA.Desktop.Modules.SDK.ActionException: Failed to assume control of Microsoft Edge (Communication with browser failed. Try reloading extension). ---> Microsoft.Flow.RPA.Desktop.UIAutomation.WebAutomation.Core.Browser.WebBrowserException: Exception of type 'Microsoft.Flow.RPA.Desktop.UIAutomation.WebAutomation.Core.Browser.WebBrowserException' was thrown.
at Microsoft.Flow.RPA.Desktop.UIAutomation.WebAutomation.Core.WebExtensionsBrowser.WebExtensionsBrowserLauncher.LaunchNew(ProcessWindowStyle processWindowStyle, String initialUrl, Int32 timeout, WebPageCourseOfActionIfDialogAppearsEnum dialogHandlingMode, String dialogButtonName)
at Microsoft.Flow.RPA.Desktop.UIAutomation.Plugin.Edge.Edge.StartNew(ProcessWindowStyle processWindowStyle, String initialUrl, Int32 timeout, WebPageCourseOfActionIfDialogAppearsEnum dialogHandlingMode, String dialogButtonName)
at Microsoft.Flow.RPA.Desktop.Modules.WebAutomation.Actions.WebAutomationActions.LaunchNewEdge(Variant initialUrl, Variant edgeTabTitle, Variant edgeTabUrl, Variant dialogButtonToPress, Variant& webBrowserInstance, Int32 operation, Int32 windowState, Int32 attachMode, Boolean waitForWebPageToLoad, Int32 courseOfActionIfDialogAppears, Boolean clearCache, Boolean clearCookies, Int32 timeout)
at Microsoft.Flow.RPA.Desktop.Modules.WebAutomation.Actions.LaunchEdgeBase.Execute(ActionContext context)
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at Microsoft.Flow.RPA.Desktop.Modules.WebAutomation.Actions.LaunchEdgeBase.Execute(ActionContext context)
at Microsoft.Flow.RPA.Desktop.Robin.Engine.Execution.ActionRunner.Run(IActionStatement statement, Dictionary`2 inputArguments, Dictionary`2 outputArguments)

If I reboot the computer, it will work again (once). Then it will stop working and always throw the error above. I've tried the following:

1. Uninstall and reinstall Power Automate Desktop
2. Uninstall and reinstall Power Automate Edge Extension
3. Clear cache and cookies in browser
4. Tried with Clear Cache option both ON and OFF
5. Tried with Clear Cookies option both ON and OFF
6. Tried with Wait for Page to Load option both ON and OFF
7. Tried On Error -> Continue flow run but then I just get an error in the next step "Argument 'BrowserInstance' must be 'Web browser instance'."

Any ideas on how I can fix this? I can't reboot my computer every time I want to run a flow.

[Pstork1]

What version of Windows and version of Edge are you using?  Have you applied updates recently?  Have you updated Power Automate Desktop to the latest version?

[Jimbotron3000]

I just recently installed the latest version of Power Automate. It didn't change the situation at all.

PAD: 2.18.146.22083

Win 10: Version 10.0.19043 Build 19043

Edge: 100.0.1185.29 (Official build) (64-bit)

By the way, the same flow works fine when I use Firefox instead of Edge.

[Gematria]

Have you tried running PAD as Admin?

[Jimbotron3000]

Hi @Gematria , thanks for the suggestion. But yes, I did try running as admin and it didn't help.

[Daniel23]

Hi,

I have experienced the same error, but with Chrome browser and on Windows server with unattended mode.

The pattern for the issue was when chrome wasn't closed correctly - like if you use below to ensure that Chrome browser is closed before starting a robot: 

In Chrome browser you can check if it hasn't been closed correctly because it will show below message when you open it:

Whenever that happens, I get the error you describe. For me, a reboot doesnt work though. Instead, I have to manually open and then close the browser correctly. After that, PAD can work with the browser again.

Don't know if your issue is the same, but you can try it out.

[Gematria]

Not related to this post, but you can fix this problem in Chrome by:

1. Going to %Userprofile%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default
2. Open the file "Preference" in Notebook
3. Find the record: "exit_type": and set it to "none" (its probably set to "crashed")
4. Save the file
5. Right click the file and select properties
6. Set the Read Only flag on the file

Removes the popup completely, no matter how many times you either kill Chrome or Chrome just crashes.

[paddelia]

I have the problem at random, then it usually works again when I restart the flow.
I believe it happens more frequently with flows running sub-flows.

[Anonymous]

Hi @Jimbotron3000 

Please ensure Chrome is closed during each iteration, if restore popup occurs which means chrome not closed properly, so please refer below attached image, if it works please accept as solution.

[Anonymous]

@Jimbotron3000 Disable this option in chrome setting

[Jimbotron3000]

Sorry, I accidentally marked this as the solution when trying to click "reply". This actually didn't solve my problem, as you suspected. My browser doesn't seem to be closing incorrectly. I don't see the message you screenshotted.

[Jimbotron3000]

@Anonymous Thanks for your contribution, but you are not answering my original post, you are addressing something another poster brought up in the middle of the thread. First, I am using Edge, not Chrome (see original post). Second, my issue doesn't have anything to do with the browser not shutting down properly, since I don't see the error message related to that. Finally, it's not practical for my workflow to kill all running instances of the browser when I want to run a PAD flow even if this were causing the issue. Thanks for the suggestion, though!

[Jimbotron3000]

(BTW, I do understand that Edge is built on Chromium and likely has the same setting)

[Anonymous]

@Jimbotron3000, Instead of chrome u can change into edge and we are also facing same error previously , support team giving same suggestion as I mentioned above, please try it once.

[Anonymous]

[UK_Mike]

I know you are using Edge but....

Create a new flow, keep it simple, use Chrome, lets see if that runs as expected.

Next create a new flow using Edge, again keep it simple, if both of these run as expected then surely its the flow in question, at least we could narrow it down ?

[Jimbotron3000]

Thanks for the advice @UK_Mike . As I mentioned further up the thread, this same flow works fine in Firefox, so I think we've already narrowed it down to a problem with Edge.

[Jimbotron3000]

Thanks again, @Anonymous . As mentioned, killing every Edge process each time I run this flow isn't a realistic solution for me, because I have a lot of other processes running in Edge and it would completely disrupt my workflow.

[UK_Mike]

I get that but we haven't narrowed it down to Edge, as in try a simple new flow using "Edge" as the browser.

If this works then maybe something else is a miss ?

Was it initially created with Edge ?

You say it works in Firefox, did you have to rebuild it to suit Firefox or just changed the browser.

[Jimbotron3000]

HI @UK_Mike ,

Yes, I originally created it in Edge, and it does work some of the time. I simply changed the browser to Firefox as a test, and it works every time. So, I really don't think there's a problem with the flow.