Firefox loses window focus when flash reloads

This is an old problem that has NOT been solved by Mozilla/Adobe. If you load a flash web page, do nothing involving flash for a few minutes, and then load a new flash page in a different FF window, application focus will get yanked to the OLD window (the one you haven't touched in minutes). This problem was documented here as far back as June 2012. But for some reason the thread was closed even though the issue has not been fixed.
This issue has nothing to do with extensions or outdated plugins, as I can replicate it with a fresh copy of FF on a brand new Win7 machine with no options changed on FF. Yes, I am using the very latest Flash plugin, which works fine with the exception of this persistent and annoying issue. The issue does not exist with Chrome, and therefore it should be a priority for Mozilla to work with Adobe to fix it ASAP.

Sorry, solutions to problems such as that don't come from this support forum. Bugzilla is the place to report Bugs like that. <br />
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/ <br />
First search for an existing Bug, then if none is found file your own report providing as much information as you can about your issue.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Bug_writing_guidelines

Similar Messages

Firefox loses window focus when I switch Windows user accounts

If I have Firefox running in one Windows account and switch to another account (where I don't use Firefox) and then switch back to the account where Firefox is running, and then I open a new Firefox window, Firefox loses focus (in other words, I cannot use the new window unless I first bring it back into focus on the Desktop.) ...and, no, it is not a Windows issue, as other program behave a expected. It's just Firefox that does this. Highly annoying, btw.
[Oh, and, mods, please reopen my previous thread, I wasn't done with it, thanks.]

Threads are automatically locked after 6 months and that older thread was started Sunday January 19, 2014.
This thread was archived:
*[[/questions/983798]]
We moderators can't reopen such an archived thread, but can add a link to a new thread if necessary.
How do you open that new window?
Is that by clicking the Firefox desktop shortcut or via the Firefox File menu or a toolbar button?

Firefox Loses Window Focus, Mouse Button profiles change to default

I have a G700 mouse, which supports various hotkey profiles. For default profile, i have most buttons disabled. For games, i have game-specific hotkeys, and for firefox, i have firefox specific hotkeys (new tab, close tab, etc).
There are 2 times that I notice this behavior:
1) During regular browsing, clicking on various links causes firefox to lose focus, and the mouse software reverts from the "firefox" profile to the "default" profile. Interacting with firefox in any way does not fix this problem. the only way for firefox to become the default profile again is to click a different window or on the desktop, and then click back into firefox. The profile seems to be lost right after clicking a (javascript) link, though the number of links clicked is arbitrary. I cannot reproduce this issue with any fixed results (number of click, time period before losing focus, etc). But I can reproduce this issue reliably.
When the mouse buttons stop working, the keyboard hotkey shortcuts DONT stop working. I dont have to re-select the firefox window to use keyboard shortcuts, I only have to do that if i want to use the mouse shortcut.
2) If I am in private browsing mode, clicking links (specifically for websites that contain flash) causes the window which contains flash to move into the background and the non-private window becomes the foreground. Again, the mouse loses focus and the only way to regain focus is to manually click the window or to click away on a non-firefox object, then click the window. I believe this is a flashplayer based issue, though, and is unrelated to the profiles issue. When this happens, any interaction with a flash video also forces firefox's KEYBOARD hotkeys to not work. Ctrl+w and ctrl+t dont do anything, hitting escape does not give firefox control over keyboard hotkeys, and hitting "tab" only selects elements within the flash object. For youtube, it cycles through various clickable controls.
EDIT: I have tried resetting the firefox profile and using a completely new profile, and i have also tried syncing profiles. This is a persistent problem.

I'm using Firefox 23. This has been a problem since I got my mouse in September ish of 2012. As I stated, I've worked with logitech on this issue, they have no idea why it happens because only firefox exhibits this behavior. No other app on my computer does this and Firefox reset and clean profile do not do anything to solve the problem. Using logitech logging, I can produce a log and output of whenever the profile switches. I might be able to use logitech scripting to output debug information about what exactly causes it but that would take dev time I don't have.

Firefox frequently loses window focus

It seems that Firefox frequently loses window focus when I open a new page. It may be a bookmark, a link opened into a new tab via CTRL+Left-Click, or whatever. The following scenario always results in the window losing focus (for me).
# Open Firefox.
# [http://www.foxnews.com Open this link and bookmark it].
# Close and reopen Firefox.
# Open the page just bookmarked using the bookmark list and don't touch the window.
I read this page daily, so when I start Firefox and open the page, I have to click in it so as to scroll, etc..
Firefox 13, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
I wish this site had "Preview" for its posts. Geez Louise.

Oh please fix this ******* issue, it is driving me mad.
''Edited by a moderator due to language. See the [http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Forum+and+chat+rules+and+guidelines Rules & Guidelines] .''

I can only open one Firefox browser window. When I click the firefox icon from desktop or taskbar to open up another browser window it does not open. I am ablt to open up new tabs within the one window.

