WebDriverException: Message: unknown error: Chrome

i try to run the selenium webdriver on a debian server 8.11 and get an error.

Java: java version "1.7.0_221", OpenJDK Runtime Environment (IcedTea 2.6.18)

Webdriver: ChromeDriver (v2.9.248304)

Sourcecode:

from selenium import webdriver
from pyvirtualdisplay import Display

display = Display(visible=0, size=(800, 800))
display.start()
co = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
co.add_argument("--user-data-dir=profile")
browser = webdriver.Chrome('/usr/local/bin/chromedriver', options=co)
browser.get('example.com')
browser.quit()
display.close()

I get this error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/bin/selenium", line 11, in <module>
    browser = webdriver.Chrome('/usr/local/bin/chromedriver', options=co)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/selenium/webdriver/chrome/webdriver.py", line 81, in __init__
    desired_capabilities=desired_capabilities)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py", line 157, in __init__
    self.start_session(capabilities, browser_profile)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py", line 252, in start_session
    response = self.execute(Command.NEW_SESSION, parameters)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py", line 321, in execute
    self.error_handler.check_response(response)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/errorhandler.py", line 242, in check_response
    raise exception_class(message, screen, stacktrace)
selenium.common.exceptions.WebDriverException: Message: unknown error: Chrome failed to start: exited abnormally
  (Driver info: chromedriver=2.9.248304,platform=Linux 4.9.0-0.bpo.9-amd64 x86_64)

I try several solutions but nothing works...

This error message...

selenium.common.exceptions.WebDriverException: Message: unknown error: Chrome failed to start: exited abnormally
  (Driver info: chromedriver=2.9.248304,platform=Linux 4.9.0-0.bpo.9-amd64 x86_64)

...implies that the ChromeDriver was unable to initiate/spawn a new WebBrowser i.e. Chrome Browser session.

Your main issue is the incompatibility between the version of the binaries you are using as follows:

You are using chromedriver=2.9
Release Notes of chromedriver=2.9 clearly mentions the following :

Supports Chrome v31-34

Presumably you are using chrome= 76.0
Release Notes of ChromeDriver v76.0 clearly mentions the following :

Supports Chrome version 76

Your Selenium Client version is unknown to us.
You mentioned about JDK version is 1.7.0_221 which is pretty ancient.

So there is a clear mismatch between the ChromeDriver v2.9 and the Chrome Browser v76.0

Solution

Ensure that:

Selenium is upgraded to current levels Version 3.141.59.
ChromeDriver is updated to current ChromeDriver v76.0 level.
Chrome is updated to current Chrome Version 76.0 level. (as per ChromeDriver v76.0 release notes)
Clean your Project Workspace through your IDE and Rebuild your project with required dependencies only.
If your base Web Client version is too old, then uninstall it through Revo Uninstaller and install a recent GA and released version of Web Client.
Take a System Reboot.
Execute your @Test as non-root user.
Always invoke driver.quit() within tearDown(){} method to close & destroy the WebDriver and Web Client instances gracefully.

References

You can find a couple of relevant discussions in:

Message: unknown error: Chrome failed to start: exited abnormally on AWS Cloud9 with Linux 4.9.85-38.58.amzn1.x86_64 x86_64
WebDriverException: Message: unknown error: Chrome failed to start: exited abnormally with ChromeDriver Chrome and Selenium through Python on VPS
WebDriverException: Message: unknown error: Chrome failed to start: exited abnormally with ChromeDriver Chrome and Selenium through Python on VPS