CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonseleniumselenium-webdriverfirefoxgeckodriver
user3182966
user3182966

Reputation: 91

InvalidArgumentException: Message: binary is not a Firefox executable error using GeckoDriver Firefox Selenium and Python

I am having trouble with a selenium error related to a FireFox binary.

I added C:/Users/Mack/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/ to PATH using backslashes and rebooted. I downloaded what I thought is the correct file here https://github.com/mozilla/geckodriver/releases I put the file in the directory connected to PATH.

To remedy this: I tried using two backslashes

binary = FirefoxBinary("C:\\Users\Mack\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\geckodriver-v0.27.0-win64\geckodriver.exe")

which throws the same error

I tried using one backslash

binary = FirefoxBinary("C:\Users\Mack\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\geckodriver-v0.27.0-win64\geckodriver.exe")

which throws:

SyntaxError: (unicode error) 'unicodeescape' codec can't decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\Mack\Desktop\hacker-stories\Trends.py", line 32, in <module>
    browser = webdriver.Firefox(**firefox_binary=binary**)
  File "C:\Users\Mack\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\firefox\webdriver.py", line 170, in __init__
    RemoteWebDriver.__init__(
  File "C:\Users\Mack\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\remote\webdriver.py", line 157, in __init__
    self.start_session(capabilities, browser_profile)
  File "C:\Users\Mack\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\remote\webdriver.py", line 252, in start_session
    response = self.execute(Command.NEW_SESSION, parameters)
  File "C:\Users\Mack\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\remote\webdriver.py", line 321, in execute
    self.error_handler.check_response(response)
  File "C:\Users\Mack\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\remote\errorhandler.py", line 242, in check_response
    raise exception_class(message, screen, stacktrace)
selenium.common.exceptions.InvalidArgumentException: Message: binary is not a Firefox executable

Code Test.py

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.firefox.options import Options
from selenium.webdriver.firefox.firefox_binary import FirefoxBinary

binary = FirefoxBinary("C:/Users/Mack/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/Python38-32/geckodriver-v0.27.0-win64/geckodriver.exe")
print(binary)
browser = webdriver.Firefox(firefox_binary=binary)

options = Options()
options.set_preference("browser.download.folderList",2)
options.set_preference("browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting", False)
options.set_preference("browser.download.dir","/Data")
options.set_preference("browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk", "application/octet-stream,application/vnd.ms-excel")
driver = webdriver.Firefox(firefox_options=options)

Any help understanding this error is much appreciated.

Upvotes: 9

Views: 41665

Answers (7)

Ardeshir Izadi
Ardeshir Izadi

Reputation: 1073

The problem for me was that I've installed firefox through snap on my Ubuntu and Selenium was unable to find it/work with it. I had to install Firefox through apt, which was not allowed by default on my Ubuntu. I had to follow this guide: https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/04/how-to-install-firefox-deb-apt-ubuntu-22-04 and then the problem was resolved ✅

My use case was I had to run Firefox in headless mode on an ubuntu server machine.

Upvotes: 2

Alberto Sanmartin Martinez
Alberto Sanmartin Martinez

Reputation: 1254

For Selenium 4 FirefoxBinaryis deprecated

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.firefox.service import Service

driver_path = f"{settings.BASE_DIR}/geckodriver"

options = webdriver.FirefoxOptions()
options.binary_location = "/usr/lib/firefox"

driver = webdriver.Firefox(service=Service(executable_path=driver_path), options=options)

This code works well for me.

Upvotes: 1

Ahtisham
Ahtisham

Reputation: 10116

This is how I solved it in 2024

Your selenium, firefox and geckodriver should all support each other and here are the compatible versions:

https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/testing/geckodriver/Support.html

I downgraded the selenium from 4 to 3.11 and upgraded my firefox to version 120. My geckodriver was version 0.33.

Upvotes: 4

undetected Selenium
undetected Selenium

Reputation: 193088

This error message...

selenium.common.exceptions.InvalidArgumentException: Message: binary is not a Firefox executable

...implies that the binary file which you have passed as an argument to FirefoxBinary() isn't a valid executable.

You seem to have passed the absolute path of the geckodriver.exe as an argument to FirefoxBinary() which is causing the error.

Solution

Instead of the geckodriver.exe you need to pass the absolute path of the firefox.exe. Moreover, firefox_options is deprecated now and you have to use options and you can use the following solution:

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.firefox.options import Options
from selenium.webdriver.firefox.firefox_binary import FirefoxBinary

options = Options()
options.binary = FirefoxBinary(r'C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe')
options.set_preference("browser.download.folderList",2)
options.set_preference("browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting", False)
options.set_preference("browser.download.dir","/Data")
options.set_preference("browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk", "application/octet-stream,application/vnd.ms-excel")
driver = webdriver.Firefox(executable_path=r'C:/Users/Mack/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/Python38-32/geckodriver-v0.27.0-win64/geckodriver.exe', options=options)

References

You can find a couple of relevant detailed discussion in:

Upvotes: 6

zorro
zorro

Reputation: 21

It seems that when using Firefox Portable, the FirefoxPortable.exe file is not recognized, instead, when creating binary path, point to firefox.exe file found under "FirefoxPortable\App\firefox64" (in my case). The above is valid if your Gecko driver works - so the first few lines of output (before the exception) look something like this:

[RemoteTestNG] detected TestNG version 7.3.0
1611580278948   geckodriver INFO    Listening on 127.0.0.1:18391

This issue appeared for me after the problem described here: Cannot find firefox binary in PATH. Make sure firefox is installed thus, they are not the same issue - as presented in some stack comments.

good luck!

Upvotes: 2

Arundeep Chohan
Arundeep Chohan

Reputation: 9969

Change the binary to whatever firefox.exe you get and your executable path to your geckodriver.

options = Options()
binary = r'C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe'
options.set_preference("browser.download.folderList",2)
options.set_preference("browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting", False)
options.set_preference("browser.download.dir","/Data")
options.set_preference("browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk", "application/octet-stream,application/vnd.ms-excel")
options.binary = binary
driver = webdriver.Firefox(r'C:/Users/Mack/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/Python38-32/geckodriver-v0.27.0-win64/geckodriver.exe',options=options)

Upvotes: 2

a coder
a coder

Reputation: 112

Your path to the exe looks incorrect.

"/" (slash) is something used often in unix like systems to represent directory structures.

Window uses a backslash.

Change the string to use two backslashes instead of a forward slash.

Upvotes: -1

Related Questions