I can only open one Firefox browser window. When I click the firefox icon from desktop or taskbar to open up another browser window it does not open. I am ablt to open up new tabs within the one window.

Have you tried: click Firefox button > New Tab > New Window '''''OR''''' CTRL+N '''''OR''''' File > New Window (if using the Menu Bar)
Once open, Firefox locks the Profile that is in use and you can not open another window with that Firefox version and Profile combination using the Windows Desktop icon or the Windows Programs list.

Hello&Help, Ive just swapped to firefox from Windows explorer, When i download music from (soundcloud) i cant seem to save the files in to my music documents, it goes striaght to windows player, Is there any way i could change the setttings?? Cheers

Hello&Help, Ive just swapped to firefox from Windows explorer, When i download music from (soundcloud) i cant seem to save the files in to my music documents, it goes striaght to windows player, Is there any way i could change the setttings?? Cheers

Hey Miramo, Ive got it sorted now. :-)
Thanks for all ya help.

Spaces loses window focus?

Hello.
If you use traditional cmd+tab, you'll notice that whatever window (in an app) you've last been on will be the one you cmd+tab to.
For example, I have three Safari windows open, window 1, 2, and 3. I am looking at window 2 right now. I cmd+tab to an app on a different Space, and then cmd+tab back to Safari. Window 1, 2, OR 3 might now have focus. There's no way to predict it. Contrast to traditional cmd+tab, in which window 2 would have focus (since it's the last window focused when I cmd-tabbed away).
An interesting consequence is that if you have several app windows open in different spaces, you *cannot predict which space you will be transported to when you cmd-tab to that app!*
Am I missing something? Is there a switch I forgot to check?

Having the same annoying trouble here as well. If I command-tab to an application in another space, when I command-tab back to the original app, the window I had just been working in is now buried and I need to cycle through each to find it again. Interestingly, the window I was previously working in is still receives keyboard input like it is in focus, but it has been cycled visibly behind other windows.

Adobe shock wave flash is causing Mozilla Firefox to lose window focus.

WhenI leave a website open in Mozilla Firefox and then shut my laptop and leave it over night, then turn on my laptop the next day and open Mozilla Firefox and start using it my window loses focus so that I can't scroll or type without clicking somewhere on the screen to regain window focus. I am running windows 8.1 with the most recent version of the schockwave flash plugin. (17.0.0.169). I am also using the most recent and updated version of Mozilla Firefox. Why am I losing window focus? It seems to only happen after starting up my computer after leaving a webpage open from the day before.

I think Adobe might have solved this by now, but there used to be a problem where when you launched a new window using Flash, you would get switched to a different window. The workaround was to disable the protected mode feature of the Flash player plugin. It has security benefits, but seems to have compatibility issues on some systems.
The old instructions were somewhat arduous; fortunately, there is a new hidden setting for this:
(A) In a new tab, type or paste '''about:config''' in the address bar and press Enter. Click the button promising to be careful.
(B) In the search box above the list, type or paste '''flash''' and pause while the list is filtered
(C) Double-click the '''dom.ipc.plugins.flash.disable-protected-mode''' preference to switch its value from false to true.
This might not take effect until all Flash has been unloaded for a few minutes, or you close Firefox.
Before that preference was added, the way to disable protected mode was by creating or editing a settings file. The following pages/posts provide different approaches for that if it turns out to be necessary (if Flash EXE processes continue to show up in the Windows Task Manager, Processes tab, even after changing the Firefox preference):
* Adobe support article under the heading "Last Resort": [http://forums.adobe.com/message/4468493#TemporaryWorkaround Adobe Forums: How do I troubleshoot Flash Player's protected mode for Firefox?]
* Manual steps: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/968190?page=5#answer-509209
* Batch file to automate the manual steps: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/982093#answer-518078 (alternate version of Carm's batch file with a few changes by me: [https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=f7d304d92388737d&id=F7D304D92388737D!336&ithint=file,.bat&authkey=!AP2FXW2Y_3BXZyo])
Flash needs to completely unload from memory (exiting and starting Firefox up again might help) before this takes effect.
Any improvement?

Firefox randomly loses window focus.

When using firefox, the window will randomly lose focus so that I cannot scroll with the mouse wheel or keypad. This seems to happen randomly or usually a minute or two after I open firefox for the first time after restarting or powering on my computer. I am running the most recent version of firefox and the most recent version of adobe flashplayer. Why is this happening and how can I fix this?

