Can't launch Selenium IE Driver after upgradin

Question

After updating to IEDriverServer 3.9 for 64-bit from here, I'm getting the following exception when trying to run any tests with IE (version: 11.0.9600.17842, Win8.1). Does anyone know how to get around this, or should I just downgrade back to 3.8?

OpenQA.Selenium.WebDriverException : A exception with a null response was thrown sending an HTTP request to the remote WebDriver server for URL http://localhost:53379/session.

The status of the exception was ReceiveFailure, and the message was: The underlying connection was closed: An unexpected error occurred on a receive. ---->

System.Net.WebException : The underlying connection was closed: An unexpected error occurred on a receive. ----> System.IO.IOException : Unable to read data from the transport connection: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host. ----> System.Net.Sockets.SocketException : An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host TearDown : System.NullReferenceException : Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

The stack trace is as follows:

Result StackTrace: at OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.HttpCommandExecutor.MakeHttpRequest(HttpRequestInfo requestInfo) at OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.HttpCommandExecutor.Execute(Command commandToExecute) at OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DriverServiceCommandExecutor.Execute(Command commandToExecute) at OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebDriver.Execute(String driverCommandToExecute, Dictionary`2 parameters) at OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebDriver.StartSession(ICapabilities desiredCapabilities) at OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.RemoteWebDriver..ctor(ICommandExecutor commandExecutor, ICapabilities desiredCapabilities) at OpenQA.Selenium.IE.InternetExplorerDriver..ctor(InternetExplorerDriverService service, InternetExplorerOptions options) at OpenQA.Selenium.IE.InternetExplorerDriver..ctor() --WebException at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetResponse() at OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.HttpCommandExecutor.MakeHttpRequest(HttpRequestInfo requestInfo) --IOException at System.Net.Sockets.NetworkStream.Read(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 size) at System.Net.PooledStream.Read(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 size) at System.Net.Connection.SyncRead(HttpWebRequest request, Boolean userRetrievedStream, Boolean probeRead) --SocketException at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.Receive(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 size, SocketFlags socketFlags) at System.Net.Sockets.NetworkStream.Read(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 size)

Answer 1

Using IEDriverServer 3.9.0.0 for Windows 64-bit from http://selenium-release.storage.googleapis.com I am able to reproduce the issue with IEDriverServer_x64_3.9.0.

Error Stack Trace :

