Are you looking to automate tests with Selenium but can’t get the correct version of ChromeDriver? You’re not alone.
Many testers and developers are struggling with errors like:
❌ SessionNotCreatedException: This version of ChromeDriver only supports Chrome version X
❌ chromedriver executable needs to be in PATH
Here is the solution.
This article will teach you how to download, install, and set up ChromeDriver for Selenium in Windows, Linux, and MAC OS (without errors).
Step 1: Check Your Chrome Version
How to Check Chrome Version
Method 1:
- Open Google Chrome.
- Type chrome://settings/help in the address bar.
- Look for the Version Number (e.g., My current chrome browser version: 134.0.6998.89)
Method 2:
Click on the three dots at the top-right corner of Chrome browser. It will open the menu.
Select setting from the menu.
It will open the Chrome settings page.
On the settings page, you will find the About Chrome menu at the bottom-left corner.
Click on it.
On the About Chrome page, you can see your Chrome browser’s version as shown in a given image.
Why does this matter?
Because ChromeDriver must match your Chrome version. If they do not match, you might get an error when executing your Selenium test.
Tips: Always use the latest version of Google Chrome and a latest stable release version of Chromedriver to minimize errors.
Update on Latest stable version release: Version 134.0.6998.88 of ChromeDriver and Chrome browsers are available to download.
Learn a detailed guide on what is WebDriver in Selenium.
Step 2: Download the Correct ChromeDriver
Now, let’s download the right version of ChromeDriver.
Find the ChromeDriver version that matches your Chrome browser and OS, and download the right file for your system:
- Go to Official ChromeDriver Download Page to get direct download link.
- Navigate to Stable version section.
- Windows: chromedriver-win64.zip
- Mac (Intel or ARM): chromedriver-mac-x64.zip / chromedriver-mac-arm64.zip
- Linux: chromedriver-linux64.zip
Copy URL from the table as per your OS and Chrome browser’s version and open it in the browser.
It will download the Zip file.
Once downloaded, extract the ZIP file to get the chromedriver executable.
Open extracted folder. You will get the chromedriver.exe (Executable file) file inside it.
Tip: Store chromedriver in a folder from where you can access it easily, like D:/chromedriver/
Step 3: Install and Set Up ChromeDriver in Selenium
Now that you have ChromeDriver, but Selenium doesn’t know where it is. You need to tell Selenium where to find it.
There are two options.
Option 1: Set Chromedriver Path in Environment Variable
- Search for Edit the system environment variables from Windows search.
- Click on Environment Variable button from Advanced tab.
- Select Path from System Variables section and click on Edit button.
- Click on the New button and set Chromedriver Path as shown in the image below and click OK.
That’s it.
Option 2: Specify ChromeDriver Path in Code
System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "D:\chromedriver.exe");
WebDriver driver= new ChromeDriver();
driver.get("https://only-testing-blog.blogspot.com/");
Note: Replace “D:\chromedriver.exe” with the path where you extracted ChromeDriver.
The Easy Way – Use WebDriver Manager
Install WebDriver Manager in Eclipse
If you are using Java with Eclipse, you can create a Maven Project and add WebDriver Manager Dependencies in the pom.xml file:
- Install Maven in Eclipse
- Create a Maven project in Eclipse.
- Get the latest webdrivermanager dependency from MVN Repository.
- Add the webdrivermanager dependency in the pom.xml file.
// Automatically download and setup ChromeDriver
WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();
// Launch Chrome browser
WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
Downloading Older/Previous Versions of ChromeDriver
Note: It is not recommended to use older versions of ChromeDriver.
Recently I was looking to download the previous version of ChromeDriver to verify browser compatibility for one of our under development websites.
I found a reliable source to download older versions of ChromeDriver after 2+ hours of Google search. So I thought, let me share it with all of you guys.
When you open that page, it contains direct download URLs of ChromeDriver for all previous version releases.
Example: If you are looking to download chromedriver 131.0.6724.0, you will find a URL like below on that page. You can open it in your browser to start download.
https://storage.googleapis.com/chrome-for-testing-public/131.0.6724.0/win64/chromedriver-win64.zip
Similarly, you will find separate ChromeDriver download URLs for all older versions like 128, 129, 130, etc, for Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Common Errors and Fix
Error: SessionNotCreatedException – ChromeDriver version mismatch
Fix: Download the correct ChromeDriver version matching your Chrome browser.
Error: chromedriver executable needs to be in the PATH
Fix: Add ChromeDriver to the system PATH or specify its full path in your code.
Error: selenium.common.exceptions.WebDriverException
Fix: Update ChromeDriver or use WebDriver Manager.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- Check Your Chrome Browser Version: Go to Chrome browser’s help section and check version. Update version if using older one.
- Download the Matching ChromeDriver Version: Go to the official Chrome driver download page as discussed earlier in this article. Download latest version.
- Update ChromeDriver in Your Project: Update the latest downloaded Chrome driver executable file in your project.
- Open the Command Prompt (Windows) or Terminal (Mac/Linux).
- Type command: chromedriver –version.
- Press Enter.
Now you’re all set to run Selenium tests without errors!
Have any issues? Drop a comment below!