I’m having trouble with automated browser tests running through Jenkins. My setup uses Watir for browser automation and Cucumber for testing scenarios on IE8 with Windows.
The main issue is that tests work fine when I run them manually from the workspace directory, but they fail when executed through Jenkins builds. The failure happens specifically when trying to attach to popup windows - the script can’t locate windows by their titles.
I suspect this might be related to Jenkins running browsers in headless mode, which could mean popups don’t have the usual title bars or address bars that my scripts are looking for.
Has anyone encountered similar problems with popup window detection in headless browser environments? What would be the best approach to handle popup attachment when the browser UI elements aren’t visible?
I’m working with Watir version 1.8.1 and would appreciate any suggestions for making popup handling more reliable in CI environments.
Hit this exact problem two years ago with a similar Jenkins setup. The real issue isn’t headless mode - it’s Windows session isolation when Jenkins runs as a service. Jenkins runs under SYSTEM account by default, so popup windows get created in a different desktop session where your Watir scripts can’t reach them. Here’s what fixed it for me: switch Jenkins to run as a regular user account instead of the default service account. You can change this in Jenkins service properties. Just make sure that user account has the right permissions and can interact with the desktop. Once I made this change, popup detection worked consistently because the browser windows were finally in the same session as Watir. If you can’t change the service account, I’d refactor your tests to skip popup interactions entirely - use direct HTTP requests or find UI paths that don’t involve popups.
watir 1.8.1 is super outdated - better to upgrade if poss. that version had issues with ie popups even outside jenkins. also, double check that the jenkins machine is using the same ie version as your dev machine. different versions can totally mess with popup handling and break your scripts.
Had the same nightmare with Watir popups in Jenkins last year. The issue is timing - Jenkins runs at different speeds than manual testing, so your script tries attaching to popups before they load or after they’re gone. Here’s what fixed it for me: added explicit waits with retry logic around popup attachment. Instead of attaching by title immediately, I poll for the popup window every 500ms for up to 10 seconds. Also found that popup titles get truncated or have extra characters in CI, so I switched from exact matches to partial string matching with regex. Check your IE security settings too - Jenkins might run with different security zones that mess with popup behavior. Try adding your test URLs to IE’s trusted sites on the build machine.