"Firefox is already running but is not responding" error message and recent firefox update

"Firefox is already running but is not responding" error message is continuously popping up after the recent firefox update. I have nearly exhausted every possible solution to the problem as seen from the support page for this error message. I know someone who has the same issue on their computer and it also started right after the recent big update. Does the update have anything to do with this reoccurring issue? Is anyone else having this problem? Any other ideas on how to fix it? It would be great to get some help.

From what I have been reading from other posts on this forum, the
issue may be caused by the clear history settings.
Press the '''<Alt>''' or '''<F10>''' key to bring up the tool bar.
Followed by;
Windows; '''Tools > Options'''
Linux; '''Edit > Preferences'''
Mac; ''application name'' '''> Preferences'''
Then '''Privacy'''.
The button next to '''History''', select '''Use Custom Settings'''.
At the bottom of the page, turn on '''Clear History When Firefox Closes.'''
At the far right, press the '''Settings''' button. Turn on ONLY '''Cache''' and
'''Form And Search History''' leaving the others off.
This is not a cure but will make it easier if Firefox locks up.
'''https://support.mozilla.org/questions/997866?esab=a&s=&r=1&as=s''' {web link}

Similar Messages

  • Firefox is already running but is not responding" error message - How to fix it

    I am not sure where to post this. But after trying everything from this site I came to my own fix.
    This stopped the failure to close problem in Firefox [please pardon my lack of computer terms]
    #1 Uninstalled Firefox and re-installed it and it still didn't restart correctly
    #2 Start menu [ %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ ] and deleted all firefox files
    #3 Uninstalled Firefox and re-installed again
    #4 Start menu [firefox.exe -p ] and deleted profile info and created a new profile
    #5 Open Firefox Right clicked for Menu Bar
    #6 select Tools
    First off I did change my start page and I unchecked all Tab buttons [i don't like tabs]
    #7 Privacy Tab
    check-- [Tell sites I do no want to be tracked] [may be optional]
    check-- [Never Remember History] ******** and firefox restarted
    Location Bar-- check-- or select-- [ Nothing ] [may be optional]
    then clicked ok
    Then I again tried my old setting of [use custom settings for history ]
    When I changed the [Never Remember History] to [use custom settings for history] and restarted firefox.
    I attempted to try this and all the restart problems popped up again
    Please note
    This could not be Undone. Attempting to change from [use custom settings for history] back to [Never Remember History] would not correct the hang problem, so I had to start all over from the beginning. And that did work.
    I did loose my Bookmarks in the reset but I will live with it!
    I have restarted 20 times without a failure where it was two or three times. so it seems to work now.
    Sorry about my poor message abilities above. As I get older my attention to detail seems to be falling a bit.
    To cap what this is about.
    I started into checking the [options] page and with every page I altered I clicked yes and closed. Then checked for a response in Firefox.
    Everything worked fine until I got to the Privacy Tab.
    Again I am sorry about my crappy writing.
    Perhaps you smart folks can figure a way to fix this without loss of data.
    Good Luck gwinslo

    Hi there, gwinslo. You have come to the right place.
    From what I have been reading from other posts on this forum, the issue may
    be caused by the clear history settings.
    Press the '''<Alt>''' or '''<F10>''' key to bring up the tool bar. Then '''Tools > Options > Privacy'''.
    The button next to '''History''', select '''Use Custom Settings'''.
    At the bottom of the page, turn on '''Clear History When Firefox Closes.'''
    At the far right, press the '''Settings''' button. Turn on ONLY '''Cache''' and
    '''Form And Search History''' leaving the others off.
    '''https://support.mozilla.org/questions/997866?esab=a&s=&r=1&as=s''' {web link}
    This is not a cure but will make it easier if Firefox locks up.

  • Firefox is taking a long time to open the first time I click on it and also a dialouge box comes up stating firefox is already running, but is not responding, you must close existing firefox process? What is going on?

    After I start my computer in the morning, I go to my email, then I click on firefox, with google as my homepage, it takes a long time for firefox to show up on the computer. It says it is connecting, then when I close firefox, and go to reopen it again, a dialog box opens up that says firefox is already running and I must close existing firefox process first. I have not run into this problem before.

    * The first time you start up any application after turning on your computer is called a cold start, which is why Firefox takes a while to load right away. (I've noticed that future versions of Firefox start up faster on a cold start then Firefox 5.0.1.) Also, a lower amount of RAM could be slowing its start-up down since Firefox is kind of memory hungry.
    * As for the second part of your question, press ctrl,Alt, and the delete keys on your keyboard. The Windows Task Manager should start. Go to the processes tab and look for 'firefox.exe'. Right click on the firefox.exe and click 'End Process'. Hit Yes and wait for a minute.
    * Then opening Firefox again.
    Hopefully this helped somewhat!

