diff --git a/chrome/content/zotero/HiddenBrowser.jsm b/chrome/content/zotero/HiddenBrowser.jsm
index 33070a5947..f2368307ba 100644
--- a/chrome/content/zotero/HiddenBrowser.jsm
+++ b/chrome/content/zotero/HiddenBrowser.jsm
@@ -51,7 +51,12 @@ const browserFrameMap = new WeakMap();
  **/
 const HiddenBrowser = {
 	/**
-	 * @param {String) source - HTTP URL, file: URL, or file path
+	 * @param {String} source - HTTP URL, file: URL, or file path
+	 * @param {Object} options
+	 * @param {Boolean} [options.allowJavaScript]
+	 * @param {Object} [options.docShell] Fields to set on Browser.docShell
+	 * @param {Boolean} [options.requireSuccessfulStatus]
+	 * @param {Zotero.CookieSandbox} [options.cookieSandbox]
 	 */
 	async create(source, options = {}) {
 		let url;
@@ -69,6 +74,9 @@ const HiddenBrowser = {
 		var windowlessBrowser = await frame.get();
 		windowlessBrowser.browsingContext.allowJavascript = options.allowJavaScript !== false;
 		windowlessBrowser.docShell.allowImages = false;
+		if (options.docShell) {
+			Object.assign(windowlessBrowser.docShell, options.docShell);
+		}
 		var doc = windowlessBrowser.document;
 		var browser = doc.createXULElement("browser");
 		browser.setAttribute("type", "content");
@@ -77,8 +85,23 @@ const HiddenBrowser = {
 		browser.setAttribute("disableglobalhistory", "true");
 		doc.documentElement.appendChild(browser);
 		
+		if (options.cookieSandbox) {
+			options.cookieSandbox.attachToBrowser(browser);
+		}
+		
 		browserFrameMap.set(browser, frame);
 		
+		if (Zotero.Debug.enabled) {
+			let weakBrowser = new WeakRef(browser);
+			setTimeout(() => {
+				let browser = weakBrowser.deref();
+				if (browser && browserFrameMap.has(browser)) {
+					Zotero.debug('Browser object still alive after 60 seconds - memory leak?');
+					Zotero.debug('Viewing URI ' + browser.currentURI?.spec)
+				}
+			}, 1000 * 60);
+		}
+		
 		// Next bit adapted from Mozilla's HeadlessShell.jsm
 		const principal = Services.scriptSecurityManager.getSystemPrincipal();
 		try {
@@ -139,6 +162,21 @@ const HiddenBrowser = {
 			return false;
 		}
 		
+		if (options.requireSuccessfulStatus) {
+			let { channelInfo } = await this.getPageData(browser, ['channelInfo']);
+			if (channelInfo && (channelInfo.responseStatus < 200 || channelInfo.responseStatus >= 400)) {
+				let response = `${channelInfo.responseStatus} ${channelInfo.responseStatusText}`;
+				Zotero.debug(`HiddenBrowser.create: ${url} failed with ${response}`, 2);
+				throw new Zotero.HTTP.UnexpectedStatusException(
+					{
+						status: channelInfo.responseStatus
+					},
+					url,
+					`Invalid response ${response} for ${url}`
+				);
+			}
+		}
+		
 		return browser;
 	},
 	
diff --git a/test/tests/HiddenBrowserTest.js b/test/tests/HiddenBrowserTest.js
index 924c718049..d7e019c278 100644
--- a/test/tests/HiddenBrowserTest.js
+++ b/test/tests/HiddenBrowserTest.js
@@ -3,6 +3,27 @@ describe("HiddenBrowser", function() {
 		"chrome://zotero/content/HiddenBrowser.jsm"
 	);
 	
+	describe("#create()", function () {
+		var httpd;
+		var port = 16213;
+		var baseURL = `http://127.0.0.1:${port}/`;
+
+		before(function () {
+			Cu.import("resource://zotero-unit/httpd.js");
+			httpd = new HttpServer();
+			httpd.start(port);
+		});
+
+		after(async function () {
+			await new Promise(resolve => httpd.stop(resolve));
+		});
+
+		it("should fail on non-2xx response with requireSuccessfulStatus", async function () {
+			let e = await getPromiseError(HiddenBrowser.create(baseURL + 'nonexistent', { requireSuccessfulStatus: true }));
+			assert.instanceOf(e, Zotero.HTTP.UnexpectedStatusException);
+		});
+	});
+	
 	describe("#getPageData()", function () {
 		it("should handle local UTF-8 HTML file", async function () {
 			var path = OS.Path.join(getTestDataDirectory().path, 'test-hidden.html');