How can I run Chrome headful on headless Ubuntu Server?

So I have this Node.js application which uses Puppeteer (alternative for eg, Selenium) which is a browser bot/web driver. For my specific use-case, I need to run Chrome headful, but I just cannot get it to work.

I have barely any Linux knowledge. I do have decent terminal knowledge because I'm on MacOS, but that's how far it goes.

The reason I want headless Ubuntu Server is to save RAM, because I really don't need a GUI for anything. Is it even possible to do what I'm trying to achieve?

So far I've tried using `Xvfb` but Chrome just gives me a bunch of errors:

root@x:~# Xvfb -ac :99 -screen 0 1280x1024x16 > /dev/null 2>&1 &
[1] 3204
root@x:~# DISPLAY=:99.0 chromium --no-sandbox
[3207:3284:0503/123414.921007:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.ListActivatableNames: object_path= /org/freedesktop/DBus: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.AccessDenied: An AppArmor policy prevents this sender from sending this message to this recipient; type="method_call", sender=":1.5" (uid=0 pid=3207 comm="/snap/chromium/2842/usr/lib/chromium-browser/chrom" label="snap.chromium.chromium (enforce)") interface="org.freedesktop.DBus" member="ListActivatableNames" error name="(unset)" requested_reply="0" destination="org.freedesktop.DBus" (bus)
[3207:3207:0503/123415.185094:ERROR:chrome_browser_cloud_management_controller.cc(161)] Cloud management controller initialization aborted as CBCM is not enabled. Please use the `--enable-chrome-browser-cloud-management` command line flag to enable it if you are not using the official Google Chrome build.
[3207:3284:0503/123415.446231:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.ListActivatableNames: object_path= /org/freedesktop/DBus: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.AccessDenied: An AppArmor policy prevents this sender from sending this message to this recipient; type="method_call", sender=":1.7" (uid=0 pid=3207 comm="/snap/chromium/2842/usr/lib/chromium-browser/chrom" label="snap.chromium.chromium (enforce)") interface="org.freedesktop.DBus" member="ListActivatableNames" error name="(unset)" requested_reply="0" destination="org.freedesktop.DBus" (bus)
[3306:3306:0503/123415.812393:ERROR:gl_surface_egl.cc(302)] No suitable EGL configs found.
[3306:3306:0503/123415.814730:ERROR:gl_context_egl.cc(160)] eglGetConfigAttrib failed with error EGL_BAD_CONFIG
libva error: /snap/chromium/2842/gnome-platform/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/virtio_gpu_drv_video.so init failed
[3306:3306:0503/123415.889614:ERROR:gl_surface_egl.cc(302)] No suitable EGL configs found.
[3306:3306:0503/123415.889924:ERROR:gl_surface_egl.cc(1040)] eglCreatePbufferSurface failed with error EGL_BAD_CONFIG
[3306:3306:0503/123415.893292:ERROR:gpu_info_collector.cc(86)] gl::GLContext::CreateOffscreenGLSurface failed
[3306:3306:0503/123415.893950:ERROR:gpu_info_collector.cc(582)] Could not create surface for info collection.
[3306:3306:0503/123415.894861:ERROR:gpu_init.cc(103)] CollectGraphicsInfo failed.
[3306:3306:0503/123415.919347:ERROR:viz_main_impl.cc(198)] Exiting GPU process due to errors during initialization
(chrome:3207): IBUS-WARNING **: 12:34:16.415: Failed to mkdir /root/snap/chromium/2842/.config/ibus/bus: Not a directory
[3207:3358:0503/123416.661211:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Get: object_path= /org/freedesktop/UPower: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.freedesktop.UPower was not provided by any .service files
[3207:3358:0503/123416.661747:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.UPower.GetDisplayDevice: object_path= /org/freedesktop/UPower: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.freedesktop.UPower was not provided by any .service files
[3207:3358:0503/123416.662276:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.UPower.EnumerateDevices: object_path= /org/freedesktop/UPower: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.freedesktop.UPower was not provided by any .service files
[3356:3356:0503/123417.103803:ERROR:gl_surface_egl.cc(302)] No suitable EGL configs found.
[3356:3356:0503/123417.104363:ERROR:gl_context_egl.cc(160)] eglGetConfigAttrib failed with error EGL_BAD_CONFIG
libva error: /snap/chromium/2842/gnome-platform/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/virtio_gpu_drv_video.so init failed
[3356:3356:0503/123417.110956:ERROR:gl_surface_egl.cc(302)] No suitable EGL configs found.
[3356:3356:0503/123417.111222:ERROR:gl_surface_egl.cc(1040)] eglCreatePbufferSurface failed with error EGL_BAD_CONFIG
[3356:3356:0503/123417.111440:ERROR:gpu_info_collector.cc(86)] gl::GLContext::CreateOffscreenGLSurface failed
[3356:3356:0503/123417.111605:ERROR:gpu_info_collector.cc(582)] Could not create surface for info collection.
[3356:3356:0503/123417.111767:ERROR:gpu_init.cc(103)] CollectGraphicsInfo failed.
[3356:3356:0503/123417.138033:ERROR:viz_main_impl.cc(198)] Exiting GPU process due to errors during initialization
libva error: /snap/chromium/2842/gnome-platform/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/virtio_gpu_drv_video.so init failed
[3339:3353:0503/123417.516431:ERROR:command_buffer_proxy_impl.cc(131)] ContextResult::kTransientFailure: Failed to send GpuControl.CreateCommandBuffer.

