Internet explorer doesn't open websites by using wptdriver 2.11

WebPageTest Private Instances
1

I’m trying to measure the internet explorer (version 9) with wptdriver 2.11 instead of using urlblast. Unfortunately, my wptdriver just opens internet explorer and doesn’t navigate to the page I want to measure. Firefox and Chrome are working fine. The file wptbho.dll is also in the same directory as wptdriver.exe and wptdriver.ini

— My locations.ini —

;Locations (=Agents)

[locations]
1=Agent1
default=Agent1

[Agent1]
1=Agent1-wptdriver
2=Agent1-ie
default=Agent1-ie
label=‘WPT 2.11 Agent 1’

;Browser

[Agent1-wptdriver]
browser=Chrome,Firefox
latency=0
label=‘Chrome/Firefox’

[Agent1-ie]
browser=IE
latency=0
label=‘Internet Explorer’

[HierMussEineAbschliessendeSectionFolgenSonstWirdDerLetzteBrowserNichtGelesen…]

— My wptdriver.ini —

[WebPagetest]
url=
location=Agent1-ie
browser=IE
debug=9

[IE]
exe=“C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe”

— Tested script —

navigate www.webpagetest.org

2

It’s probably worth updating to the latest wptdriver. There were quite a few IE fixes that were rolled out as part of 2.12. You can grab the absolute latest agent from here: https://sites.google.com/a/webpagetest.org/docs/private-instances#TOC-Updating-Test-Agents

3

Hey Pat - i have a ton of questions on this topic … if it’s already documented elsewhere, please point me in the right direction & ignore this message :slight_smile:

How should we setup locations.ini and wptdriver.ini in order to have the agent run only wptdriver.exe yet have it handle all browsers? No more urlblast.exe …

like this (locations.ini)?

[Agent1-wptdriver]
browser=Chrome,Firefox,IE
latency=0
label=‘Chrome/Firefox/IE’

Also, is there a need to specify the version of IE? Or will the agent simply know where IE is and use it?

Last one: does wptdriver.ini need a seperate section for [IE] like there is for [Chrome] and [Firefox]?

Oh, one more: is there an installer for IE?

something like this (wptdriver.ini)?

[IE]
exe=“C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe”
installer=http://www.webpagetest.org/installers/browsers/ie.dat

Are there any sample .ini files somewhere for this kind of setup?

Thanks!

4

Unfortunately, updating wptdriver to version 2.12 hasn’t fixed the problem. IE still just opens and doesn’t navigate to the page. I think the problem might be caused since the IE extension isn’t loaded correctly. Thus, I inspected the loaded dlls of the started IE instance (by using ProcessExplorer). It says that “wptglobal.dll” is loaded but there is no “wptbho.dll” in the loaded dlls of the iexplore process.

Is there anything else (like e.g. registry entries or something like this) that I have to configure for using wptdriver with IE 9 on windows 7 x64?

5

Go to “Manage add-ons” in IE’s menu and make sure the pagetest and wpthook add-ons are enabled. Sometimes when I launch IE for the first time they have to get manually enabled (info bar pops up).

6

This fixed the problem, thanks a lot.

7

I’m having a similar problem using IE8 and wptdriver 2.12 - IE opens, but nothing occurs until the test times out.

Looking in the Manage Add-ons, I see:

WptBHO Class - wptbho.dll is available and enabled
CIEHook Object - pagetest.dll is available and enabled

AOL Pagetest is enabled, but not available.

I can disable it, but there does not appear to be a way to make it available for IE to use.

8

Try grabbing the latest test agent: https://sites.google.com/a/webpagetest.org/docs/private-instances#TOC-Updating-Test-Agents

I’ll be releasing 2.13 in a week or two but there were some pretty scary bugs in the wptdriver IE code (the kind that make you wonder how it ever worked).