"Failed to Assume Control" - Web Browser Automations

(0) Share

Report

Posted on by AndyStewart

99/100 times my flow will work if its run from Cloud in "attended" mode - very occasionally get the "failed to assume control of web browser" error.

Running the exact same flow in unattended mode, i'm lucky if 1/50 work - almost every single time the browser is launched, but the flow fails to get control of it to continue.

Anyone got any ideas? This is with both Chrome and Edge

PADesktop 2.30.109.23075 - relevant edge and chrome extensions installed.

Categories:

Power Automate Desktop

I have the same question (0)

All responses (5)

Answers (0)

AndyStewart 18 on at

Like (0)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

See attached screenshot, we can't rely on this for a production system...

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
smasood 10 on at

Like (0)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

This is 2025 and i am still facing this issue. But I having two different errors

Launch new Microsoft Edge
Error Message: Failed to assume control of Microsoft Edge (communication with Power Automate web extension failed)

and
Launch new Microsoft Edge
Error Message: Failed to assume control of Microsoft Edge. Edge was launched but could not get the active tab within the remaining timeout period (59 seconds). You may increase the "Timeout" parameter in the action.

Not sure how to resolve

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Suggested answer

eetuRobo 4,478 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

Like (0)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

In the opening post the issue seemed to be problem with that version of PAD since after the version 2.30.109.23075 there was a hotfix that fixed an issue with Chrome and Edge browser automation functionality not being supported: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/released-versions/power-automate-desktop/2303-update2

What version of PAD do you have @smasood ? Also can you share more info on your flow. How are you trying to assume control of the browser? Do you Launch or Attach browser page to you instance? Is there many Edge browser pages open? That might make it difficult for PAD to recognize which page to initialize the browser instance.

Also check that the extension is not legacy and its toggled on

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
staceysquire 2 on at

Like (0)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

Issue returned after update to

PA Desktop Version: 2.52.62.25009
Chrome Extension 2.53.0.29

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Suggested answer

eetuRobo 4,478 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

Like (0)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

@staceysquire I have the same version and no problem using chrome or edge. But I never update pad in an environment I have flows in production so I only did one small test to open chrome instance but it seemed to work without problems.
Make sure that you actually have the page open if your action is set to attach to running instance and not to launch new instance.

Can you explain the problem in more detail? Maybe share screenshot of the flow and the error message.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No