Selenium Environment Setup

⚙ Selenium with Python – Installation & Setup Guide

Before starting automation with Selenium, we need a proper environment setup. This includes installing Python, VS Code, Selenium, WebDriver, and configuring everything correctly.

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🐍 Installing Python

Python is the programming language used to write Selenium automation scripts.

Steps:

• Download Python from official website
• Run the installer
• Check ✅ “Add Python to PATH”
• Complete installation

Verify installation:

python --version

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🧑‍💻 Installing VS Code

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a lightweight and powerful code editor used for Python automation development.

Steps:

• Download VS Code
• Install it on your system
• Open VS Code

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⚙ VS Code Setup for Python Automation

To use Python in VS Code, install the required extensions.

Required Extensions:

• Python (by Microsoft)
• Pylance
• Python Debugger

After installation:

• Select Python Interpreter
• Create a project folder
• Create a file: test.py

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📦 Installing Selenium in Python

Selenium can be installed using pip (Python package manager).

pip install selenium

Verify installation:

pip show selenium

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🌐 Installing WebDriver (ChromeDriver, EdgeDriver, GeckoDriver)

WebDriver is required to control browsers.

Drivers:

• Chrome → ChromeDriver
• Firefox → GeckoDriver
• Edge → EdgeDriver

Steps:

• Check your browser version
• Download matching WebDriver version
• Extract the driver file

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🛠 Setting WebDriver Path

There are two ways to set WebDriver path:

Method 1: System Path

• Add driver folder to system environment variables

Method 2: Direct Path in Code

from selenium import webdriver

driver = webdriver.Chrome(executable_path="C:/drivers/chromedriver.exe")

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🚀 First Selenium Script in Python

Here is your first Selenium automation script:

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
import time

driver = webdriver.Chrome()
driver.get("https://www.google.com")

time.sleep(3)
driver.quit()

This script will:

• Open Chrome browser
• Open Google website
• Wait for 3 seconds
• Close the browser

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▶ Running Selenium Script in VS Code

Steps to run Selenium script:

• Open project folder in VS Code
• Open terminal
• Run command:

python test.py

OR

• Right click on file
• Click Run Python File in Terminal

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🎯 Conclusion:

After completing this setup, your system is fully ready for Selenium automation with Python. Now you can start writing real automation scripts, building frameworks, and creating professional automation projects.