Power Automate Desktop - Failed to assume control of Internet Explorer (navigation to URL failed).

[改善]

Hello,

I have some issues trying to open/control an IE browser window. This is actually my first step in the desktop flow.

I can see that it opens the given link, but then it stops the flow. If i change that link with say google.com it will have no issues in moving to the next step.

I assume the problem might be coming from the website address i`m trying to access, but i don`t have access to the backend so can`t really do any troubleshooting. Any idea what could be causing this? And would there be any workarounds?

Detailed error below:

Robin.Core.ActionException: Failed to assume control of Internet Explorer (navigation to URL failed). ---> System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException: Error HRESULT E_FAIL has been returned from a call to a COM component.
at SHDocVw.IWebBrowser2.get_Document()
at Robin.Plugin.IE.WatiN.Core.Native.InternetExplorer.IENativeBrowser.get_IsOKWithIHtmlWindowPermissions()
at Robin.Plugin.IE.WatiN.Core.Native.InternetExplorer.IEWaitForComplete.WaitForCompleteOrTimeout()
at Robin.Plugin.IE.WatiN.Core.InternetExplorer.WaitForComplete(Int32 waitForCompleteTimeOut, Int32 fallbackWaitingTimeForReadyStateWorkaroundInMilliseconds, Boolean waitForFramesToCompleteAsWell)
at Robin.Plugin.IE.WatiN.Core.Browser.GoTo(Uri url)
at Robin.Plugin.IE.WatiN.Core.InternetExplorer.FinishInitialization(Uri uri)
at Robin.Plugin.IE.WatiN.Core.InternetExplorer.CreateNewIEAndGoToUri(Uri uri, Boolean createInNewProcess, Nullable`1 jumpstartShowStyle)
at Robin.Modules.WebAutomation.Actions.WebAutomationActions.LaunchNewInternetExplorer(Variant initialUrl, Variant internetExplorerTabTitle, Variant internetExplorerTabUrl, Variant dialogButtonToPress, Variant customUserAgentString, Variant& webBrowserInstance, Int32 operation, Int32 windowState, Int32 attachMode, Boolean waitForWebPageToLoad, Int32 courseOfActionIfDialogAppears, Boolean clearCache, Boolean clearCookies, Boolean userAgentStringCustomNotAutomatic)
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at Robin.Modules.WebAutomation.Actions.LaunchInternetExplorerBase.Execute(ActionContext context)
at Robin.Runtime.Engine.ActionRunner.RunAction(String action, Dictionary`2 inputArguments, Dictionary`2 outputArguments, IActionStatement statement)

[PrasadAthalye]

Did you install Power Automate Desktop Extension? Tools - Browser Extensions...

[frankc9]

I had a lot of the similar error in failing to take control with with IE, Chrome, and Edge when I had enabled clear cache and cookies.  Do you have that turned on by chance? Once I turned both off I no longer received the error message.

[Henrik_M]

Have you turned off Enable Protected Mode in IE?

[改善]

As far as i`m aware there is no extension for internet explorer? The security options are all deactivated too.

[PrasadAthalye]

Can you try Chrome extension?

[ryule]

Did you ever get a resolution to this? I am needing to use Internet Explorer and keep getting this error as well.

[改善]

Yep, migrated/rebuilt everything around Microsoft Edge. Given Internet Explorer is no longer supported i`d suggest this.

[ryule]

Ugh, yeah, that's a side project we have going on, but will still be a bit, so was really hoping to get some automation in the meantime. 

It actually works just fine on my laptop, however when I try to run it, or even rebuild it on my VM, it doesn't like IE (or the built in automation browser) for some reason.....

[Highboy]

I see it, on all the browsers from time to time.

So to work around this problem, I made my own browser initialization rutine, because it is a bit annoying.

What it does is bacically

Close browser if it's open
Start a browser, and go to a homepage with one input field. (hosted inhouse)
Populate input field

If success then we are ready (it can actually communicate with the browser)
Otherwise go to top of script (repeat 4 times before failing.)

Doing this I never see the problem in my scripts, and I know that I have a working browser I can use in my script.

[ryule]

Interesting, if you have it handy, would you mind sharing a screenshot of how that looks in Power Automate? I still seem to not have any luck even if I try opening up Internet Explorer by just clicking it in the taskbar. It opens, but then I'm still unable to use any web/window/UI elements; so I'm having to resort to using images, which isn't ideal.

Also maybe related maybe not, on my laptop, PAD picks up Java elements verify easily (see the elements below beginning with J) , but doesn't on my VM. Very frustrating.

[nm379]

I am not using IE, but I had a flow built using Chrome, everything worked great and all the sudden a few days ago, I started getting the error "Failed to assume control of Chrome (communication with browser failed. Make sure add-on is installed)."

The flow opens Chrome and goes to the correct website, but then it errors out. I've tried disabling/removing/reinstalling the extension. I've tried using Firefox and Edge as well and I get the same error. I've tried running PAD as Admin, no change. I've tried killing Chrome (as part of the flow), no change. 

[Etignor1]

I'm having this same issue just as of today. This flow has worked fine for several months.  I even uninstalled the Chrome extension and reinstalled it.  It still doesn't work.

[ssouthall]

I have the same issue.   I can resolve it by re-installing PAD but I end up getting the same error the next day.   Incredibly frustrating

[JC22]

Getting the same error on Edge. My flow worked fine a few days ago. 

[改善]

My fix for this, was to move the whole script to edge, and then created a powershell script line that would put the implicated processes into high priority at the very start. 

example of powershell line code: Get-WmiObject Win32_process -filter 'name = "msedge.exe"' | foreach-object { $_.SetPriority(256) }

[Etignor1]

I resolved this by uninstalling the latest version of PAD and reverting to the prior version where it worked.  Very frustrating. 

[momlo]

I was experiencing the same with Edge (only, no issues with Chrome) around year ago, the fix was to simply configure error handling to repeat the action after few seconds, like below.

The end result was, when first attempt failed (browser opened but failed to take over contrl) it opens the second window and takes control without any error.

WebAutomation.LaunchEdge.LaunchEdge Url: $'''google.com''' WindowState: WebAutomation.BrowserWindowState.Normal ClearCache: False ClearCookies: False WaitForPageToLoadTimeout: 60 Timeout: 60 BrowserInstance=> Browser
ON ERROR REPEAT 1 TIMES WAIT 5
END

[Taslock]

I have the same problem with version 2.27. Was working under 2.27 and then stopped. I have methodically followed every suggestion on this page and nothing has worked. Currently I have spent about 9 hours trying to resolve the problem. I can't find a way to go back to a previous version otherwise I would.

[tjones0213]

I'm having the same problem.  This started after a Windows update.  I updated PAD, removed and readded the extensions for Edge and Chrome (fails on Chrome as well) and I've removed the PAD cache file, rebooted and still fails.   The flow still works on my laptop which has not updated recently.