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knowak's avatar
knowak
Established Member
3 days ago

TestExecute hangs in Jenkins after Windows update (interactive session issue)

Hello,

we are experiencing an issue with running TestComplete/TestExecute tests integrated with Jenkins.

All Jenkins jobs that use the TestComplete plugin start TestExecute correctly, but the execution hangs indefinitely and never finishes. When connecting to the virtual machine, it looks like no proper interactive session is created and no visible GUI is started.

This issue has been present for several months. After deeper investigation, we discovered that the problem is related to a specific Windows update. The issue first appeared after installing the update shown below (February update):

 

 

And now (June) seems that this Security Update is part of Windows 11, version 25H2 update:

 

---

## Environment

Our setup consists of:

- Virtual Machines running Windows

- Jenkins master with TestComplete plugin

- Jenkins agents running as Windows services

- TestExecute used to run automated UI tests

Jenkins and all plugins are regularly updated, so we have excluded Jenkins/plugin version as the root cause.

---

## Problem behavior

The Jenkins job starts normally and reaches the TestComplete step:

 

 

At this point:

- TestExecute process is launched

- but execution hangs (no progress, no logs)

- build eventually times out

---

## Important observation

If we manually log in to the VM and run the same Jenkins job with:

- "Run interactive user session" enabled

then:

- TestExecute starts correctly 

- GUI session is created 

- tests run successfully 

- build finishes

This suggests that:

- TestExecute itself is working correctly

- the problem is specifically related to session creation via the Jenkins plugin

 

---

## Configuration

Our infrastructure was configured according to SmartBear documentation, especially:

https://support.smartbear.com/testexecute/docs/working-with/index.html

All required:

- Group Policy settings

- interactive session configurations

- user permissions

have been set according to the official guidelines.

---

## Current workaround

At this moment, we are blocking installation of the problematic Windows update.

However, due to corporate policies, we will eventually be required to install the latest updates, which will break our automation infrastructure again.

---

## Question

Have you encountered this issue before?

Is there any recommended configuration or workaround for:

- Jenkins + TestComplete plugin

- interactive session creation

- compatibility with newer Windows updates (especially KB5077811 and similar security updates)?

We suspect that recent Windows security changes may be affecting the LogonAndExecute mechanism used by TestComplete.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

3 Replies

  • Michael_B's avatar
    Michael_B
    Contributor
    9 hours ago

    Hi knowak,

    We have been fighting this for months ourselves. Ours does not freeze, but after 5 minutes we encounter "Test runner exit code: -10 (Unable to create a user session)" in the Jenkin's logs. Same as you, if we uninstall the update or connect to an active session it works. We have several different test credentials that we use for different purposes so this is a significant problem.

    I opened a ticket with SmartBear in March, but I'm struggling to get any real updates yet. If I hear anything useful back I'll post it hear.

    Good luck,

    Mike

    • Michael_B's avatar
      Michael_B
      Contributor
      9 hours ago

      Thanks for the link on this. I think our corporate screen saver policy might be a blocker on this. I'll need to test if TestComplete can at least unlock an active session even if we can no longer logon with RDP.