How to resolve common error messages in WPM Recorder or WPM Player during playback

3/19/2024 3:59 PM

6/2/2025 9:58 PM

This article explains how to resolve common error messages users may encounter in WPM Recorder or WPM Player during playback.

Web Performance Monitor

If you encounter an error in WPM Recorder or WPM Player, review this list of common errors and possible solutions.

The file was not downloaded.

When you download a file, the file should be automatically saved to the WPM temporary directory: `%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp\WPM_temporary_files.

By default, the filename is checked during the verification process. However, there are a couple of situations in which this may not work as expected:

• Basic properties of the downloaded file may have changed since recording an action. To determine whether this is the case, take the following steps:

  • Examine the file that should be downloaded, along with its name and size.

  • Update the action settings, indicate whether the name is dynamic, and use different action options.

  • For large files, if size verification was set, increase the wait time for file download.

• If the previous action did not trigger a download:

  • Examine the previous action.

  • Recreate the recording.

Cannot clean up downloaded files.

This error is related to the file cleanup process. WPM Recorder or Browser tries to delete downloaded files after the File Download action. When doing so is not possible, the action can fail. By default, all files are saved to the temporary directory: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp\WPM_temporary_files

If this process does not work, ensure that all service accounts used by WPM Player have access rights to that directory so they can delete these files when necessary. Service accounts may be local OS accounts or domain accounts.

The image was found on page.

The image should not appear on the page, but in some cases, it is found. Possible reasons for this and solutions for it are as follows:

• The page is still loading or animating. Take the following actions:

  • Increase the image verification timeout. Playback should be delayed a bit longer to allow the page to load as expected.

  • Recreate the recording.

• The image appears on the page but in different coordinates than in the recording. Take the following steps:

  • Set the operating system screen scale option to 100%. If you are using a virtual machine, set it to 100% scale for your host machine and log into the virtual machine by RDP to propagate the setting.

  • Remove the existing image verification action and insert a new one.

  • Check the page step screenshots in the Web Console to confirm that the image is in the correct position. The image may be in slightly different coordinates and thus unable to be matched.

The image was not found on page.

The image should appear on the page but was not found. Possible reasons for this and solutions for it are as follows:

• The page is still loading or animating. Take the following actions:

  • Increase the image verification timeout. Playback should be delayed a bit longer to allow the page to load as expected.

• The image appears on the page but in different coordinates than in the recording. Take the following actions:

  • Set the operating system screen scale option to 100%. If you are using a virtual machine, set the 100% scale option for your host machine and log into the virtual machine by RDP to propagate the setting.

  • Check the page step screenshots in the Web Console to confirm that the image is in the correct position. The image may be in slightly different coordinates and thus unable to be matched.

The text was found on page.

The text on the page should not be matched (literal text or regular expression) by verification action, but it was found on the page. Possible reasons for this and solutions for it are as follows:

• The page is still loading or animating. Take the following actions:

  • Increase the text verification timeout. Playback should be delayed a bit longer to allow the page to load as expected.

• The text appears on the page.

  • Examine the text verification action settings.

  • Change the text to verify.

The text was not found on page.

The text on the page should be matched (literal text or regular expression) by verification action, but it was not found on the page. Possible reasons for this and solutions are as follows:

• The page is still loading or animating. Take the following actions:

  • Increase the text verification timeout. Playback should be delayed a bit longer to allow the page to load as expected.

  • Recreate the recording.

• The text does not appear on the page.

  • Examine the text verification action settings.

  • Change the text to verify.

Cannot close the tab.

The attempt to close the tab failed. The action should close one tab, but no tabs or multiple tabs were closed. This kind of activity is forbidden. A possible reason for this and solutions for it are as follows:

• The page behavior changed, or the page wants to close the tab programmatically. Take one or both of the following actions:

  • Remove the problematic action if it is not needed.

Cannot close last available tab.

