How to Kill GeckoDriver.exe Without Closing the Firefox Browser in Selenium?

Selenium: How to Stop the GeckoDriver Process from Impacting PC Memory Without Closing the Web Browser

In order to analyze test results and make necessary corrections after test execution, it is important to keep the Firefox window open after each run. However, repeatedly invoking WebDriver without closing the driver can lead to excessive memory usage on the PC. This article aims to address this issue and provide a solution that allows the GeckoDriver process to be terminated without closing the browser.

Problem Statement

A test script has been implemented to instantiate a GeckoDriver instance. When the test is run multiple times without closing the driver using the driver.quit() method, it leads to a significant increase in memory consumption. This occurs regardless of whether the browser is closed manually after the test.

Solution

Best practices for Selenium automation recommend invoking the quit() method within the tearDown() block. This method sends a "quit" command to the driver, followed by a GET request to the /shutdown endpoint. This action completely terminates the browsing session and the WebDriver instance.

Additional Optimization

If desired, you can manually kill any dangling WebDriver instances, such as GeckoDriver.exe, using the following methods:

Java Solution (Windows):

Runtime.getRuntime().exec("taskkill /F /IM geckodriver.exe /T");

Python Solution (Windows):

os.system("taskkill /f /im geckodriver.exe /T")

Python Solution (Cross Platform):

import os
import psutil

PROCNAME = "geckodriver"
for proc in psutil.process_iter():
    if proc.name() == PROCNAME:
        proc.kill()

By incorporating either of these methods into your testing framework, you can optimize memory usage while still keeping the Firefox window open for analysis purposes. This approach ensures that the test itself remains unaffected while improving the overall performance of your automated tests.

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