I have no clue about what's going on or how to even get started to fix any of these 😅

Hoping someone could help me out here, would be greatly appreciated!

in linuxquestionsby Lorikku

100%

30d

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Lorikku

30d

I'm using a DIgitalOcean droplet, so I don't think I have access to GPU anyway. I have tried adding `--disable-gpu` which indeed removes some of the errors but not everything. It still doesn't work though (browser timing out).

I still get these:

root@skribby-0:~# DISPLAY=:99.0 chromium --no-sandbox --disable-gpu --disable-dbus

[2649:2713:0503/125612.464786:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.ListActivatableNames: object_path= /org/freedesktop/DBus: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.AccessDenied: An AppArmor policy prevents this sender from sending this message to this recipient; type="method_call", sender=":1.40" (uid=0 pid=2649 comm="/snap/chromium/2842/usr/lib/chromium-browser/chrom" label="snap.chromium.chromium (enforce)") interface="org.freedesktop.DBus" member="ListActivatableNames" error name="(unset)" requested_reply="0" destination="org.freedesktop.DBus" (bus)
[2649:2649:0503/125612.514292:ERROR:chrome_browser_cloud_management_controller.cc(161)] Cloud management controller initialization aborted as CBCM is not enabled. Please use the `--enable-chrome-browser-cloud-management` command line flag to enable it if you are not using the official Google Chrome build.
[2649:2713:0503/125612.570253:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.ListActivatableNames: object_path= /org/freedesktop/DBus: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.AccessDenied: An AppArmor policy prevents this sender from sending this message to this recipient; type="method_call", sender=":1.42" (uid=0 pid=2649 comm="/snap/chromium/2842/usr/lib/chromium-browser/chrom" label="snap.chromium.chromium (enforce)") interface="org.freedesktop.DBus" member="ListActivatableNames" error name="(unset)" requested_reply="0" destination="org.freedesktop.DBus" (bus)
libva error: /snap/chromium/2842/gnome-platform/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/virtio_gpu_drv_video.so init failed
(chrome:2649): IBUS-WARNING **: 12:56:13.000: Failed to mkdir /root/snap/chromium/2842/.config/ibus/bus: Not a directory
[2649:2794:0503/125613.174265:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Get: object_path= /org/freedesktop/UPower: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.freedesktop.UPower was not provided by any .service files
[2649:2794:0503/125613.174745:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.UPower.GetDisplayDevice: object_path= /org/freedesktop/UPower: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.freedesktop.UPower was not provided by any .service files
[2649:2794:0503/125613.175132:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.UPower.EnumerateDevices: object_path= /org/freedesktop/UPower: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.freedesktop.UPower was not provided by any .service files

BCMM

30d

I edited the previous comment a bit after you had already read it - sorry about that.

Are you quite certain Chrome needs to be headful? If you mention the problem you had with headless mode, somebody might be able to find another way around it.

Lorikku

30d

Maybe I could install a lightweight distro like Lubuntu, and then go from there? I just tested that locally and Lubuntu seems to be doing the job.

BCMM

30d

Maybe I could install a lightweight distro like Lubuntu, and then go from there?

As far as I can see, that's just "starting a real Xorg server" with extra steps. (Unless Chrome really can't run without those dbus services it's trying to call!)

I just tested that locally and Lubuntu seems to be doing the job.

Whether it works on DO will depend on whether Xorg works on DO.