The attempt to close the tab failed. The action should close one tab, but if it did, it would close the last available tab in browser. This kind of activity is forbidden. A possible reason for this and solutions for it are as follows:

• The page behavior changed, or the page wants to close the tab programmatically. Take one or both of the following actions:

The element was not found.

By default, WPM Player tries to localize HTML DOM elements within five seconds. When this time is exceeded, the action fails. Possible reasons for this and solutions for it are as follows:

• The element is not present on the page. Take one or both of the following actions:
  • Check screenshots from the Step Details page and try to locate the element on the loaded page.
  • Recreate the recording.
• The element needs more time to render.
  • Add one of the following actions: Text validation, Image validation, or Wait.
• The element id or its position in the DOM structure has changed.
  • Create the recording again. A new element path will be used.
• The wrong webpage was loaded:
  • Create the recording again. Check to see whether the previous actions need to be updated to load the correct webpage.

The element in frame was not found.

This situation is the same as described above under The element was not found, except that the element should be located in frame or in iframe. Review the solutions provided above, as well as the following:

• Cannot interact with elements in frame or iframe.
  • Consider setting the disableWebSecurity option to the true value. The files with the option to change are located in this directory %ProgramData%\SolarWinds\SEUM\Data, under: 
    • RecorderSettings.dat  for WPM Recorder
    • AgentSettings.dat for WPM Player
  • For additional information, see this topic on the WPM Player configuration file and this topic on the WPM Recorder configuration file.

The element was found and is visible but is not interactive.

The element is disabled or not interactive:

• The element may need more time to change its state:
  • Add one of the following actions:
    • Text validation
    • Image validation
    • Wait
• The page changed its behavior and needs additional actions to enable the element:
  • Create the recording again to fit the page behavior.

The element was found but is not visible or is covered by some other element.

By default, WPM Player attempts to localize the HTML DOM element and then waits for up to five seconds for it to become visible. When this time limit is exceeded, the action fails.

• The element is not visible.
  • Check the screenshots from the Step Details page and try to locate the element on the loaded page.
  • Create the recording again. Check to see if the page requires additional actions to show the element.
• The element needs more time to show up:
  • Add one of the following actions:
    • Text validation
    • Image validation
    • Wait
• The element is covered by another element:
  • Refer to the screenshots from the Step Details page and try to locate the element on the loaded page.
  • Create the recording again and add closing actions such as the following for the elements:
    • Cookie panel
    • Subscribe panel
    • Register panel

The page was not loaded.

This error can occur during page loading. The page or part of the page is not available from the machine used for the record or play scenario. Possible solutions for this error are as follows:

• Check the proxy configuration, page certificates, and firewall rules to determine whether any of these issues is causing the error.
• Use a different browser to confirm that direct connection between the machine and the page is possible. WPM Recorder and Player are based on the Chromium browser.

Page loading timeout.

By default, the action attempts to wait for navigation to end. WPM Player waits a maximum of 10 seconds to finish all pending navigations. If this error occurs, try the following:

• Set the pageReloadTimeout option to a higher value, such as 60 seconds. Files with the option to change are located in the %ProgramData%\SolarWinds\SEUM\Data directory:
  • RecorderSettings.dat for WPM Recorder
  • AgentSettings.dat for WPM Player
• For additional information, see this topic on the WPM Player configuration file and this topic on the WPM Recorder configuration file.

Unknown error occurred.

Wait for the next playback, or if you encounter this error multiple times, contact SolarWinds Support for assistance. Be sure to check WPM logs for additional information.

Timed out (>330)

The default playback timeout in the WPM Player is set to 330 seconds. If playback exceeds that time, the WPM Player stops playback and displays this error. Try the following solutions:

• Split the recording into multiple smaller recordings.
• If the recording time is less than five minutes long:
  • Check the WPM Player performance.
  • Check the WPM Player configurations for proxy, firewall, and similar settings.

If this article does not resolve your issue, contact SolarWinds Support for assistance.