[BUG] Error: browserType.launch: Failed to launch chromium because executable doesn't exist at /home/jenkins/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium-844399/chrome-linux/chrome

[gkushang]

Context:

• Playwright Version: [1.8]
• Operating System: [Unix / jenkins]
• Node.js version: [10.14]
• Browser: Chromium]

We are attempting to install playwright thru yarn but it fails intermittently with this error. Our project is monorepo and uses "yarn"

any idea how to resolve this issue?

[yury-s]

This means that browser download failed(may well be a network issue) during playwright installation. You need to reinstall playwright in this case, it will try to download missing browsers again.

[gkushang]

@yury-s Our Jenkins job downloads all other dependencies fine, so I doubt on Network issue. As I mentioned, this is the intermittent issue, but it fails our build often. Even upon reinstalling or rerunning the Job again, it fails for the same reason. Pls advice.

[gkushang]

+plus, it does not fail at Download, but it fails during test execution with the above error (in the subject)

[yury-s]

Some implementation details: the way playwright works is it downloads corresponding chromium revision into the .cache folder (/home/jenkins/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium-844399 in your case) and then when you run the tests it will try to launch chromium from that directory.

Error: browserType.launch: Failed to launch chromium because executable doesn't exist at /home/jenkins/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium-844399/chrome-linux/chrome error indicates that the file is not there, perhaps it gets deleted by someone intermittently. You need to find out why the content of /home/jenkins/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium-844399/ changes between the installation and test runs.

[gkushang]

this whole thing runs in the Jenkins so no one can remove the file in between - yarn install and yarn test. There is something wrong at the server level where it does not download at all.

Can you or someone from playwright take a look? thank you!

[yury-s]

If the file was not downloaded playwright installer would fail . Can you share installation logs for the case when subsequent test runs fail? Playwright would skip browser downloads only if you force it to by setting PLAYWRIGHT_SKIP_BROWSER_DOWNLOAD environment variable, could you check what is in your env?

[gkushang]

It passes intermittently so I doubt it's SKIPPING the browser download. It does not install with yarn command, and behaves flaky.

I also see this similar issue was closed without any resolution - #4033 . Not sure if that'd help.

[gkushang]

@yury-s

How can I force download the Chromium Binary only?

[tanvee38]

I am having the same issue when I try to install playwright through “Run npm install” command in my dockerfile. I see that Playwright folder under node modules but browsers don’t get installed. For this I get similar error when running the tests in my docker container. @yury-s kindly suggest.

Context:
Playwright Version: [1.9.1]
Operating System: [Ubuntu bionic]
Node.js version: [14]

[yury-s]

How can I force download the Chromium Binary only?

You can use playwright command line interface to install the browser:

npx playwright install chromium

It passes intermittently so I doubt it's SKIPPING the browser download. It does not install with yarn command, and behaves flaky.

I'm not familiar with Jenkins, does it merely run the same script as you do locally or does it get a copy of files created by running the installation scripts elsewhere? Like I said if the browser hasn't been downloaded the install step should fail.

@tanvee38 this sounds like a different bug, it'd be better to discuss it separately. Also it'd be helpful if you could share your Dockerfile.

[broncha]

Just to add to this. I am setting up playwright tests in gitlab CI.
When running npm ci it installs different builds of the browsers

Playwright build of chromium v901522 downloaded to /root/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium-901522
Playwright build of ffmpeg v1005 downloaded to /root/.cache/ms-playwright/ffmpeg-1005
Playwright build of firefox v1278 downloaded to /root/.cache/ms-playwright/firefox-1278
Playwright build of webkit v1516 downloaded to /root/.cache/ms-playwright/webkit-1516

But when running tests, it expects different build

browserType.launch: Failed to launch chromium because executable doesn't exist at /root/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium-888113/chrome-linux/chrome

[gkushang]

I still have this issue but I ended up resolving it thru this > https://gkushang.medium.com/playwright-failed-to-launch-browsers-how-to-solve-8b01d03fe5b9

@broncha

[vaghelmt]

@gkushang Thanks for sharing this article. I am facing similar issue. Are you using Playwright Test or independent playwright instance? I am using playwright test and while building docker image running npx playwright install but does not install browser binaries at all.