Selenium server error: Unable to create new service chromedriverservice

Question

I am trying to run webdriverio on my windows 10 computer and keep running into the same issue when trying to run my test js file. So I run this -jar /your/download/dir

Answer 1

Update your ChromeDriver version via webdriver-manager, as follows:

webdriver-manager clean
webdriver-manager update
webdriver-manager start

This will remove the older version, update with the latest stated in your built config, and restart the server. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Selenium Standalone Server is currently on Build 3.9.1.

It looks like you're running an older version of the standalone server. Perhaps the ChromeDriver version you're running might function better with an update to your Selenium Standalone Server?

http://www.seleniumhq.org/download/

Also, just to be sure... You have the latest version of the Windows Chrome Driver version? They're on 2.35 for the latest. https://chromedriver.storage.googleapis.com/index.html?path=2.35/

Answer 3

(2020 Update)

If you are runnning Selenium Server 4 Alpha, you don't need to set chromedriver.exe path via command line, just make sure that the chromedriver exe file is in the same folder as the jar file

It took me quite a bit to figure out that Selenium Server does not include webdrivers (Firefox, Chrome, etc.) by default, they need to be downloaded separately.

Answer 4

When you start your Grid Node, make sure the path to the chromedriver.exe in -Dwebdriver.chrome.driver parameter is correct: Example:

java -Dwebdriver.chrome.driver="C:\DEV\eclipse\MainWorkspace\webdrivers\chromedriver.exe" -jar selenium-server-standalone-3.141.59.jar -role node  -hub http://localhost:4444/grid/register -nodeConfig node-config.json > node_output.log 

Answer 5

The error you are seeing does gives us some hint about whats going wrong as follows :

   { type: 'SessionNotCreatedException',
     message: 'A new session could not be created.',
     orgStatusMessage: 'Unable to create new service: ChromeDriverService\nBuild info: version: \'3.5.3\', revision: \'a88d25fe6b\', time: \'2017-08-29T12:54:15.039Z\'\nSystem info: host: \'LAPTOP-9GIHGJ9I\', ip: \'10.0.0.243\', os.name: \'Windows 10\', os.arch: \'amd64\', os.version: \'10.0\', java.version: \'1.8.0_161\'\nDriver info: driver.version: unknown' }

It is clear from the error message that the ChromeDriver is not getting detected as you see the log message as Driver info: driver.version: unknown. The main reason of this error can be the incompatibility between the binaries you are using.

• Your Selenium Client version is 3.5.3 released 2017-08-29T12:54:15.039Z
• Your ChromeDriver version is unknown to us.
• Your Chrome Browser version is unknown to us.

Solution

A quick solution would be to :

• Update Selenium Client version to recent levels i.e. Selenium 3.9.1
• Update ChromeDriver version to recent levels i.e. ChromeDriver 2.35
• As per the Release Notes of ChromeDriver v2.35 update the Chrome Browser version to v62-64
• Run CCleaner tool to wipe off the OS chores before and after executing your Test Suite
• If your base version of Chrome Browser is olden uninstall Chrome Browser through Revo Uninstaller and install a recent GA released version of Chrome Browser
• Execute your Test.