Browser Monitors: How to enable 3rd Party cookies

[HannahM]

• Summary
• Problem
• Resolution
• For local playback
• For Private Synthetic Locations
• What's next

Summary

Since version 122, by default, Chromium blocks third party cookies. If a site needs these to run as expected, they will need to be enabled for the Browser Monitor. 

Problem

The site to be tested does not load as expected with third party cookies blocked. This might be shown in the screenshots, like below, or the page may just not load as expected. 

Resolution

For local playback

There are 2 options for this:

1. Change the 'Block third-party cookies' setting in Chrome Incognito mode
   1. Open an Incognito window
   2. Move the Slider to disable blocking third party cookies
      

      This setting is persisted.

2.  Allow third-party cookies for specific sites
   1. In a Chrome Browser, navigate to  chrome://settings/cookies
   2. Add the domain for the site that is being tested.
      

 

For Private Synthetic Locations

The following Chrome startup parameter makes Chrome allow 3rd party cookies for all websites by disabling the Chrome feature that blocks 3rd party cookies:

--disable-features=TrackingProtection3pcd

 

From Cluster version 315 onwards

No changes are required, as the TrackingProtection3pcd  feature will be disabled by default.

Note: if the private synthetic location configuration/ monitor configuration has previously been updated, as descibed in the 'Prior to Cluster version 315' section, then the lines added will need to be removed/ updated to allow the new feature list to be used. 

Prior to Cluster version 315

Confirm the current list of disabled features

1. in the vuc-browser.log of the Private Location search for --disable-features= and copy the whole value. For example in Cluster version 313 it's
   

   --disable-features=OptimizationGuideModelDownloading,OptimizationHintsFetching,OptimizationTargetPrediction,OptimizationHints,TFLiteLanguageDetectionEnabled,HttpsUpgrades,HttpsFirstBalancedMode

   and you would copy

   OptimizationGuideModelDownloading,OptimizationHintsFetching,OptimizationTargetPrediction,OptimizationHints,TFLiteLanguageDetectionEnabled,HttpsUpgrades,HttpsFirstBalancedMode

2. Add ,TrackingProtection3pcd to the end of the list of values. For example
   

   OptimizationGuideModelDownloading,OptimizationHintsFetching,OptimizationTargetPrediction,OptimizationHints,TFLiteLanguageDetectionEnabled,HttpsUpgrades,HttpsFirstBalancedMode,TrackingProtection3pcd

Update list of disabled features

This feature can be disabled for all monitors running on the ActiveGate, or for a single monitor. 

Note: These changes persist on update, so if new features are disabled by default, you may need to update your snippet.

To affect all monitors running on an ActiveGate

1. On the ActiveGate, open the user.properties file

1. • C:\\ProgramData\\dynatrace\\synthetic\\config\\user.properties on Windows
   • /var/lib/dynatrace/synthetic/config/user.properties on Linux
2. Add the following line
   

   com.ruxit.vuc.poolConfig.playerConfig.toRemoveStartupParams=--disable-features​

3. On the next line, add the --disable-features snippet created earlier after com.ruxit.vuc.poolConfig.playerConfig.additionalStartupParams=--disable-features. For example
    

   com.ruxit.vuc.poolConfig.playerConfig.toRemoveStartupParams=--disable-features​
   com.ruxit.vuc.poolConfig.playerConfig.additionalStartupParams=--disable-features=OptimizationGuideModelDownloading,OptimizationHintsFetching,OptimizationTargetPrediction,OptimizationHints,TFLiteLanguageDetectionEnabled,HttpsUpgrades,HttpsFirstBalancedMode,TrackingProtection3pcd​

To affect a single monitor

1.  Open the Monitor> Settings> Recorded Clickpath 
2. Select Script
3. Add the following snippet into the configuration section and update the value to be the snippet created earlier
   

   ,
   "experimentalProperties": [{ 
               "name": "disable-features", 
               "value": "OptimizationGuideModelDownloading,OptimizationHintsFetching,OptimizationTargetPrediction,OptimizationHints,TFLiteLanguageDetectionEnabled,HttpsUpgrades,HttpsFirstBalancedMode,TrackingProtection3pcd​" 
           }]​

   
   
4. Save your changes

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What's next

If this does not resolve the issue, please open a support ticket and provide

• a link to the affected monitor
• mention this article and any other troubleshooting steps taken

More articles can be found on the Synthetic Troubleshooting Map