Latest version of Chrome 52.0.2743.116 fails to launch under Jenkins 2.7.2

[Kevin MacDonald]

I am running Jenkins v2.7.2 on Windows Server 2008 R2. 

Upon Chrome updating to this latest version, Watir now fails to launch Chrome properly. Chrome comes up under the System account and sits with a black screen. I also tried directing Selenium to use Chrome Canary. No luck. 

I am doing this in ruby. If I remove the Chrome path then the current version of Chrome is used:

            Selenium::WebDriver::Chrome.path = "C:\\Users\\admin\\AppData\\Local\\Google\\Chrome SxS\\Application\\chrome.exe"

   $ie = Watir::Browser.new :chrome, :switches => %w[--ignore-certificate-errors --disable-extensions --disable-popup-blocking --disable-translate --allow-file-access --disable-gpu --incognito]

I've also tried various combinations of using the Jenkins Chromedriver plugin or not with Chrome or Chrome Canary, and I get a widely varying array of errors, any of which can be googled for and will turn up on very old threads. I am very stuck.

[Kevin MacDonald]

My problem is fixed. I was lucky enough to come across this web page: https://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org/chromedriver/help/chrome-doesn-t-start

which instructed me to add the --no-sandbox switch when launching Chrome. Jenkins 2.7.2 with the service running under the System account, using the latest versions of Chrome and chromedriver. exe is now working. I enabled the Jenkins chromedriver plugin so that I have the latest version in use.