While I am replacing traditional way to initiate browser instance with WebDriverManager library, getting HTTP 403 error

[Mmsinghcs]

Description of the problem:

Browser and version: <!-- Using chrome 104

Operating system: <!-- Windows 10 - 64 bits

WebDriverManager version: <!-- WebDriverManager version 5.3.0

WebDriverManager call: <!-- WebDriverManager code :
WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();
WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
driver.get("http://www.google.com");

WebDriverManager traces:

ERROR io.github.bonigarcia.wdm.online.httpclient- Error HTTP 403 executing https://chromedriver.storage.googleapis.com

[bonigarcia]

WebDriverManager 5.3.0 fixed the 403 error for those drivers hosted in GitHub (e.g., geckodriver or operadriver). I've never seen the 403 error for chromedriver (hosted in googleapis.com) before.

Where are you located?
Is the same error happening if you try to open the following URL directly?

https://chromedriver.storage.googleapis.com/

[Mmsinghcs]

Alright. But this is happening in my case and location is UP, India. I am able to open the mentioned URL directly.

[bonigarcia]

It seems that there is some kind of connectivity issue at your end. It would help to see the complete WebDriverManager traces (not only the error message). For getting the WebDriverManager logs, you need to include a Logback configuration file (for example, like this) in your project classpath. The name of this file should be src/test/resources/logback-test.xml (if you want logs only for your tests) or src/test/resources/logback.xml (if you want logs for both tests and application code). Then, you need to use the following line to set the level to TRACE:

<logger name="io.github.bonigarcia" level="TRACE" />

After that, when running a test, your should see something like this:

2021-12-03 11:54:24 [main] DEBUG i.g.b.wdm.cache.ResolutionCache.checkValidity(156) -- Removing resolution chrome=96 from cache (expired on Thu Nov 25 15:43:32 CET 2021)
2021-12-03 11:54:24 [main] TRACE i.g.b.wdm.versions.VersionDetector.getVersionsInputStream(315) -- Reading online commands.properties to find out driver version
2021-12-03 11:54:24 [main] DEBUG i.g.b.wdm.versions.VersionDetector.getBrowserVersionFromTheShell(205) -- Detecting chrome version using online commands.properties
2021-12-03 11:54:24 [main] DEBUG i.g.bonigarcia.wdm.versions.Shell.runAndWaitArray(65) -- Running command on the shell: [cmd.exe, /C, wmic, datafile, where, name="%PROGRAMFILES(X86):\=\\%\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe", get, Version, /value]
2021-12-03 11:54:24 [main] DEBUG i.g.bonigarcia.wdm.versions.Shell.runAndWaitArray(69) -- Result: Version=96.0.4664.45
2021-12-03 11:54:24 [main] TRACE i.g.b.wdm.versions.VersionDetector.getBrowserVersionUsingCommand(284) -- Detected browser version is 96.0.4664.45
2021-12-03 11:54:24 [main] DEBUG i.g.b.wdm.cache.ResolutionCache.checkValidity(156) -- Removing resolution chrome96=96.0.4664.45 from cache (expired on Thu Nov 25 18:45:50 CET 2021)
2021-12-03 11:54:25 [main] DEBUG i.g.b.wdm.versions.VersionDetector.getDriverVersionFromRepository(127) -- Latest version of chromedriver according to https://chromedriver.storage.googleapis.com/LATEST_RELEASE_96 is 96.0.4664.45
2021-12-03 11:54:25 [main] INFO  i.g.bonigarcia.wdm.WebDriverManager.resolveDriverVersion(1012) -- Using chromedriver 96.0.4664.45 (resolved driver for Chrome 96)
2021-12-03 11:54:25 [main] DEBUG i.g.b.wdm.cache.ResolutionCache.putValueInResolutionCacheIfEmpty(119) -- Storing resolution chrome=96 in cache (valid until 12:54:25 03/12/2021 CET)
2021-12-03 11:54:25 [main] DEBUG i.g.b.wdm.cache.ResolutionCache.putValueInResolutionCacheIfEmpty(119) -- Storing resolution chrome96=96.0.4664.45 in cache (valid until 11:54:25 04/12/2021 CET)
2021-12-03 11:54:25 [main] TRACE i.g.b.wdm.cache.CacheHandler.getDriverFromCache(83) -- Checking if chromedriver exists in cache
2021-12-03 11:54:25 [main] TRACE i.g.b.wdm.cache.CacheHandler.filterCacheBy(68) -- Filter cache by chromedriver -- input list [C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\chromedriver\win32\81.0.4044.138\chromedriver.exe, C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\chromedriver\win32\83.0.4103.39\chromedriver.exe, C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\chromedriver\win32\95.0.4638.69\chromedriver.exe, C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\chromedriver\win32\96.0.4664.45\chromedriver.exe, C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\geckodriver\win64\0.30.0\geckodriver.exe, C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\msedgedriver\win64\95.0.1020.53\msedgedriver.exe, C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\msedgedriver\win64\96.0.1054.29\msedgedriver.exe, C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\msedgedriver\win64\96.0.1054.34\msedgedriver.exe, C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\operadriver\win64\94.0.4606.61\operadriver.exe, C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\operadriver\win64\95.0.4638.54\operadriver.exe, C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\resolution.properties] -- output list [C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\chromedriver\win32\81.0.4044.138\chromedriver.exe, C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\chromedriver\win32\83.0.4103.39\chromedriver.exe, C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\chromedriver\win32\95.0.4638.69\chromedriver.exe, C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\chromedriver\win32\96.0.4664.45\chromedriver.exe] 
2021-12-03 11:54:25 [main] TRACE i.g.b.wdm.cache.CacheHandler.filterCacheBy(68) -- Filter cache by 96.0.4664.45 -- input list [C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\chromedriver\win32\81.0.4044.138\chromedriver.exe, C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\chromedriver\win32\83.0.4103.39\chromedriver.exe, C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\chromedriver\win32\95.0.4638.69\chromedriver.exe, C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\chromedriver\win32\96.0.4664.45\chromedriver.exe] -- output list [C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\chromedriver\win32\96.0.4664.45\chromedriver.exe] 
2021-12-03 11:54:25 [main] TRACE i.g.b.wdm.cache.CacheHandler.filterCacheBy(68) -- Filter cache by WIN -- input list [C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\chromedriver\win32\96.0.4664.45\chromedriver.exe] -- output list [C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\chromedriver\win32\96.0.4664.45\chromedriver.exe] 
2021-12-03 11:54:25 [main] DEBUG i.g.bonigarcia.wdm.WebDriverManager.manage(968) -- Driver chromedriver 96.0.4664.45 found in cache
2021-12-03 11:54:25 [main] INFO  i.g.bonigarcia.wdm.WebDriverManager.exportDriver(1067) -- Exporting webdriver.chrome.driver as C:\Users\boni\.cache\selenium\chromedriver\win32\96.0.4664.45\chromedriver.exe

For further info about logging with with SLF4J and Logback you can see the following tutorial.

Also, as a possible fix, you can try to use the mirror:

WebDriverManager.chromedriver().useMirror().setup();