Started InternetExplorerDriver server (64-bit)
3.9.0.0
Listening on port 28286
Only local connections are allowed
Exception in thread "main" org.openqa.selenium.WebDriverException: java.net.ConnectException: Failed to connect to localhost/0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1:28286
Build info: version: '3.9.1', revision: '63f7b50', time: '2018-02-07T22:42:28.403Z'
System info: host: 'ATECHM-03', ip: '192.168.1.35', os.name: 'Windows 8', os.arch: 'amd64', os.version: '6.2', java.version: '1.8.0_144'
Driver info: driver.version: InternetExplorerDriver
    at org.openqa.selenium.remote.service.DriverCommandExecutor.execute(DriverCommandExecutor.java:92)
    at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver.execute(RemoteWebDriver.java:601)
    at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver.startSession(RemoteWebDriver.java:219)
    at org.openqa.selenium.ie.InternetExplorerDriver.run(InternetExplorerDriver.java:223)
    at org.openqa.selenium.ie.InternetExplorerDriver.<init>(InternetExplorerDriver.java:215)
    at org.openqa.selenium.ie.InternetExplorerDriver.<init>(InternetExplorerDriver.java:152)
    at demo.A_IE_simple.main(A_IE_simple.java:13)
Caused by: java.net.ConnectException: Failed to connect to localhost/0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1:28286
    at okhttp3.internal.connection.RealConnection.connectSocket(RealConnection.java:240)
    at okhttp3.internal.connection.RealConnection.connect(RealConnection.java:158)
    at okhttp3.internal.connection.StreamAllocation.findConnection(StreamAllocation.java:256)
    at okhttp3.internal.connection.StreamAllocation.findHealthyConnection(StreamAllocation.java:134)
    at okhttp3.internal.connection.StreamAllocation.newStream(StreamAllocation.java:113)
    at okhttp3.internal.connection.ConnectInterceptor.intercept(ConnectInterceptor.java:42)
    at okhttp3.internal.http.RealInterceptorChain.proceed(RealInterceptorChain.java:147)
    at okhttp3.internal.http.RealInterceptorChain.proceed(RealInterceptorChain.java:121)
    at okhttp3.internal.cache.CacheInterceptor.intercept(CacheInterceptor.java:93)
    at okhttp3.internal.http.RealInterceptorChain.proceed(RealInterceptorChain.java:147)
    at okhttp3.internal.http.RealInterceptorChain.proceed(RealInterceptorChain.java:121)
    at okhttp3.internal.http.BridgeInterceptor.intercept(BridgeInterceptor.java:93)
    at okhttp3.internal.http.RealInterceptorChain.proceed(RealInterceptorChain.java:147)
    at okhttp3.internal.http.RetryAndFollowUpInterceptor.intercept(RetryAndFollowUpInterceptor.java:125)
    at okhttp3.internal.http.RealInterceptorChain.proceed(RealInterceptorChain.java:147)
    at okhttp3.internal.http.RealInterceptorChain.proceed(RealInterceptorChain.java:121)
    at okhttp3.RealCall.getResponseWithInterceptorChain(RealCall.java:200)
    at okhttp3.RealCall.execute(RealCall.java:77)
    at org.openqa.selenium.remote.internal.OkHttpClient.execute(OkHttpClient.java:104)
    at org.openqa.selenium.remote.internal.OkHttpClient.execute(OkHttpClient.java:54)
    at org.openqa.selenium.remote.ProtocolHandshake.createSession(ProtocolHandshake.java:101)
    at org.openqa.selenium.remote.ProtocolHandshake.createSession(ProtocolHandshake.java:73)
    at org.openqa.selenium.remote.HttpCommandExecutor.execute(HttpCommandExecutor.java:138)
    at org.openqa.selenium.remote.service.DriverCommandExecutor.execute(DriverCommandExecutor.java:83)
    ... 6 more
Caused by: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect
    at java.net.DualStackPlainSocketImpl.waitForConnect(Native Method)
    at java.net.DualStackPlainSocketImpl.socketConnect(Unknown Source)
    at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.doConnect(Unknown Source)
    at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connectToAddress(Unknown Source)
    at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connect(Unknown Source)
    at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.connect(Unknown Source)
    at java.net.SocksSocketImpl.connect(Unknown Source)
    at java.net.Socket.connect(Unknown Source)
    at okhttp3.internal.platform.Platform.connectSocket(Platform.java:125)
    at okhttp3.internal.connection.RealConnection.connectSocket(RealConnection.java:238)
    ... 29 more

Though a quick test with IEDriverServer_Win32_3.9.0 doesn't shows any error. Though IEDriverServer_Win32_3.9.0 and IEDriverServer_x64_3.9.0 are put up but was never explicitly pushed/published to be available on the Download tab of seleniumhq.org page.

The CHANGELOG of IEDriverServer.exe clearly mentions the following disclaimer :

The "major" and "minor" fields are synchronized to releases of the Selenium
project. Changes in the "build" field indicate interim releases made publicly
available via the project downloads page. Changes in "revision" field indicate
private releases checked into the prebuilts directory of the source tree, but
not made generally available on the downloads page.

Additionally, the CHANGELOG of IEDriverServer.exe v3.9.0.1 mentions the following disclaimer :

Finally, there is every chance that, despite all efforts to the contrary,
it's possible that there are new regressions introduced by this change.
Multiple test suites have been run using this change, and none have
failed thus far due to the changes herein. Claims that this change is
causing a specific failure should be accompanied by a full test case, or
issues reported against this change will be summarily closed.

Solution

The simple solution would be either to :

• Use IEDriverServer_Win32_3.9.0 on both 32bit and 64-bit platforms.
• Revert back to IEDriverServer_x64_3.8.0