Selenium with C# and .NET 9 — Beginner Setup Guide

Step 1: Install Visual Studio

Download and install Visual Studio (the C# code editor) from Microsoft’s official site. This is where you’ll write and run your Selenium test scripts.

Step 2: Create a New Project

Open Visual Studio → Click File → New → Project (or right-click your existing solution → Add → New Project).

Step 3: Choose Console App

Select Console Application (.NET 9) → click Next.

Step 4: Name the Project

Enter a name like SeleniumTest and click Create.

Step 5: Project Setup

Your new project SeleniumTest will appear in Solution Explorer.

Step 6: Add Selenium Packages

Right-click the project → choose Manage NuGet Packages.

Step 7: Install Selenium WebDriver

Search for Selenium → install Selenium.WebDriver and Selenium.Support packages.

Step 8: Confirm Installation

You’ll see a message like Selenium.WebDriver installed successfully at the top.

Step 9: Restart Visual Studio

After restarting, check under the NuGet folder — the Selenium packages will be listed.

Step 10: Write Your First Selenium Test

Here’s a simple example that opens a page and prints its title 👇

using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
        driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://google.com");
        Console.WriteLine("Page Title: " + driver.Title);
        driver.Quit();
    }
}

Run the code → you’ll see the page title printed in your console.

Conclusion

You’ve just set up your first Selenium project using C# and .NET 9 in Visual Studio! Now you can launch browsers, open web pages, and start writing automated test scripts easily.

I will start the series to cover all the topics related to Selenium C#.