  • Firefox is already running but is not responding... I get this error ten times a day or more!

    I love Firefox and don't want to use a different browser, but the error "Firefox is already running but is not responding" is driving me crazy. The reason I get this error is because I frequently use http shortcuts from my desktop or click links from within a thunderbird email. I hope someone has a solution other than "just use bookmarks" or "just end the task". This is a legitimate (and major) bug and should be fixed! Thank you.

    Hello,
    See this help article, maybe help:
    *[https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-already-running-not-responding "Firefox is already running but is not responding" error message - How to fix it]

  • Frequently when I open Firefox it says Firefox is already running but is not responding. I have to go to the task manager, find Firefox and close the process before I can get firefox to load.

    Those are all the details I have

    There is an article about this problem see:
    * [[Firefox is already running but is not responding]]

  • When I click to open firefox it says that "firefox is already running but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system" and I've tried to shut down and restart my computer but it keeps

    when i click to open firefox it says that "firefox is already running but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system." and I've tried to shut down and restart my computer but it keeps showing the same message. I've even uninstalled Firefox and then reinstalled in the hopes that the problem would be solved but it this message is still popping up. What can I do to solve this problem?
    == This happened ==
    Just once or twice
    == I was on facebook trying to upload pictures yesterday. ==
    == User Agent ==
    Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; Media Center PC 4.0; InfoPath.1)

    Do you have a profile lock file in your profile folder? If so, delete it and see if TB runs properly:
    http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_in_use#Remove_the_profile_lock_file

  • I close firefox and try to open it again later, it WON'T and says, "Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system." Firefox isn't running .

    After I turn on my laptop and click on firefox it works fine and it opens THE FIRST TIME. So can you help? i DON'T WANT TO RESTaRT my computer everytime and sometimes have to clsoe firefox b/c I'm typing paper and computer goes slow.

    Sounds like a "hang at exit" problem. There are several possible causes for that error. See:
    * How to stop the running Firefox process
    ** In Task Manager, does firefox.exe show in the '''<u>Processes</u>''' tab?
    ** See: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Kill_application
    * What may cause Firefox to hang at exit
    ** http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Firefox+hangs (see "Hang at exit" section)
    ** http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_hangs
    ** https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Firefox+is+already+running+but+is+not+responding
    * You may need to try Firefox Safe Mode
    ** You may need to use '''Safe Mode''' to locate the problem: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Safe+Mode
    **Firefox Safe Mode is a diagnostic mode that disables Extensions and some other features of Firefox. If you are using a theme, switch to the DEFAULT theme: Tools > Add-ons > Themes '''<u>before</u>''' starting Safe Mode. When entering Safe Mode, do not check any items on the entry window, just click "Continue in Safe Mode". Test to see if the problem you are experiencing is corrected.
    ** If the problem does not occur in Safe-mode then disable all of your Extensions and Plug-ins and then try to find which is causing it by enabling '''<u>one at a time</u>''' until the problem reappears. '''<u>You MUST close and restart Firefox after EACH change</u>''' via File > Restart Firefox (on Mac: Firefox > Quit). You can use "Disable all add-ons" on the Safe mode start window.
    ** See the following for more information
    *** http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes
    *** http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Troubleshooting+plugins
    *** http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Basic+Troubleshooting

  • Firefox is OPEN and working fine, but when I click a link in Thunderbird I get 'Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system.'

    If I click a link on my desktop or in any other program (while Firefox is open and running), I get this message: "Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system." There's about a billion links for this if you Google it, but they all say that Firefox wasn't shut down properly. (OK, maybe not ALL of them, but if the needle is in that haystack, I haven't yet found it.) That's not the issue in my case since I haven't shut FF down at all.
    == This happened ==
    Every time Firefox opened
    == IDK

    This began to happen to me when I tried to run two separate profiles simultaneously on the same installation of firefox with -no-remote

  • Doesn't start when starting as administrator. Error Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system.

    Update firefox, it asked me to update flash, I tried to update flash but it said I had to close firefox. A box came up and said the Flash install would continue when I closed firefox. I closed all firefox windows and no update of flash occurred. I tried relaunching firefox but got the "Doesn't start when starting as administrator. Error Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system." message. I rebooted the system, no improvement. I tried to run firefox as administrator and got the same message. Either I find a fix or I won't be able to use firefox and will have to go back to ie.

