Issue: ChromeDriver with Chrome 146 on Windows VM causes rendering corruption and WebUI/NTP instability

[Sumit Jangir]

Hi ChromeDriver Team,

I’m reaching out to report an issue we are consistently observing with ChromeDriver when used with the installed Chrome desktop build (version 146.x) on Windows virtual machines.

Summary

When launching Chrome via Selenium/ChromeDriver on a Windows VM, the browser renders incorrectly:

• The page appears only in a portion of the viewport (top-left region)

• Some areas are not inspectable

• The address bar may not reflect the correct URL

• Selenium actions fail with MoveTargetOutOfBoundsException
  
  

Key Observations

• Issue occurs only with installed Chrome (146.x)

• Issue does not occur with Chrome for Testing (CfT) using the same automation setup

• Issue occurs only under Selenium/ChromeDriver, not during manual browser usage

• Reproducible on latest Windows VMs

Logs / Signals

We consistently see:

• Chrome initially loading:

  chrome://new-tab-page/

• Multiple contexts:

  WEBUI / WEBUI_UNTRUSTED

• GPU / display warning:

  GetGpuDriverOverlayInfo: Failed to retrieve video device

This suggests Chrome is entering WebUI (New Tab Page) state before navigating, and the rendering/viewport becomes inconsistent afterward.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Use Windows VM environment

2. Launch installed Chrome (146.x) via ChromeDriver

3. Start automation without explicitly setting initial URL (or even with navigation shortly after)

4. Observe:

   • Partial rendering

   • Broken viewport

   • Click failures

Expected Behavior

• Chrome should render the page normally

• Selenium should interact reliably with DOM elements

• No WebUI/NTP rendering side-effects should impact automation

Actual Behavior

• Browser enters an inconsistent rendering state

• DOM is partially rendered / misaligned

• Selenium cannot reliably interact with elements

Additional Notes

• The same setup works perfectly with Chrome for Testing (CfT)

• Removing GPU flags or adjusting rendering flags does not resolve the issue

• This appears specific to the installed Chrome build + VM + ChromeDriver combination

---

Given that CfT works while installed Chrome fails under identical conditions, this seems related to how ChromeDriver interacts with the installed Chrome binary or its startup flow (possibly involving NTP/WebUI initialization and rendering pipeline on VM environments).

Please let me know if you need:

• full logs

• minimal repro script

• VM/environment details

Thanks for your support.

Best regards,
Sumit Jangir

[Sumit Jangir]

Similar issue faced in thread https://groups.google.com/g/chromedriver-users/c/8By93mQurfs

[Michael Vederman]

thanks so much for being another person who is experiencing this issue, dispelling any possible belief this is a one-off unique to our environment.

i hope that google and selenium take this seriously. our processes are regularly failing and we still experience this on a daily basis.

luckily our processes are as fault tolerant as possible and subsequent runs can run correctly.

Thanks,

Michael Vederman

CEO - Software Decisions, Inc. (SDi)

[Manvindar Singh]

Getting same issue, selenium driver is not returning the tab handles and intermittently URL is getting loaded in footer part of browser.

[Alex N. Jose]

Can you attempt a minimal repro of the bug using https://github.com/GoogleChromeLabs/chromedriver-bug-repro-templates? 
Once reproducible please collect a verbose log and upload to a bug report. 

The repro template will automate the collection of the log so it's easier if you use one of the templates — if it's reproducible with that.

I was unable to reproduce this issue based on the information on the other thread, but a log would make it easier to track down the target type/frame that's causing this.

[Michael Vederman]

If i may suggest, myself programming for 40 years at Fortune 100 companies, that we can reason out a solution without digging into the weeds. 

Altho it is clear the bug is in there and introduced recently, but applying the K.I.S.S. principle we can state this as a solution "if the target frame is unitary in purpose (branding) and it not utilitarian, then it should only exist for as long as it serves that purpose and never any longer."

thus, delete the frame before first navigation and it can never be improperly selected as the main frame. thus no internal tracking of an off-limits frame, no flags indicating the frame is off-limits and no code to check eligibility. just remove it and it cannot be used incorrectly; it has no life during normal operations and clearly is impeding proper functionality.

tia, mike

[Fai Lil]

Any professional trader on here ? I will love to learn new strategies I don't mind paying for mentorship

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[Erdem Artan]

Same issue here. My friend has this issue but I cannot reproduce it even if I can use same version of Chrome and Chromedriver.

We tried --google-base-url=about:blank but it has same problem.

Anyone has o working solution?

20 Mart 2026 Cuma tarihinde saat 23:13:23 UTC+3 itibarıyla Michael Vederman şunları yazdı:

[Jun]

got the same issue as

"Getting same issue, selenium driver is not returning the tab handles and intermittently URL is getting loaded in footer part of browser."

for us, it is random, sometimes it success to init a working browser, but sometimes it doesn't

[Erdem Artan]

Is there any opened issue at issues.chromium.org, I couldn't find yet.

26 Mart 2026 Perşembe tarihinde saat 06:40:01 UTC+3 itibarıyla Jun şunları yazdı:

[Erdem Artan]

I opened this: https://issues.chromium.org/issues/496255939

26 Mart 2026 Perşembe tarihinde saat 10:09:04 UTC+3 itibarıyla Erdem Artan şunları yazdı:

[Alex N. Jose]

Thanks for filing the bug. 

I reproduced the issue; it's scoped to Enterprise-managed Chrome only. 

As a workaround while this is being fixed, you can use Chrome for Testing (as recognized by the original description). 

I'll keep the issue updated with progress and we can move further discussion to the issue: https://issues.chromium.org/issues/496255939

-- 

Thanks,

Alex

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[Neo Matrix]

I have also been experiencing this exact issue and mine is an Enterprise-managed Chrome as well.  I have spent many hours debugging and trying to fix it in my selenium code only to find it's not really fixed.  Thanks for creating the issue.