Current Instructions for Selenium Dev Environment on Windows

selenium_dev_windows.md

Update

The most recent instructions are now on the Selenium readme: https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/selenium/blob/trunk/README.md#installing

Outdated instructions

• Windows Settings - turn on "Developer mode."
• Run PowerShell As Administrator
• Change execution policy: Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted
• Install chocolatey:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))

• Install git: choco install git
• Install Java: choco install openjdk11
• Install Bazelisk: choco install bazelisk
• Install Msys2: choco install msys2 --params "/InstallDir=C:\tools\msys64"
• Install Visual Studio:
  • Download Visual Studio Professional 17.5.1 from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/releases/2022/release-history
  • Open Installer, cancel the modal and click the “Available” Tab
  • Select to install Visual Studio Community
  • Select .NET Desktop Development
  • Add optional development tools for 4.6.2-4.7.1 and 4.8.1
  • Select C++ Desktop Development
• Add System Environment Variables:
  • Add to PATH value "C:\tools\msys64\usr\bin"`
  • Set BAZEL_SH to "C:\tools\msys64\usr\bin\bash.exe"
  • Set BAZEL_VC to "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC" (this might be in x86 folder instead)
  • Set BAZEL_VC_FULL_VERSION to version of command line tools; find the directory name inside $BAZEL_VC/Tools/MSVC directory; Make sure to use this and not the version Visual Studio says it installed
• Restart Computer
• Open Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio 2022
• Create a projects directory & run git clone https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/selenium
• Change directory: cd selenium
• Test Build: bazel build //dotnet/test/common:chrome
• Run Tests:
  • cd dotnet
  • dotnet test test/common/WebDriver.Common.Tests.csproj --framework net6.0
  • set ACTIVE_DRIVER_CONFIG=Firefox
  • dotnet test test/common/WebDriver.Common.Tests.csproj --framework net6.0

The instruction about setting BAZEL_VC_FULL_VERSION is a bit unclear. I had misunderstood this instruction, thinking that I was supposed to set this variable to the path to the folder under $BAZEL_VC/Tools/MSVC. This variable actually needs to be set to the name of this folder. For example:

set BAZEL_VC_FULL_VERSION=14.35.32215

I'm not able to create symlink when execute the command "bazel build //dotnet/test/common:chrome". The file apple_rules_lint with version 0.3.2.tar.gz is actually downloaded to C:\Users<user>_bazel_Hobin\3h4r744v\external\apple_rules_lint\temp4940371202000673584.

C:\Users<user>\Documents\selenium>bazel build //dotnet/test/common:chrome
INFO: Repository apple_rules_lint instantiated at:
C:/users//documents/selenium/WORKSPACE:7:13: in
Repository rule http_archive defined at:
C:/users//_bazel_hobin/ep2vbwzd/external/bazel_tools/tools/build_defs/repo/http.bzl:372:31: in
INFO: repository @apple_rules_lint' used the following cache hits instead of downloading the corresponding file.

• Hash '7c3cc45a95e3ef6fbc484a4234789a027e11519f454df63cbb963ac499f103f9' for https://github.com/apple/apple_rules_lint/archive/refs/tags/0.3.2.tar.gz
  If the definition of 'repository @apple_rules_lint' was updated, verify that the hashes were also updated.
  ERROR: An error occurred during the fetch of repository 'apple_rules_lint':
  Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:/users//_bazel_hobin/ep2vbwzd/external/bazel_tools/tools/build_defs/repo/http.bzl", line 132, column 45, in _http_archive_impl
  download_info = ctx.download_and_extract(
  Error in download_and_extract: java.io.IOException: Error extracting C:/users//_bazel_hobin/ep2vbwzd/external/apple_rules_lint/temp12861043901534462284/0.3.2.tar.gz to C:/users//_bazel_hobin/ep2vbwzd/external/apple_rules_lint/temp12861043901534462284: Cannot create symlink (name=C:\users<user>_bazel_hobin\ep2vbwzd\external\apple_rules_lint\example.bazelversion, target=C:\users<user>_bazel_hobin\ep2vbwzd\external\apple_rules_lint.bazelversion): ERROR: src/main/native/windows/file-jni.cc(140): nativeCreateSymlink(\?\C:\users<user>_bazel_hobin\ep2vbwzd\external\apple_rules_lint\example.bazelversion, \?\C:\users<user>_bazel_hobin\ep2vbwzd\external\apple_rules_lint.bazelversion): ERROR: src/main/native/windows/file.cc(523): CreateSymlink(\?\C:\users<user>_bazel_hobin\ep2vbwzd\external\apple_rules_lint.bazelversion): createSymbolicLinkW failed
  ERROR: C:/users//documents/selenium/WORKSPACE:7:13: fetching http_archive rule //external:apple_rules_lint: Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:/users//_bazel_hobin/ep2vbwzd/external/bazel_tools/tools/build_defs/repo/http.bzl", line 132, column 45, in _http_archive_impl
  download_info = ctx.download_and_extract(
  Error in download_and_extract: java.io.IOException: Error extracting C:/users//_bazel_hobin/ep2vbwzd/external/apple_rules_lint/temp12861043901534462284/0.3.2.tar.gz to C:/users//_bazel_hobin/ep2vbwzd/external/apple_rules_lint/temp12861043901534462284: Cannot create symlink (name=C:\users<user>_bazel_hobin\ep2vbwzd\external\apple_rules_lint\example.bazelversion, target=C:\users<user>_bazel_hobin\ep2vbwzd\external\apple_rules_lint.bazelversion): ERROR: src/main/native/windows/file-jni.cc(140): nativeCreateSymlink(\?\C:\users<user>_bazel_hobin\ep2vbwzd\external\apple_rules_lint\example.bazelversion, \?\C:\users<user>_bazel_hobin\ep2vbwzd\external\apple_rules_lint.bazelversion): ERROR: src/main/native/windows/file.cc(523): CreateSymlink(\?\C:\users<user>_bazel_hobin\ep2vbwzd\external\apple_rules_lint.bazelversion): createSymbolicLinkW failed
  ERROR: Error computing the main repository mapping: no such package '@apple_rules_lint//lint': java.io.IOException: Error extracting C:/users//_bazel_hobin/ep2vbwzd/external/apple_rules_lint/temp12861043901534462284/0.3.2.tar.gz to C:/users//_bazel_hobin/ep2vbwzd/external/apple_rules_lint/temp12861043901534462284: Cannot create symlink (name=C:\users<user>_bazel_hobin\ep2vbwzd\external\apple_rules_lint\example.bazelversion, target=C:\users<user>_bazel_hobin\ep2vbwzd\external\apple_rules_lint.bazelversion): ERROR: src/main/native/windows/file-jni.cc(140): nativeCreateSymlink(\?\C:\users<user>_bazel_hobin\ep2vbwzd\external\apple_rules_lint\example.bazelversion, \?\C:\users<user>_bazel_hobin\ep2vbwzd\external\apple_rules_lint.bazelversion): ERROR: src/main/native/windows/file.cc(523): CreateSymlink(\?\C:\users<user>_bazel_hobin\ep2vbwzd\external\apple_rules_lint.bazelversion): createSymbolicLinkW failed
  Loading:
  Fetching C:/users//_bazel_hobin/ep2vbwzd/external/apple_rules_lint; Extracting 0.3.2.tar.gz

I've updated the official selenium readme with the latest instructions,
Please follow that one instead

https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/selenium/blob/trunk/README.md#installing
I even created a powershell script you can use.