Chromium 68 browsers (Chrome, Edge etc.) create debug.log files

[German]Browsers based on the Chromium code such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Chromium Edge, Vivaldi etc. sporadically generate nonsensical debug.log files in version 68.x.

Google released a new update of the Google Chrome browser for the desktop (Linux, macOS, Windows) on October 6, 2020, which raises the browser to version 86.0.4240.75. I had reported about it in the blog post Google Chrome 86.0.4240.75 released appeared. Microsoft has updated Edge and Brave his browser too. There is now a bug in all browsers.

Suddenly debug.log files

Users on Windows find that Chromium 86 based browsers such as Google Chrome or Microsoft Chromium Edge can sporadically generate log files on the desktop and in various folders. Messages about this phenomenon can be found in the Microsoft Answers forum, as in this thread, where someone writes the following.

Why is there a debug file on my computer and how to I fix it

In the debug file it says [1010/132558.157:ERROR:directory_reader_win.cc(43)] FindFirstFile: The system cannot find the path specified. (0x3)

The user in question was using the Brave browser and wondered about the debug files, but could not name the cause. Other users report that the Edge also creates these log files. The thread already has five pages. Similar threads can be found on Microsoft Answers in the forum posts here and here. Microsoft has published this post about that issue.

An entry in the Chromium Bug Tracker

A user has reported this bug as Issue 1138853: Chrome creates `debug.log` with error "FindFirstFile: The system cannot find the path specified" on Oct. 15, 2020. He reported that since the update to version 86.0.4240.75, Chrome writes these log files under Windows 10, where their content is meaningless (see error description above). Here the Chromium developers will probably have to fix that. 

Bleeping Computer has a tip to delete the contents of the Chromium Crashpad folder Bleeping Computer indicates its location for the various browsers as follows:

Chrome: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Crashpad
Edge:       C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Crashpad
Brave:     C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Crashpad

Before deleting the folder, however, the browser must be closed, otherwise the folder will be locked.