Running "google-chrome" on WSL Ubuntu as --headless --no sandbox gives multiple errors - how do I take screenshot using headless in WSL?

Question

I'm running Windows 10 and I have been using an Ubuntu Linux distro under the Windows Linux Subsystem.

I want to be able to use Chrome.exe or google-chrome to run headless and take screenshots, generate pdfs etc... as part of library calls, but can't see to do that (e.g. to use jupyter_to_medium library launches chrome in the background to take screenshot).

I have tried multiple things to debug it with google-chrome independently of the library or programme I'm using.

Here's what I've tried:

1. I can launch Chrome (Windows executable) via the Ubuntu terminal, having redirected it to the Windows executable:

   /mnt/c/Program\ Files\ \(x86\)/Google/Chrome/Application/chrome.exe
   

   When I do that, a new tab opens in my Windows Chrome browser so no issues here.

2. When I try to use google-chrome headless in ubuntu terminal I get MULTIPLE ISSUES e.g.

   2a) Trying to get a screenshot - FAILs showing Network service crashed, restarting service endless loop - had to CTRL^C to stop it

    (base) etzimopoulos@DESKTOP-HI9P6E4:~$ google-chrome --headless --disable-gpu --screenshot https://www.chromestatus.com/
   [0626/055458.471044:ERROR:udev_watcher.cc(61)] Failed to enable receiving udev events.
   [0626/055458.612113:ERROR:network_service_instance_impl.cc(262)] Network service crashed, restarting service.
   [0626/055458.696014:ERROR:network_service_instance_impl.cc(262)] Network service crashed, restarting service.
   ...
   

   2b) Trying to get a screenshot using a different parameters --no-sandbox --disable-setuid-sandbox , getting different error this time.

   $ sudo google-chrome --no-sandbox --disable-setuid-sandbox --headless --screenshot https://www.chromestatus.com/
   [0626/061854.348849:ERROR:udev_watcher.cc(61)] Failed to enable receiving udev events.
   [0626/061855.311675:ERROR:platform_shared_memory_region_posix.cc(46)] Descriptor access mode (0) differs from expected (2)
   [0626/061855.312483:WARNING:crash_handler_host_linux.cc(366)] Could not translate tid - assuming crashing thread is thread group leader; syscall_supported=0
   [0626/061855.474617:WARNING:crash_handler_host_linux.cc(366)] Could not translate tid - assuming crashing thread is thread group leader; syscall_supported=0
   --2020-06-26 06:18:55--  https://clients2.google.com/cr/report
   Resolving clients2.google.com (clients2.google.com)... 216.58.210.46, 2a00:1450:4009:800::200e
   Connecting to clients2.google.com (clients2.google.com)|216.58.210.46|:443... connected.
   HTTP request sent, awaiting response... [0626/061855.655013:ERROR:headless_shell.cc(399)] Abnormal renderer termination.
   429 Too Many Requests
   2020-06-26 06:18:55 ERROR 429: Too Many Requests.
   
   
   Unexpected crash report id length
   Failed to get crash dump id.
   Report Id: ```
   
   

3. Trying to run the Windows executable Chrome.exe with same parameters, seems to run but not screenshot is being taken (no new files in my directory)

4. Trying to run google-chrome without elevated privilages in WSL I get a different error:

   google-chrome --headless --disable-gpu --screenshot https://www.chromestatus.com/ Failed to move to new namespace: PID namespaces supported, Network namespace supported, but failed: errno = Permission denied Failed to generate minidump.Illegal instruction (core dumped)

Any help or direction would be hugely appreciated. My other option would be to run a VM on windows 10 with native Linux UI and terminal, which would probably work.

But is there a way to have it all setup in WSL?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Try this (tested in wsl2)

In your wsl2 ubuntu console enter the following commands:

#install packages
sudo apt-get install -y curl unzip xvfb libxi6 libgconf-2-4 fonts-liberation
#get latest chrome
wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

#install it
sudo apt install ./google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

#test a screenshot
google-chrome --headless --disable-gpu --screenshot https://www.chromestatus.com/