webbrowser.get — could not locate runnable browser

Question

I am trying to access the internet with Google Chrome but every time I use webbrowser.open(url) it opens IE.

So I checked to make sure I have Chrome as my default, which I do, and I tried using the get() function to link the actual Chrome application but it gives me this error instead:

File "C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36\lib\webbrowser.py", line 51, in get raise Error("could not locate runnable browser") webbrowser.Error: could not locate runnable browser

I also tried to open other browsers but it gives the same error. It also reads IE as my default and only runnable browser.

What could be happening? Is there an alternative?

Using Python 3.6.

I notice if you have *http* prefix, it will opens in Chrome, without the prefix, IE. Meaning *h t t p://google.com* -> chrome, *google.com* -> IE — Hai Vu, Jan 02 '18 at 05:53

score 22 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 02 '18 at 07:24

22

I too faced the same problem. What you can do is to register the browser and then launch a new tab. Something like this:

import webbrowser    
urL='https://www.google.com'
chrome_path="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe"
webbrowser.register('chrome', None,webbrowser.BackgroundBrowser(chrome_path),1)
webbrowser.get('chrome').open_new_tab(urL)

And it works. From the docs webbrowser.register(name, constructor, instance=None).

answered Jan 02 '18 at 07:24

Shubham Rajput

237
2
6

This should nail the OP (+1) – undetected Selenium Jan 02 '18 at 12:19
Unfortunately, this is not working for me. @Hai Vu's suggestion does work but when I try to open it on a new window with the webbrowser.open_new(URL) or webbrowser.open(URL,1) function, it only opens a new tab. – Maxied Jan 02 '18 at 20:32
13

I had to remove the final `1` argument on the call the `register()` function for it to work. – The Unknown Dev Jan 21 '19 at 13:36
@Maxied try this: https://stackoverflow.com/a/61752842/3572505 – José Crespo Barrios May 12 '20 at 13:32

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 24 '20 at 15:07

4

I found a solution. Put a '%s' after the path of your browser. For example; change this:

 "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe"

to this:

 "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe %s"

This has worked for me.

answered Dec 24 '20 at 15:07

su2187

173
1
1
9

1

This worked for me on Linux Mint 20. Thanks! – Raymond Mar 27 '22 at 15:50

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 30 '21 at 13:19

0

use "http://" in url

that works for me

answered Oct 30 '21 at 13:19

ebdeuslave

11
2

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited Feb 01 '23 at 10:57

0

This is what worked for me

url = "https://www.google.com"
chrome_path = "C:\\Program Files\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe"
webbrowser.register("chrome", None, webbrowser.BackgroundBrowser(chrome_path))
webbrowser.get("chrome").open_new(url)

edited Feb 01 '23 at 10:57

tierriminator

587
5
19

answered Jan 29 '23 at 06:41

saurabh

1
2

webbrowser.get — could not locate runnable browser

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