Handling HTTPS Websites and SSL Certificate Errors in Selenium

Why SSL Certificate Errors Occur 

SSL certificates ensure secure communication between the server and browser. If there's an issue, like an untrusted or expired certificate, the browser shows a warning. In automation, these warnings can interrupt tests, causing them to fail unless managed properly.In this post, we'll explain how to handle SSL certificate errors in Selenium for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge to ensure your tests run smoothly.

setAcceptInsecureCerts(true) option allows the browser to ignore SSL certificate errors, enabling Selenium tests to run smoothly on sites with untrusted or invalid certificates.

Handling SSL Certificate Errors in Chrome

You can configure Chrome to accept insecure certificates by passing the option in ChromeOptions.

ChromeOptions.setAcceptInsecureCerts(true) allows Chrome to skip SSL warnings and continue testing on sites with untrusted certificates.its similar to the Firefox and Edge Browser also.

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeOptions;

public class HandleSSLCertificateChrome {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Set up ChromeDriver path
        System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "/path/to/chromedriver");

        // Set Chrome options to ignore certificate errors
        ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions();
        options.setAcceptInsecureCerts(true); // This will ignore the SSL certificate errors

        // Initialize WebDriver
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(options);

        // Navigate to HTTPS site
        driver.get("https://Enter Your URL.com/");

        System.out.println("Page Title: " + driver.getTitle());

        // Close the browser
        driver.quit();
    }
}

Handling SSL Certificate Errors in Firefox

With Firefox, you can achieve the same by configuring FirefoxOptions

FirefoxOptions options = new FirefoxOptions();
options.setAcceptInsecureCerts(true);
WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver(options);
//Initialize WebDriver
WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver(options);
// Navigate to HTTPS site
driver.get("https://Enter Your URL.com")

Handling SSL Certificate Errors in Edge

Edge also has options similar to Chrome to bypass SSL certificate errors

// Set Edge options to ignore certificate errors

EdgeOptions options = new EdgeOptions();
options.setAcceptInsecureCerts(true);
// Initialize WebDriver 
WebDriver driver = new EdgeDriver(options);
// Navigate to HTTPS site
driver.get("https://"Enter Your URL.com");

Conclusion 

Handling SSL certificate errors on HTTPS websites can be tricky but is essential for smooth Selenium automation. By using setAcceptInsecureCerts(true) in Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, you can skip these warnings and maintain test flow.