Historically, Microsoft WebDriver, used for supporting automated testing of Microsoft Edge, has been a separate download that should be matched to the major Edge version used in the OS.
In Windows 10 Redstone 5, WebDriver is now a Feature on Demand. The details in the linked article are helpful to explain where the binary will end up after it is installed as an optional feature (%SystemRoot%\system32), however I was still looking for a way to automatically install the binary without needing to navigate to the Settings app and find the right sub-menu. Windows now has several places where something that could be named an “optional feature” can be added or installed, and as someone who doesn’t administer Windows as a full-time job, I never find the right location on my first try.
Features on demand can be added and removed using DISM, using either the dism.exe command line tool, PowerShell cmdlets or the DISM API.
At the CLI, we can get a list of “capabilities” of the online Windows system. Try the following in an elevated command prompt:
> dism /Online /Get-Capabilities
Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.17704.1000
Image Version: 10.0.17704.1000
Capability listing:
Capability Identity : Accessibility.Braille~~~~0.0.1.0
State : Not Present
Capability Identity : Analog.Holographic.Desktop~~~~0.0.1.0
State : Not Present
[...]
Capability Identity : Microsoft.WebDriver~~~~0.0.1.0
State : Not Present
We can then add WebDriver using the /Add-Capability option:
> dism /Online /Add-Capability /CapabilityName:Microsoft.WebDriver~~~~0.0.1.0
Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.17704.1000
Image Version: 10.0.17704.1000
[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.
I’d rather use PowerShell, so here is a handy one-liner that will just install any capability matching Microsoft.WebDriver, which I’m assuming there would only ever be one of.
PS> Get-WindowsCapability -Online |
Where-Object {$_.Name -Match "Microsoft.WebDriver"} |
Add-WindowsCapability -Online
Path :
Online : True
RestartNeeded : False
Once this is done, we can see the installed binary at C:\Windows\system32\MicrosoftWebDriver.exe, and it’s now conveniently also in the PATH. Happy testing!