selenium webdriver - ChromeDriver error "unknown error: cannot get automation extension"

Question

Since the 7th of February all my tests are failing with the same error; the log entry reads:

RESPONSE MaximizeWindow unknown error: cannot get automation extension
from unknown error: page could not be found: chrome-extension://aapnijgdinlhnhlmodcfapnahmbfebeb/_generated_background_page.html
  (Session info: chrome=57.0.2987.21)

I'm not sure if this is caused by a Chrome update or something else - the message is vague enough as it is.

EDIT: I am using C#, and the latest Chromedriver.

Answer 1

You need the latest version of chromedriver.exe. https://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org/chromedriver/downloads

This is needed for chromedriver version 57+

I was having this same issue. Once I updated the chromedriver version everything worked again.