If you want more control over chromedriver, you can run it in its own process and have Protractor connect to it. For instance, by launching chromedriver with the following command:

chromedriver --port=9515 --verbose --log-path=chromedriver.log

You can then configure Protractor to use this custom setup by creating a configuration file like this:

   exports.config = {
     seleniumAddress: 'http://localhost:9515',
     capabilities: {
       'browserName': 'chrome'
     },
     specs: ['example_spec.js'],
   };

Adding chromedriver logging and other checks is done using a shell script. In order to utilize this, protractor needs to be pointed at the shell script:

Configuration for Protractor:

// Script to use when running chromedriver:
chromeDriver: path.resolve(topdir, 'bin/protractor-chromedriver.sh'),

Contents of bin/protractor-chromedriver.sh:

TMPDIR="/tmp"
NODE_MODULES="$(dirname $0)/../node_modules"
CHROMEDRIVER="${NODE_MODULES}/protractor/selenium/chromedriver"
LOG="${TMPDIR}/chromedriver.$$.log"

fatal() {
    # Print error message to stderr
    echo >&2 "$0: ERROR: $*"
    # Log error message to a file since webdriver redirects stderr to /dev/null (?)
    echo >"${LOG}" "$0: ERROR: $*"
    exit 11
}

[ ! -x "$CHROMEDRIVER" ] && fatal "Cannot find chromedriver: $CHROMEDRIVER"

exec "${CHROMEDRIVER}" --verbose --log-path="${LOG}" "$@"

The source code of protractor reveals that the chromedriver service is initiated without any arguments, making it difficult to configure the arguments directly. However, the chromedriver's Service Builder utilized by protractor does offer the possibility to set verbosity and log path:

var service = new chrome.ServiceBuilder()
    .loggingTo('/my/log/file.txt')
    .enableVerboseLogging()
    .build();

---

The previous (incorrect) answer suggested setting the chrome arguments:

capabilities: {
    browserName: "chrome",
    chromeOptions: {
        args: [
            "verbose", 
            "log-path=chromedriver.log"
        ]
    }
},

For more information, refer to:

• Viewing outstanding requests

After encountering issues with the previous solution provided by @P.T. on Windows 7, I decided to experiment with his recommendations and eventually found a fix that worked for Windows users. Here is the modified approach tailored specifically for Windows 7.

STEP 1: Setup BASH and JQ and Verify Functionality on Your Windows Machine

1. To start, you'll need to download bash: For Windows 10 ; For Windows 7, download the latest version here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/win-bash/files/shell-complete/latest/; For Windows Server 2012 or any OS with Git already installed, locate bash.exe and sh.exe in either C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin or

   C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\usr\bin

2. Install bash - Extract the zip files to a directory for Windows 7
3. Download jq () and install it in the same directory as bash
4. Ensure to add your directory path (where bash zip files were extracted for Windows 7; for other OSes with Git, use the installation path) to the PATH system environment variable.
5. Once both installations are completed and added to PATH, close all Webstorm and CMD windows before reopening them to proceed with your work.
6. To verify the installation of bash, type C:\git\> bash in a command prompt window. It should display a bash cmd prompt like this: bash$

STEP 2: Implement Custom Files for Directing Chromedriver Debug Logs

Add the following files at the project's top level (where the protractor-conf.js file is located). These files allow custom debug switches for executing chromedriver.exe

This step is crucial as these switches are not directly accessible through protractor.conf.js via chromeOptions/args flags

chromedriver.cmd -- Source:

bash protractor-chromedriver.sh %*

protractor-chromedriver.sh -- Source:

TMPDIR="$(dirname $0)/tmp"
NODE_MODULES="$(dirname $0)/node_modules"
SELENIUM="${NODE_MODULES}/protractor/node_modules/webdriver-manager/selenium"
UPDATECONFIG="${SELENIUM}/update-config.json"
EXEFILENAME="$(cat ${UPDATECONFIG} | jq .chrome.last | tr -d '""')"
CHROMEDRIVER="${SELENIUM}/${EXEFILENAME##*'\\'}"
LOG="${TMPDIR}/chromedriver.$$.log"

fatal() {
    echo >&2 "$0: ERROR: $*"
    echo >"${LOG}" "$0: ERROR: $*"
    exit 11
}

[ ! -x "$CHROMEDRIVER" ] && fatal "Cannot find chromedriver: $CHROMEDRIVER"

exec "${CHROMEDRIVER}" --verbose --log-path="${LOG}" "$@"

/tmp -- Create this directory at the project's top level (same location as the protractor.conf.js file)

STEP 3: Update protractor.conf.js File

In the protractor.conf.js, add the following line within the exports.config object:

exports.config = {
.. ..
        chromeDriver: 'chromedriver.cmd',
.. ..

STEP 4: Run Your Tests

Your tests should now execute successfully, with any chrome driver log outputs stored in a file named chromedriver.???.log under the tmp directory within your project.

Important Notes

This script setup assumes Protractor (and its chrome driver) is installed and operated within the local node_modules directory of your project. If running Protractor/chromedriver globally, adjust the CHROMEDRIVER variable inside protractor-chromedriver.sh accordingly.

I hope this resolves your challenges.

To specify the logfile path when using seleniumServerJar in your protractor.conf.js file, simply set it to your preferred location:

seleniumArgs: [
    '-Dwebdriver.chrome.logfile=/home/myUsername/logs/chromedriver.log',
]

If you are running a local selenium server with webdriver-manager start, make sure to update the following in the webdriver-manager file:

// add this line
args.push('-Dwebdriver.chrome.logfile=/home/myUsername/logs/chromedriver.log');

// ensure this line is present and add the new push before it
var seleniumProcess = spawnCommand('java', args);

If you are utilizing webdriver-manager, be aware that it includes a feature called chrome_logs. This option can be located in the source code (specifically in opts.ts or opts.js in the compiled code). You can implement it by running the following command:

webdriver-manager start --chrome_logs /path/to/logfile.txt

Although this question is old, I received assistance from the response provided. Shoutout to @PT and @Kim Gentes for their helpful advice.

You do not have to worry about installing bash on Windows. Simply use the command "start /B /W ..."

For chromedriver.cmd, you can include something similar to the following:

start /B /W .\node_modules\protractor\node_modules\webdriver-manager\selenium\chromedriver.exe --verbose --log-path=./chromeriver.log %*

Here is how I have implemented a global afterEach hook with mocha:

afterEach(() => {
    browser.manage().logs().get('browser').then(function(browserLog) {
        if(browserLog && browserLog.length) {
            console.log('\nlog: ' + util.inspect(browserLog) + '\n');
        }
    });
});