Unable to run unattended automation in Edge Browser

[shaun.mcdowall (Lionel)]

Hi All,

I have created an automation which opens the Edge browser, logs into a website, downloads some CSV files and then puts their contents in a database. It runs successfully in Studio and when I am logged into the machine I can invoke it from Orchestrator and it runs successfully.

However when I disconnect from the session (leaving UiPath Assistant running) and then invoke it from Orchestrator, I eventually get a Timeout error. If I log into the session before the timeout expires, I see Edge already open and the automation continues.

The problem seems to be that Edge is launching but the robot cannot interact with it while the session is disconnected.

This must be a fairly common problem, as I have seen it mentioned in the Forum, but I cannot find a definitive answer. Any guidance you can give would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[postwick (Paul Ostwick)]

That isn’t how you’re supposed to run unattended automations. You don’t disconnect and leave Assistant running. Assistant has nothing to do with unattended automations. LOG OUT completely from the server so you release the RDP session. Then you can run it unattended on that server. Orchestrator establishes the RDP session itself.

[shaun.mcdowall (Lionel)]

Hi Paul,

If I log out and Assistant is not running, then invoking the automation from Orchestrator results in a job being created in the Pending state, with an empty Hostname column (see screenshot). It does not run until I log back in to the session and start Assistant. This is the Community edition and doesn’t have the Service running.

In spite of my having set up the User and Machine according to the instructions, Orchestrator doesn’t seem able to log in. I can’t find the post again now, but I saw some instructions here that said Assistant must be running and the session disconnected as opposed to being logged out.

Many thanks,

[shaun.mcdowall (Lionel)]

Ok, I think I’ve resolved it. I uninstalled Studio and reinstalled it using the Advanced options, which gave me the option of installing it with the Service. Now invoking the automation from Orchestrator when I’m logged out results in it logging in and running the automation.

@postwick: thanks for pointing me in the right direction!