Browsers: Non-Default Profile Paths

- Configuring Browser Profile Path
   - Adding a new Application
- Updating an Existing Application
- Logging

Whether for ease of management or for security and compliance reasons, it is becoming more common that Group Policies are used to deviate from the default browser path. This behavior resulted in unnecessary application execution errors within Login Enterprise. As of Login Enterprise 5.5, non-default profile paths of Browsers like Edge and Chrome are now supported when using Browser-based workflows.

Configuring Browser Profile Path

To configure a non-default path that Login Enterprise should use when running EdgeChromium browser-based workflows, the following steps can be performed. 

Adding a new Application

When creating a new application workflow within the Login Enterprise management console, you are presented with configuration menu to specify an Application name, but also settings like which browser to use and what URL to launch once started.

A new setting, Browser Profile, was added to the menu to allow users the option to specify non-default profile paths.

Updating an Existing Application

This section covers steps to modify existing application workflows to utilize non-default browser profile paths. 

Magic Comment

If you don't already know, within our browser-based workflows "magic comments" are used to specify the browser and the URL the browser should launch when started. These comments live at the top of the workflow script in lines 1-2. A third comment (line 3) can be added to specify a non-default profile path as shown below:

// BROWSER:EdgeChromium
// URL:https://euc.loginvsi.com/customer-portal/knowledge-worker-2023
// PROFILE_LOCATION:%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\

Updating Application Configuration

After making the changes to your existing workflows, you should overwrite the existing workflow defined for the respective application.

To overwrite an existing script you can click the pencil icon, which will open a configuration window. This window, in simple terms, displays any changes between the existing and new workflow scripts. It provides the ability to confirm changes before overwriting your existing workflow. 

If you have updated your script to include the new "magic comment" you will see the Browser profile section specify your non-default location. Ensure that you select "New parameters" to overwrite existing settings.

Logging

The issue caused by non-default profile paths stems from Selenium's expectation to locate and load a specific browser profile at a default location when initializing a browser session. In such cases, a new Event was added to Login Enterprise, noting it "cannot create default profile directory."