    -> press '''CTRL''' + '''SHIFT''' + '''ESC''' to Open Task Manager -> Processes tab -> right-click '''firefox.exe''' and click '''End Process Tree''' -> close Task Manager
    Troubleshooting extensions and themes
    * https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Troubleshooting%20extensions%20and%20themes
    Troubleshooting plugins
    * https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Troubleshooting%20plugins
    Check and tell if its working.

  • I deleted the profile and firefox4 and then downloaded firefox4 again. But when i click firefox it says Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process,or restart your system.HELP!

    somehow i couldn't get rid of one website called www.searchqu.com/405 set as my homepage... I tried all solutions given to change the homepage but whenever i restarted firefox that homepage used to come automatically.. So, I deleted the profile (even from recycle bin!!) and deleted the firefox and downloaded it again hoping to get my problems fixed (which didn't happen!) because i'm getting dialog box saying- Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system.

    You don't say which operating system you have installed?
    Assuming it's Windows, right click a blank part of the Windows Taskbar and go to Task Manager. Then click the ''Processes ''tab, find '''firefox.exe''' and then right click it and choose '''End Process'''.

  • Everytime I try to open firefox i keep getting this message "Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your computer"

    i have restarted my computer and i have uninstalled firefox and re-installed it but i still get the same message i have also tried safe mode and it still has not worked, and i have recently gotten rid of a trojan virus

    Do you still have a [http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox Firefox Profile Folder] ?
    * [[Firefox is already running but is not responding]]
    * http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_in_use

  • When I try to access Firefox I get this message: "Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new windwo, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your computer."

    When I click on Firefox I get a window that says: "Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your computer." I can't see where anything is running on firefox. I restarted the comuter and I shut down the computer. I also ran a full scan of the computer.

    Sorry I am a PC user but have you seen
    * [[Firefox is already running but is not responding]]
    Firefox will be hanging for some reason. The quick solutions to kill the process and try again. The next step is to try to see if it will start and exit normally a couple of times, if so the problem is solved. If not the reason needs further investigation.
    See [[firefox hangs]]
    An immediate likely culprit after repeated problems are the duplicate session restore files, as discussed in the above KB article.

  • Iget this when I try to open a session....Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system.task mngr shows no open firefox processes.

    I get this when I try to open a session....Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system.The task manager shows no open Firefox processes.I had two users on this laptop running Firefox and I tried deleting the program on both users. I then downloaded the newest version, installed it and I still get the error message as before. HELP!!!! I loved the browser program when it was working before and would rather use it than other browsers.

    See "Hang at exit":
    * http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_hangs
    * https://support.mozilla.com/kb/Firefox+hangs

  • I keep getting this message after closing Firefox and attempt to reopen-Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system.

    I keep getting this message after closing Firefox and attempt to reopen-Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system.

    See:
    * http://kb.mozillazine.org/Recovering_a_missing_profile
    * http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_in_use

  • When I try to start Firefox I get Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system.

    I get this message when I try to start Firefox after first logging on after turning on the computer.
    Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system.
    Have rebooted. Works when Administrator logs in, just does this in my user profile. Have also re-intalled. Mo change in my User account.
    Firefox was working fine for the last 3 1/2 years. Any suggestions?

    Firefox is "hanging at exit" when you exit/quit Firefox.<br /><br />
    #Stop the Firefox process:
    #*[http://kb.mozillazine.org/Kill_application Mozillazine - Kill application]
    #*Windows 7 users click [http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/reap-the-benefits-of-windows-7s-task-manager/2576 here]
    #*Mac users: http://techheavy.com/2011/02/the-mac-task-manager/
    #Why Firefox may hang:
    #*[http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Firefox+hangs Firefox hangs] (see Hang at exit)
    #*[http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_hangs Firefox hangs (Mozillazine)] (see Hang at exit and Closing Firefox properly)
    #*[https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Firefox+is+already+running+but+is+not+responding Firefox is already running but is not responding]
    #Use Firefox Safe Mode to find a problem with an Extension or Plugin:
    #*Don't check anything when entering Safe Mode, just continue
    #*If the problem does not occur in Safe Mode it is probably and Extension or Plugin causing the problem
    #*See:
    #**[[Safe Mode]] and [http://kb.mozillazine.org/Safe_Mode Safe Mode (Mozillazine)]
    #**[http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes Troubleshooting extensions and themes]
    #**[http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Troubleshooting+plugins Troubleshooting plugins]
    #**[http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Basic+Troubleshooting Basic Troubleshooting]
    '''If this reply solves your problem, please click "Solved It" next to this reply when <u>signed-in</u> to the forum.'''

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