GitHub Actions · Playwright · Checked November 4, 2026

Playwright on ubuntu-latest (Ubuntu 26.04): "Playwright does not support chromium on ubuntu26.04-x64"

ubuntu-latest is moving from Ubuntu 24.04 to 26.04 between October 19 and November 19, 2026 (what else changes). Playwright supports 26.04 from 1.61.0, released in June ("Playwright now supports Ubuntu 26.04" in the 1.61.0 release notes). A project locked to an older Playwright fails at the install step, in one of two ways depending on the version.

Which message you get

Playwright 1.50 to 1.60 see 26.04 as a platform they have no browsers for:

Error: ERROR: Playwright does not support chromium on ubuntu26.04-x64

Playwright 1.49 and older treat 26.04 as 24.04. The browser download works, but --with-deps (or playwright install-deps) asks apt for 24.04's package names, which 26.04 renamed (red-hat-design-system #3340, with Playwright 1.48):

E: Package 'libicu74' has no installation candidate
E: Unable to locate package libvpx9
E: Package 'libxml2' has no installation candidate
E: Unable to locate package libx264-164
Failed to install browsers
Error: Installation process exited with code: 100

The 1.61.0 change lists the same renames: libicu74 to 78, libvpx9 to 12, libxml2 to libxml2-16, libx264-164 to 165 (playwright #41025). If a later step still runs, for example with if: always(), the tests fail with a message that points the wrong way:

browserType.launch: Executable doesn't exist at /home/runner/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium-1140/chrome-linux/chrome

Look at the install step first. To confirm the image, open "Set up job": the Runner Image group says ubuntu-26.04. A re-run can land on 24.04 and pass until November 19, so a green re-run proves nothing.

Fix: Playwright 1.61 or later

The workflow installs what the lockfile says, not the range in package.json. A range such as ^1.49.1 stays on 1.49 until the lockfile changes:

npm install -D @playwright/test@latest
npx playwright --version

Commit package-lock.json too. Check for an overrides or resolutions entry that pins Playwright; red-hat-design-system had one at ~1.48.2. The Python, Java and .NET packages have the same version numbers, so playwright on PyPI, com.microsoft.playwright and Microsoft.Playwright need 1.61.0 or later too (released June 23 to 29). Then:

- run: npx playwright install --with-deps

A new Playwright version downloads new browser builds. If you cache ~/.cache/ms-playwright, put the Playwright version in the cache key.

Or keep the old version for now

Pin the job: runs-on: ubuntu-24.04. Many fixes in October and November did this, for example thirdeye #1823 and tina-docs #362. It holds until GitHub retires 24.04, so leave a note to upgrade.
Or run the job in Playwright's container image for your exact version, which has the browsers and their libraries, so the runner's Ubuntu no longer matters:
```
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    container:
      image: mcr.microsoft.com/playwright:v1.49.1-noble
```

Other 26.04 failures that look like this one

A test runner that drives browsers through Playwright, such as Web Test Runner with its Playwright launcher, needs the same upgrade; red-hat-design-system's failing job was a Web Test Runner job.
"Unable to locate package" for an old compiler, such as clang-format-14 or gcc-10, is Ubuntu 26.04 no longer carrying that version, not Playwright (the names that changed).
"No space left on device" while building images: Docker 29 on 26.04 keeps images in the containerd store ("No space left on device").

See failed jobs from IntelliJ IDEA

Pipeline Inbox for GitHub Actions Workflows, a plugin by Lesstep for JetBrains IDEs 2024.1 or later, lists the runs of all your repositories in an IDE tool window, with their jobs and steps, and your current branch's runs are in the status bar. Reading is free; re-running failed jobs, cancelling, running workflows and reviewing deployments are Pro (US$1.50 a month, with a 30-day trial).

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