[BUG] Cannot run Playwright via shell from IIS

Context:

• Playwright Version: 1.8.0
• Operating System: Windows
• Node.js version: 12.18.3
• Browser: Chromium
• Extra: IIS 8

Code Snippet

const playwright = require('playwright');

(async () => {
  const browser = await playwright.chromium.launch();
  // ...
})();

Describe the bug

In IIS 8, I’m shelling out from PHP to run “node index.js”, but I’m getting the below fatal error.

It looks like an issue related to DPAPI, so I tried setting IIS to load a user profile, but that didn’t make a difference. I’ve read through the Chromium source code a bit, but I’m not sure how the problem traces back.

It’s worth noting that replacing Playwright with Puppeteer solved the problem. Puppeteer has no problem. It looks like Playwright uses a newer version of Chromium than Puppeteer, so that may be related, or it may be that Playwright is enabling/disabling a switch that Puppeteer doesn’t.

ERROR: Access denied
(node:8524) UnhandledPromiseRejectionWarning: browserType.launch: Protocol error (Browser.getVersion): Browser closed.
==================== Browser output: ====================
<launching> C:\\opt\\playwright\\node_modules\\playwright\\.local-browsers\\chromium-844399\\chrome-win\\chrome.exe --disable-background-networking --enable-features=NetworkService,NetworkServiceInProcess --disable-background-timer-throttling --disable-backgrounding-occluded-windows --disable-breakpad --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --disable-component-extensions-with-background-pages --disable-default-apps --disable-dev-shm-usage --disable-extensions --disable-features=TranslateUI,BlinkGenPropertyTrees,ImprovedCookieControls,SameSiteByDefaultCookies,LazyFrameLoading --disable-hang-monitor --disable-ipc-flooding-protection --disable-popup-blocking --disable-prompt-on-repost --disable-renderer-backgrounding --disable-sync --force-color-profile=srgb --metrics-recording-only --no-first-run --enable-automation --password-store=basic --use-mock-keychain --user-data-dir=C:\\Windows\\TEMP\\playwright_chromiumdev_profile-bamqjN --remote-debugging-pipe --headless --hide-scrollbars --mute-audio --blink-settings=primaryHoverType=2,availableHoverTypes=2,primaryPointerType=4,availablePointerTypes=4 --no-sandbox --no-startup-window
<launched> pid=5504
[err] [0128/124939.752:ERROR:os_crypt_win.cc(70)] Failed to encrypt: The system cannot find the file specified. (0x2)
[err] [0128/124939.752:FATAL:headless_browser_main_parts.cc(103)] Check failed: OSCrypt::Init(local_state_.get()). 
[err] Backtrace:
[err] 	IsSandboxedProcess [0x000007FE6F5B6362+709650]
[err] 	IsSandboxedProcess [0x000007FE6F5392F2+197538]
[err] 	IsSandboxedProcess [0x000007FE6F548468+259352]
[err] 	IsSandboxedProcess [0x000007FE6F5493A0+263248]
[err] 	RelaunchChromeBrowserWithNewCommandLineIfNeeded [0x000007FE70C63F93+11967571]
[err] 	RelaunchChromeBrowserWithNewCommandLineIfNeeded [0x000007FE70C63CFD+11966909]
[err] 	ovly_debug_event [0x000007FE6DB44DB9+15214521]
[err] 	ovly_debug_event [0x000007FE6DF04CF7+19146487]
[err] 	ovly_debug_event [0x000007FE6DB43B05+15209733]
[err] 	ovly_debug_event [0x000007FE6DB4681E+15221278]
[err] 	IsSandboxedProcess [0x000007FE6FFFB7E7+11479191]
[err] 	CrashForExceptionInNonABICompliantCodeRange [0x000007FE6F4CEDF3+9454995]
[err] 	CrashForExceptionInNonABICompliantCodeRange [0x000007FE6F4CFC12+9458610]
[err] 	CrashForExceptionInNonABICompliantCodeRange [0x000007FE6F4CF88F+9457711]
[err] 	CrashForExceptionInNonABICompliantCodeRange [0x000007FE6F4CE77D+9453341]
[err] 	CrashForExceptionInNonABICompliantCodeRange [0x000007FE6F4CEAFA+9454234]
[err] 	CrashForExceptionInNonABICompliantCodeRange [0x000007FE6F508639+9690585]
[err] 	CrashForExceptionInNonABICompliantCodeRange [0x000007FE6F5084FB+9690267]
[err] 	CrashForExceptionInNonABICompliantCodeRange [0x000007FE6F5082F7+9689751]
[err] 	ChromeMain [0x000007FE6CCC1238+408]
[err] 	Ordinal0 [0x000007F6C1F426C8+9928]
[err] 	Ordinal0 [0x000007F6C1F41A41+6721]
[err] 	GetHandleVerifier [0x000007F6C2089222+898850]
[err] 	BaseThreadInitThunk [0x000007FE9E8C1652+26]
[err] 	RtlUserThreadStart [0x000007FEA10E91B1+33]
[err]