[Bug]: Edge 152 crashes during download after relaunching a persistent profile; bundled Chromium 151 succeeds

[Donggun0]

Version

1.62.0 (Python)

Steps to reproduce

Self-contained Python reproduction (no external website or dependencies beyond Playwright). Save as mre.py; use only a disposable profile.

import argparse
from pathlib import Path
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright

parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
parser.add_argument('--browser', default='msedge')
parser.add_argument('--profile', required=True)
parser.add_argument('--output', required=True)
args = parser.parse_args()

with sync_playwright() as p:
    options = {'channel': 'msedge'} if args.browser == 'msedge' else {}
    context = p.chromium.launch_persistent_context(
        args.profile, headless=False, accept_downloads=True, **options
    )
    print('VERSION', context.browser.version, flush=True)
    context.on('close', lambda _: print('CONTEXT_CLOSED', flush=True))
    try:
        page = context.pages[0]
        page.set_content('<a download="probe.txt" href="data:text/plain,local-test-only">download</a>')
        with page.expect_download(timeout=15000) as event:
            page.locator('a').click(timeout=15000)
        print('DOWNLOAD_EVENT', flush=True)
        event.value.save_as(args.output)
        assert Path(args.output).read_bytes() == b'local-test-only'
        print('SAVE_VERIFIED', flush=True)
    finally:
        context.close()

Run twice in separate Python processes from PowerShell, with Playwright 1.62.0 and installed Edge:

$probeRoot = Join-Path $env:TEMP ('edge-mre-' + [guid]::NewGuid().ToString('N'))
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $probeRoot | Out-Null
$env:DEBUG = 'pw:browser'
python .\mre.py --browser msedge --profile "$probeRoot\profile" --output "$probeRoot\saved-1.txt"
python .\mre.py --browser msedge --profile "$probeRoot\profile" --output "$probeRoot\saved-2.txt"

The same profile is reused; the output filename differs. downloads_path is omitted. For the control, repeat with a NEW probeRoot and --browser chromium in both commands (bundled Chromium must be installed). The code above is the baseline path of the tested reproducer, with optional diagnostic branches removed.

Expected behavior

Both invocations should save the text file successfully when reusing a persistent profile.

Actual behavior

Edge 152.0.4191.53 succeeds on the first launch with a fresh persistent profile, but exits during the download on the second launch using that profile. No output file is saved on run 2. Bundled Chromium 151.0.7922.34 saves the expected 15 bytes on both launches.

Sanitized excerpt from the ordinary-PowerShell Edge run-2 log:

VERSION 152.0.4191.53
CONTEXT_CLOSED
DOWNLOAD_EVENT
<process did exit: exitCode=3221225477, signal=null>
playwright._impl._errors.TargetClosedError: Download.save_as: Target page, context or browser has been closed

The native exit code is 0xC0000005. The close/download ordering above is as observed in the merged log. The save_as exception is where Python observes failure, not proof that save_as initiates the native crash. No faulting native module or stack is available.

Additional context

This was reproduced on one Windows machine, including independently from ordinary PowerShell outside the agent's restricted execution environment. No application/site logic, authentication, user-supplied browser flags, personal profile, or file-moving code is required. Playwright's default launch arguments remain in effect.

Isolation results (fresh disposable profile for each scenario):

Condition	First launch	Second launch
Edge, same profile, new output filenames, default downloads path	Pass	Exit 0xC0000005
Edge, same profile, new explicit downloads/output directories	Pass	Exit 0xC0000005
Edge, fresh profile each time, same output path	Pass	Pass
Chromium 151, same profile	Pass	Pass
Edge, download.path() instead of save_as()	Bytes verified	Exit 0xC0000005
Edge, locally mocked HTTP attachment instead of data URL	Pass	Exit 0xC0000005
Edge, headless=True	Pass	Exit 0xC0000005
Edge, no path/save_as call; page.wait_for_timeout(20000) after event	Browser stays alive	Browser stays alive

The idle test verifies survival only, not completed download bytes. The baseline Edge/Chromium comparison was confirmed in ordinary PowerShell; additional isolation cases ran in the agent execution environment.

I have not tested Edge 151 itself or a second machine. Chromium 151 is not an equivalent Edge-version control. I am reporting the reproducible scenario, not claiming a confirmed Edge 152 regression or assigning the cause to Playwright rather than Edge/machine configuration. Is there an additional diagnostic that would help identify the native failure?

Environment

Manually collected for the Python reproducer (not npx envinfo):
OS: Windows 11, build 26200
Python: 3.13.2 (Anaconda distribution, 64-bit)
Playwright Python: 1.62.0
Microsoft Edge: 152.0.4191.53 (channel="msedge")
Bundled Chromium: 151.0.7922.34
Execution: local ordinary PowerShell; separate Python processes; disposable persistent profiles

[ryo-whaletech]

I reproduced the same failure with a repository-backed harness and can add transport-level evidence that narrows the failure boundary.

Pinned reproduction and evidence:

https://github.com/ryo-whaletech/microsoft-edge-cdp-pipe-download-crash-repro/tree/7b0dbdc9762fdbe5cf84b8cf628c7ba6c0245372

Results on Edge Stable 152.0.4191.53 with Playwright Python 1.62.0:

• The public-API reproduction reuses one generated disposable profile. Launch 1 succeeds; launch 2 disconnects during a generated 5 MiB loopback-HTTP download. This reproduces in both headless and headed modes.
• Fresh Crashpad dumps show a 0xC0000005 read access violation in msedge.dll, consistently at module offset 0x9D5C88B; the accessed near-null addresses were 0x1A (headless) and 0x21 (headed).
• A dependency-free raw-CDP harness reproduces the same native Edge crash without importing or executing Playwright when Edge uses --remote-debugging-pipe.
• With the same Edge binary, generated profile lifecycle, page, payload, and CDP commands, changing only the transport to --remote-debugging-port completed 8/8 launches. Playwright-bundled Chromium completed 25/25 downloads under the persistent-context pipe workload.
• Download.save_as() is therefore a downstream observation in this scenario; Edge has already terminated.

The native failure is also tracked in MicrosoftEdge/DevTools#461:

MicrosoftEdge/DevTools#461

For the Playwright-facing API, could a supported transport selection or port-based fallback be considered for branded persistent contexts? If not, a more specific diagnostic when the branded browser terminates on the pipe path would still help distinguish this failure from ordinary page/context closure.

[shawvyu]

help
We are seeing what appears to be the same underlying issue on Windows.
Our installed Edge version is also 152.0.4191.53. With a reusable persistent profile, the browser can terminate when a download is triggered, followed by Playwright errors such as Target page, context or browser has been closed. The browser process itself exits unexpectedly, so download.save_as() appears to be a downstream failure rather than the cause.
We have also observed similar behavior with installed Chrome (152.0.7977.76). Disabling acceptDownloads did not eliminate the crash in our earlier isolation tests.
The important difference we found is the browser control transport: launchPersistentContext() starts Chromium-family browsers with --remote-debugging-pipe, while starting the browser externally with --remote-debugging-port and then attaching through chromium.connectOverCDP() has remained stable during download tests.
Could the Playwright and Edge teams please investigate and prioritize a fix for this issue?
In the meantime, is there a recommended workaround, such as downgrading to a known-good Edge or Playwright version, disabling a specific browser feature, or using a supported launch configuration that avoids the crash?