Cannot find the window with handle

I ran into this, and it annoyed me enough to figure out how to stop the Chrome auto-updates.



This is a little convoluted and requires admin rights on the target machine, but as far as I can tell, it is working.  Instructions summarized from here and based upon my Windows 7 system:

https://support.google.com/installer/answer/146164#Obtaining_the_Administrative_Tem

1. 
   Download template from Google:
   
   http://dl.google.com/update2/enterprise/GoogleUpdate.adm


2. 
   Open the group policy editor on your target computer.  I did this in Windows 7 by searching for "group policy" in the Control Panel.  This opened the Local Group Policy Editor.


3. 
   Highlight Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates.


4. 
   Action menu > Add/Remove Templates...


5. 
   Add... and load up the GoogleUpdate template you downloaded.


6. 
   Close the Add/Remove Templates window.


7. 
   Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates [ > Classic Administrative Templates (ADM)] > Google > Google Update > Applications


8. 
   If you want a shortcut, you can disable all application updates by changing the "Update policy override default" setting in Applications.  Otherwise, you can set the policy for an individual application by going a level down in the specific application folder.  On mine, I set the "Update policy override default" setting for only the four applications beginning with "Google Chrome".
   
   
   
   Edit the "Update policy override default" setting wherever you prefer by double or right clicking it.
   
   - Change it to "Enabled"
   
   - Under "Options:", change "Policy" to "Updates disabled".
   
   - Click "OK" to save.


9. 
   When you're done disabling updates for whatever applications you prefer, do "File > Exit".

Now you've disabled the application settings.  Uninstall Chrome.  Download Chrome 31 from FileHippo, and reinstall Chrome 31.

http://www.filehippo.com/download_google_chrome/54482/

Chrome has auto-updated itself to v32. Which breaks the link to TC.



Which is incredibly annoying.



Waiting for a patch. In the meantime, if you want to continue using it with Chrome, you need to downgrade it and switch off auto-updates.



More info here: http://smartbear.com/forums/f75/t85498/unable-to-go-to-page-in-chrome/

Hi,



> If anyone knows of a regedit solution to disable the auto updates [...]

I renamed the 'Update' folder found in the <ProgramFiles>\Google folder to something else and then, after I started Chrome and navigated to the About page, I got a warning that there was an error that prevented from update. I think that I will stay with this and check from time to time to ensure that the Update folder is not recreated.



P.S. BTW, the TC10 patch for Chrome 32 is already available at SmartBear's site. Unfortunately, there is no patch for TC 9.31... :(

I've confirmed the problem with Chrome Version 32.0.1700.76 m.  I've tested my existing scripts using Firefox instead of Chrome and they work right.   



Additionally, I created two new basic tests: one in Firefox and one in Chrome. The Firefox text worked as intended. The Chrome test failed on the first Navigate command with the error 'Cannot find the window with handle'.



With regard to Chrome's Auto Update feature,this is what their site says:

https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/browser/features.html#security

Auto-updates

To make sure you have the latest security update, Chrome checks regularly to make sure that it's always kept up-to-date. The update check ensures that your version of Chrome is automatically updated with the latest security features and fixes without any action required on your part.

There doesn't appear to be any easy way to turn this off. I cannot find a previous version to roll back to and from what I can gather, the team at Chrome is scrambling to return to a know stable version.  From a change management point of view, this is disturbing. My version of Chrome auto updated silently in the middle of my tests.  And I have no easy way to stop this. What if I had been in the middle of a release? I am now spending several hours converting all my tests into Firefox, which I had wanted to do anyway but certainly hadn't planned in my schedule for the week. 



If anyone knows of a regedit solution to disable the auto updates and/or a way to roll back to a previous version of Chrome, I'd be grateful.  When I uninstalled my version and reinstalled, it set me back to V32 again.



Thanks!