Unable to create new remote session with chromedriver - selenium

Question

I was previously using selenium-server-standalone-2.53.1 and chromedriver 2.22 and my acceptance was running perfectly. When I ran it today using this same version it started to fail throwing an Unable to create a new remote session error. Now after upgrading to selenium-server-standalone-3.0.1 and chromedriver-2.25, it's throwing almost the same error. I cant figure out why this is the case. I'm very new to Selenium and would very much appreciate any help.
After upgrade error
Nov 08, 2016 4:27:54 PM org.openqa.selenium.remote.ProtocolHandshake createSession
INFO: Attempting bi-dialect session, assuming Postel's Law holds true on the remote end
Nov 08, 2016 4:27:54 PM org.openqa.selenium.remote.ProtocolHandshake createSession
INFO: Falling back to original OSS JSON Wire Protocol.
Nov 08, 2016 4:27:54 PM org.openqa.selenium.remote.ProtocolHandshake createSession
INFO: Falling back to straight W3C remote end connection
org.openqa.selenium.SessionNotCreatedException: Unable to create new remote session. desired capabilities = Capabilities [{browserName=chrome, version=, platform=ANY}], required capabilities = Capabilities [{}]
Build info: version: '3.0.1', revision: '1969d75', time: '2016-10-18 09:49:13 -0700'
System info: host: 'xxx.yyy.com', ip: '172.19.10.212', os.name: 'Mac OS X', os.arch: 'x86_64', os.version: '10.10.5', java.version: '1.8.0_60'
Driver info: driver.version: RemoteWebDriver
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.ProtocolHandshake.createSession(ProtocolHandshake.java:91)
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.HttpCommandExecutor.execute(HttpCommandExecutor.java:141)
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver.execute(RemoteWebDriver.java:601)
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver.startSession(RemoteWebDriver.java:241)
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver.<init>(RemoteWebDriver.java:128)
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver.<init>(RemoteWebDriver.java:155)
at pet.furiend.website.selenium.test.acceptance.HomePageTest.setUp(HomePageTest.java:25)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:497)
at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod$1.runReflectiveCall(FrameworkMethod.java:50)
at org.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:12)
at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod.invokeExplosively(FrameworkMethod.java:47)
at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.RunBefores.evaluate(RunBefores.java:24)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:363)
at org.junit.runner.JUnitCore.run(JUnitCore.java:137)
at com.intellij.junit4.JUnit4IdeaTestRunner.startRunnerWithArgs(JUnit4IdeaTestRunner.java:117)
at com.intellij.junit4.JUnit4IdeaTestRunner.startRunnerWithArgs(JUnit4IdeaTestRunner.java:42)
at com.intellij.rt.execution.junit.JUnitStarter.prepareStreamsAndStart(JUnitStarter.java:262)
at com.intellij.rt.execution.junit.JUnitStarter.main(JUnitStarter.java:84)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:497)
at com.intellij.rt.execution.application.AppMain.main(AppMain.java:147)
-----UPDATE-----
After making a change to the webdriver url, it seems like its starting but I get another error thrown now.
java.lang.ClassCastException: java.lang.String cannot be cast to java.util.Map
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver.startSession(RemoteWebDriver.java:251)
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver.<init>(RemoteWebDriver.java:131)
at org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver.<init>(RemoteWebDriver.java:158)
at pet.furiend.website.selenium.test.acceptance.HomePageTest.setUp(HomePageTest.java:25)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:497)
at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod$1.runReflectiveCall(FrameworkMethod.java:50)
at org.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:12)
at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod.invokeExplosively(FrameworkMethod.java:47)
at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.RunBefores.evaluate(RunBefores.java:24)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:363)
at org.junit.runner.JUnitCore.run(JUnitCore.java:137)
at com.intellij.junit4.JUnit4IdeaTestRunner.startRunnerWithArgs(JUnit4IdeaTestRunner.java:117)
at com.intellij.junit4.JUnit4IdeaTestRunner.startRunnerWithArgs(JUnit4IdeaTestRunner.java:42)
at com.intellij.rt.execution.junit.JUnitStarter.prepareStreamsAndStart(JUnitStarter.java:262)
at com.intellij.rt.execution.junit.JUnitStarter.main(JUnitStarter.java:84)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:497)
at com.intellij.rt.execution.application.AppMain.main(AppMain.java:147)

Answer 1

It will help a lot if you could let us know what is your Chrome Browser version as it affects significantly ChromeDriver compatibility. For example if you have accidentally updated to version 54 of Chrome Browser then it is likely that you need ChromeDriver 2.25 for it to work properly.
As long as you are saying that it was working with your previous setup; I'll put my money on your actual Chrome Browser (careful not chromeDriver) updating under your nose; hence causing the error. The whole combo:
Selenium Standalone
ChromeDriver
Chrome Browser
is really fragile upon change (personally I force my browsers NOT to update automatically for this reason). If you want to force Chrome Browser not to update at all, just go at the Chrome path and rename update folder to update_old (norm win path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\update). This will prohibit Chrome from any further automatic updates.
First of all, if I were you, I'll try the latest ChromeDriver which is v2.25 see if this fixes your issue. You can download from here latest ChromeDriver225
If this didn't fix your issue then try playing around with different versions of Chrome + ChromeDriver until you get it right. Selenium is less susceptible to change and version 3.0.1 should work with any combo for your needs. Have a look here to see which versions of ChromeDriver are compatible with which versions of Chrome Browser.ChromeDriver Downloads/Compatibility
I can confirm that latest Chrome Browser, ChromeDriver and Selenium work well together.
So try this combo here:
Chrome Browser 54.0.2840.87 (latest at the time of writing this post)
Chrome Driver 2.25
Selenium 3.0.1
Best of luck!
Update after op updated to latest version of ChromeDriver
Well as mentioned in my comment below here are my options which work 100% with the latest versions of Chrome (54.0), ChromeDriver (2.25) and Selenium (3.0.1).You can first try to comment all of your capabilities and run chrome with these options instead:
System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "C:\\projects\\test\\chromedriver.exe");
ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions();
options.addArguments("test-type");
options.addArguments("--disable-extensions");
So you can activate the above with:
driver = new ChromeDriver(options);
Now regarding capabilities, I think the version one that you are using, does not get or convey a value. If you insist on using it (I find it pointless personally) you can specify a value like following and see if this works for you.
caps.setCapability("browser_version", "54.0.2840.87");
Now, you should have solved it by now, but if something went really really wrong and this actually obstructs you from work, then try this extremely stable combo:
Chrome (48.0.2564.97) from here
Chrome Driver (2.9) from here
Selenium 3.0.1
Hope you can solve it this time, let us know how you get on!

Answer 2

It seems that you are using OSX, is there is any chance that you are launching your tests with the terminal app ?
I was stuck with this error for a while and I managed to fix the issue by unchecking “Set locale environment variables on startup” checkbox in advanced terminal app settings.
Or try to launch your test with this prefix :
LC_NUMERIC=”en_US.UTF-8″ *the command to launch your tests*

Answer 3

I had the same issue on Chrome Browser 55.0.2883.87, Chrome Driver 2.27
Selenium 3.0.1, as author:
"org.openqa.selenium.SessionNotCreatedException: Unable to create new remote session."
Previously Grid was working on Firefox 46.0.1, Selenium 2.52.0.
But I have switched places Node and Hub Url's for:
driver = new RemoteWebDriver(hubAddress.toURL(), capabilities);
and it worked for me.
I hope this will help someone.