How to Download Chromedriver for Selenium (Step-by-Step Guide)

Last updated on February 19th, 2026 at 03:11 pm

If you are trying to download ChromeDriver for Selenium but keep getting version mismatch or path errors, this guide will help you fix it quickly.

Many testers face issues like ChromeDriver not supporting the installed Chrome browser or Selenium failing to detect the driver file. These errors stop test execution and waste valuable time.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to download ChromeDriver for Selenium, match it with your Chrome browser version, and set it up correctly on Windows, Linux, and macOS. The steps are simple, beginner-friendly, and tested in real Selenium automation projects.

Steps to Download the Latest ChromeDriver

Step 1: Check Your Chrome Browser Version

Before you download ChromeDriver for Selenium, you must check your installed Chrome browser version.
ChromeDriver works only when its version matches the Chrome browser version. Skipping this step often causes execution failures.

How to Check Chrome Version

There are two simple ways to find your Chrome browser version.

Method 1:

• Open Google Chrome.
• Type chrome://settings/help in the address bar.
• Look for the version number shown on the screen
• Example: Chrome version 145.0.7632.76

Method 2:

• Click the three dots at the top right corner of the Chrome browser.

• Open Settings
• Scroll down and click About Chrome

• Your Chrome browser version will be displayed on the screen.

Why does this matter?

ChromeDriver must match your Chrome browser version.
If the versions do not match, Selenium tests can fail with session creation or driver compatibility errors.

This becomes more critical in CI CD pipelines and cloud-based test automation setups. A small ChromeDriver mismatch can cause test failures, slow execution, and wasted infrastructure resources.

Tip: Always use the latest stable version of Google Chrome and the corresponding stable ChromeDriver release.

Latest update: ChromeDriver version 145.0.7632.77 is available and matches the current stable Chrome browser.

You can also read a detailed explanation of what WebDriver is and how it works in Selenium from this internal guide.

Step 2: Open the Official ChromeDriver Download Page

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:

• Visit the official ChromeDriver website to download the latest version of ChromeDriver.
• Navigate to the Stable version section.
• Download the ChromeDriver binary for your operating system from the Downloads section on the official ChromeDriver website.

Related Selenium Downloads

• Download Latest EdgeDriver for Selenium
• Download Latest GeckoDriver For Selenium
• Download Selenium JARs and Set Up

Select Your Operating System

• Windows: chromedriver-win64.zip
• Mac (Intel or ARM): chromedriver-mac-x64.zip / chromedriver-mac-arm64.zip
• Linux: chromedriver-linux64.zip

Copy the URL from the table as per your OS and Chrome browser 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 the extracted folder. You will get the chromedriver.exe (Executable file) inside it.

Tip: Store chromedriver in a folder from where you can access it easily, like D:/chromedriver/

If you are working with the Edge browser or Firefox browser in Selenium, you can learn how to download EdgeDriver and GeckoDriver with a detailed guide.

If you’re just getting started with Selenium and want a step-by-step beginner guide, check out our complete Selenium tutorial with Java.

Step 3: Install and Set Up ChromeDriver for Selenium

Now that you have ChromeDriver, 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 Using Environment Variables

• Search for Edit the system environment variables from Windows search.
• Click on the Environment Variable button from the Advanced tab.
• Select Path from the System Variables section and click on the Edit button.
• Click on the New button and set the Chromedriver Path as shown in the image below, and click OK.

That’s it.

Option 2: Specify ChromeDriver Path Directly in Code

If you don’t want to modify system settings, you can also manually set the path in Selenium code. Here is an example:

System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "D:\chromedriver.exe");
WebDriver driver= new ChromeDriver();		
driver.get("https://only-testing-blog.blogspot.com/");

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.

In modern automation projects, teams often move beyond Selenium and adopt tools like Playwright for faster execution, better reliability, and built-in browser handling. If you are planning this transition, you can follow this Playwright automation tutorial.

Automate ChromeDriver Download Using WebDriverManager (Optional)

It is annoying to download ChromeDriver and all other drivers manually every time the browser version updates. Instead of manually downloading ChromeDriver, let WebDriver Manager handle everything:

Automating driver management is especially useful for teams using cloud-based Selenium testing services, DevOps pipelines, and scalable test automation tools. It helps reduce maintenance effort, lowers test execution costs, and improves reliability in continuous integration workflows.

You can use WebDriverManager in Java to automate the ChromeDriver setup:

Here’s a way:

Install WebDriverManager 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.

Now, you can use WebDriver Manager in your Selenium tests.

// Automatically download and setup ChromeDriver
WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();
        
// Launch Chrome browser
WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

// Automatically download and setup ChromeDriver
WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();
        
// Launch Chrome browser
WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

Download Older or 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 the 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.

Using ChromeDriver in Enterprise and Cloud Testing Setups

In enterprise Selenium projects, ChromeDriver is commonly used with cloud testing platforms, remote browsers, and parallel test execution tools. Proper driver configuration helps improve browser compatibility testing, reduce flaky tests, and optimize automated testing infrastructure.

Troubleshooting Common ChromeDriver Issues in Selenium

Issue 1: ChromeDriver Version Mismatch Error

Error: “This version of ChromeDriver only supports Chrome version XX”

Fix:

• Go back to the ChromeDriver download page.
• Download the version that matches your Chrome browser.
• Or use the Chrome for Testing version JSON API if you’re on M115+.

Issue 2: ChromeDriver Executable Not Found in PATH

Error: “chromedriver is not recognized as an internal or external command”

Fix:

• Either provide the full path in your script
• Or add the folder containing chromedriver.exe to your system’s PATH environment variable

Issue 3: Download ChromeDriver for Chrome 115 and Above

Google introduced a new delivery method using the Chrome for Testing (CfT) system.
Use the official JSON version endpoint:

https://googlechromelabs.github.io/chrome-for-testing/last-known-good-versions-with-downloads.json

Issue 4: SessionNotCreatedException Error in Selenium

Error: SessionNotCreatedException – ChromeDriver version mismatch

Fix: Download the correct ChromeDriver version matching your Chrome browser.

Issue 5: selenium.common.exceptions.WebDriverException Error

Error: selenium.common.exceptions.WebDriverException

Fix: Update ChromeDriver or use WebDriver Manager.

Have any issues? Drop a comment below!

Aravind QA Automation Engineer & Technical Blogger

Aravind is a QA Automation Engineer and technical blogger specializing in Playwright, Selenium, and AI in software testing. He shares practical tutorials to help QA professionals improve their automation skills.

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