Intermittent "Couldn't fetch Chromedriver version" errors in test-e2e-windows job

The test-e2e-windows job occasionally fails. It seems to fix itself after some unknown length of time.

Error here:

$ npx wdio run ./wdio.conf.js --exclude="./specs/duo_chat.e2e.js"
Execution of 3 workers started at 2026-02-12T21:13:34.437Z
SevereServiceError in "onPrepare"
SevereServiceError: 
A service failed in the 'onPrepare' hook
SevereServiceError: Couldn't fetch Chromedriver version: Unexpected non-whitespace character after JSON at position 3 (line 1 column 4)
    at VSCodeServiceLauncher._fetchChromedriverVersion (file:///C:/GitLab-Runner/builds/gitlab-org/gitlab-vscode-extension/test/e2e/node_modules/wdio-vscode-service/dist/launcher.js:197:19)
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
    at async VSCodeServiceLauncher._setupVSCodeDesktop (file:///C:/GitLab-Runner/builds/gitlab-org/gitlab-vscode-extension/test/e2e/node_modules/wdio-vscode-service/dist/launcher.js:119:37)
    at async VSCodeServiceLauncher.onPrepare (file:///C:/GitLab-Runner/builds/gitlab-org/gitlab-vscode-extension/test/e2e/node_modules/wdio-vscode-service/dist/launcher.js:59:17)
    at async file:///C:/GitLab-Runner/builds/gitlab-org/gitlab-vscode-extension/test/e2e/node_modules/@wdio/cli/build/utils.js:42:17
    at async Promise.all (index 0)
    at async Launcher.run (file:///C:/GitLab-Runner/builds/gitlab-org/gitlab-vscode-extension/test/e2e/node_modules/@wdio/cli/build/launcher.js:98:13)
Stopping runner...
    at file:///C:/GitLab-Runner/builds/gitlab-org/gitlab-vscode-extension/test/e2e/node_modules/@wdio/cli/build/utils.js:58:35
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
    at async Launcher.run (file:///C:/GitLab-Runner/builds/gitlab-org/gitlab-vscode-extension/test/e2e/node_modules/@wdio/cli/build/launcher.js:98:13)

Examples:

Checklist

I'm using the latest version of the extension (see the latest version in the right column of this page)
- Extension version: Put your extension version here
I'm using the latest VS Code version (find the latest version here)
- VS Code version: Put your VS Code version here
I'm using a supported version of GitLab (see README for the supported version)
- GitLab version: Put your GitLab version here, or say "happens on gitlab.com"

Intermittent "Couldn't fetch Chromedriver version" errors in test-e2e-windows job

Checklist

Summary

Steps to reproduce

What is the current bug behavior?

What is the expected correct behavior?

Relevant logs and/or screenshots

Possible fixes