Edge v134 Sleeping Tabs Affects the Extension Background Page Causing Automations to Fail

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Why does the UiPath Browser Automation extension background page cause automations to fail after upgrading the Edge browser to 134?

Issue Description

After performing an Edge browser upgrade to v134, the following errors may occur in UiPath UI automation:

Could not communicate with the UiPath extension for browser 'msedge.exe'. Please make sure the extension is installed and enabled. UiPath.UIAutomationNext.Exceptions.ApplicationNotFoundException: Could not communicate with the UiPath extension for browser 'msedge.exe'. Please make sure the extension is installed and enabled. at UiPath.UIAutomationNext.Activities.NApplicationCard.ProcessAppNotFoundAsync(ITargetApp targetApp, Boolean showClosestMatchesInSearchError, CancellationToken token) at UiPath.UIAutomationNext.Activities.NApplicationCard.GetMainWindowByTargetApp(IActivityContextWrapper context, ITargetApp targetApp, CancellationToken cancellationToken) at UiPath.UIAutomationNext.Activities.NApplicationCard.GetRuntimeData(IActivityContextWrapper context, CancellationToken cancellationToken) at UiPath.UIAutomationNext.Activities.NApplicationCard.OpenOrAttach(IActivityContextWrapper context, CancellationToken cancellationToken) at UiPath.UIAutomationNext.Activities.NApplicationCard.ExecuteAsync(NativeActivityContext context, CancellationToken cancellationToken) at UiPath.Shared.Activities.AsyncTaskNativeImplementation.BookmarkResumptionCallback(NativeActivityContext context, Object value) at UiPath.Shared.Activities.ContinuableAsyncNativeActivity.BookmarkResumptionCallback(NativeActivityContext context, Bookmark bookmark, Object value) at System.Activities.Runtime.BookmarkCallbackWrapper.Invoke(NativeActivityContext context, Bookmark bookmark, Object value) at System.Activities.Runtime.BookmarkWorkItem.Execute(ActivityExecutor executor, BookmarkManager bookmarkManager)

UiPath.UIAutomationNext.Exceptions.NodeNotFoundException: Could not find the user-interface (UI) element for this action.

Possible solutions

  • Ensure the application is opened and the UI element is visible on the screen at execution time.
  • Edit the Target of the UI activity and use Validation to debug the issue.
  • If needed, re-indicate the element as its properties might have changed.
  • Use the Check state activity to check the application state before executing the action.
  • Increase the Delay before value to allow time for the application to render entirely and become responsive at UiPath.UIAutomationNext.Activities.TargetCommonLogic.GetSearchResultAsync(IRuntimeContext runtimeContext, ITargetAnchorable target, CancellationToken token) at UiPath.UIAutomationNext.Activities.TargetBase.SearchNodeAsync(IRuntimeContext runtimeContext, ITargetAnchorable target, CancellationToken token) at UiPath.UIAutomationNext.Activities.NExtractDataBase.ExecuteAsync(IActivityContextWrapper context, CancellationToken cancellationToken)

Affected UiPath versions

This bug affects only the following versions of UiPath extensions for Edge: v22.10, v23.4, and v23.10. See the full list of extension IDs here.

This bug does NOT affect the UiPath extension for Edge v24.10.

It does not matter if it is installed using Group Policy Online or Offline.

Root Cause

The bug occurs in Edge v134 and makes the Sleeping Tabs feature put the browser extensions to sleep. Normally, the Sleeping Tabs feature should put to sleep only idle browser tabs. Microsoft also mentioned that starting with Edge version 134, customers may encounter an issue that affects extensions that bring up a window. The extension may get paused in the background if the window is minimized or occluded, if the extension is meant to keep running at all times. More details here.

Resolution

Permanent solution

This issue was fixed in Microsoft Edge stable release 136.0.3240.92, as referenced in Microsoft Edge known issues.

Available workarounds

  1. Enterprise administrators can avoid the issue by disabling the Edge Sleeping Tabs feature from Group Policy, as described here.

To disable Sleeping Tabs in Microsoft Edge through a recommended registry setting, create a DWORD named SleepingTabsEnabled with a value of 0 within the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge.

Here's a more detailed breakdown:

Registry Path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge
Value Name: SleepingTabsEnabled
Value Type: DWORD (32-bit Value)
Value Data: 1 (to enable) or 0 (to disable)

kb-0EMPa00000GBnDw.png1293×493 32.1 KB

  1. Upgrade to the UiPath extension for Edge v24.10

This can be done in the following ways:

Run from an elevated command prompt the following command: .\SetupExtensions.exe /edge-enterprise /silent (see Docs).

  1. Downgrade Edge to v133
    See instructions here: Microsoft Edge rollback for enterprises.