I think Adobe might have solved this by now, but there used to be a problem where when you launched a new window using Flash, you would get switched to a different window. The workaround was to disable the protected mode feature of the Flash player plugin. It has security benefits, but seems to have compatibility issues on some systems.
The old instructions were somewhat arduous; fortunately, there is a new hidden setting for this:
(A) In a new tab, type or paste '''about:config''' in the address bar and press Enter. Click the button promising to be careful.
(B) In the search box above the list, type or paste '''flash''' and pause while the list is filtered
(C) Double-click the '''dom.ipc.plugins.flash.disable-protected-mode''' preference to switch its value from false to true.
This might not take effect until all Flash has been unloaded for a few minutes, or you close Firefox.
Before that preference was added, the way to disable protected mode was by creating or editing a settings file. The following pages/posts provide different approaches for that if it turns out to be necessary (if Flash EXE processes continue to show up in the Windows Task Manager, Processes tab, even after changing the Firefox preference):
* Adobe support article under the heading "Last Resort": [http://forums.adobe.com/message/4468493#TemporaryWorkaround Adobe Forums: How do I troubleshoot Flash Player's protected mode for Firefox?]
* Manual steps: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/968190?page=5#answer-509209
* Batch file to automate the manual steps: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/982093#answer-518078 (alternate version of Carm's batch file with a few changes by me: [https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=f7d304d92388737d&id=F7D304D92388737D!336&ithint=file,.bat&authkey=!AP2FXW2Y_3BXZyo])
Flash needs to completely unload from memory (exiting and starting Firefox up again might help) before this takes effect.
Any improvement?

Forcing ComboBox to lose its focus when isPopupVisible()==false

Hi,
I'm in a situation where I need to force my comboBox to lose its focus, in a case when user clicks the comboBox to pull down the popup but does not click any value inside the comboBox popup. In such a situation I need to force the comboBox to lose its focus.
I looked for some method like setFocus in comboBox api, but did not find anything such.
appreciated..

import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.table.*;
public class JTableComboSSCCE extends javax.swing.JFrame {
    JTable table;
    DefaultTableModel model;
    public JTableComboSSCCE() {
        initComponents();
        createTable();
    public void createTable() {
        model = new DefaultTableModel();
        model.addColumn("Name");
        model.addRow(new Object[]{"Julia"});
        model.addRow(new Object[]{"Sara"});
        model.addRow(new Object[]{"David"});
        model.addRow(new Object[]{"Mauricio"});
        model.addRow(new Object[]{"Tina"});
        table = new JTable(model);
        scrollPane.setViewportView(table);
        TableColumn firstColumn = table.getColumnModel().getColumn(0);
        JComboBox comboBox = new JComboBox();
        comboBox.addItem("Snowboarding");
        comboBox.addItem("Teaching high school");
        comboBox.addItem("None");
        firstColumn.setCellEditor(new DefaultCellEditor(comboBox));
    void updateTable() {
        model.removeRow(4);
    private void initComponents() {
        scrollPane = new javax.swing.JScrollPane();
        jButton1 = new javax.swing.JButton();
        jLabel1 = new javax.swing.JLabel();
        jLabel2 = new javax.swing.JLabel();
        setDefaultCloseOperation(javax.swing.WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        addWindowListener(new java.awt.event.WindowAdapter() {
            public void windowClosed(java.awt.event.WindowEvent evt) {
                formWindowClosed(evt);
        jButton1.setText("Update Table");
        jButton1.addActionListener(new java.awt.event.ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
                jButton1ActionPerformed(evt);
        jLabel1.setText("1- Click the last row, but do not pick any value, then click outside the table");
        jLabel2.setText("2- Click Update Table button, then click any row to edit cell");
        javax.swing.GroupLayout layout = new javax.swing.GroupLayout(getContentPane());
        getContentPane().setLayout(layout);
        layout.setHorizontalGroup(
            layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addComponent(scrollPane, javax.swing.GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, 670, Short.MAX_VALUE)
            .addGroup(layout.createSequentialGroup()
                .addGap(21, 21, 21)
                .addGroup(layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.TRAILING, false)
                    .addComponent(jLabel2, javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING, javax.swing.GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, javax.swing.GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, Short.MAX_VALUE)
                    .addComponent(jLabel1, javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING, javax.swing.GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, 469, Short.MAX_VALUE))
                .addPreferredGap(javax.swing.LayoutStyle.ComponentPlacement.RELATED, 52, Short.MAX_VALUE)
                .addComponent(jButton1)
                .addGap(29, 29, 29))
        layout.setVerticalGroup(
            layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.TRAILING, layout.createSequentialGroup()
                .addGroup(layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
                    .addGroup(layout.createSequentialGroup()
                        .addGap(24, 24, 24)
                        .addComponent(jButton1)
                        .addPreferredGap(javax.swing.LayoutStyle.ComponentPlacement.RELATED))
                    .addGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.TRAILING, layout.createSequentialGroup()
                        .addContainerGap(37, Short.MAX_VALUE)
                        .addComponent(jLabel1)
                        .addPreferredGap(javax.swing.LayoutStyle.ComponentPlacement.RELATED)))
                .addPreferredGap(javax.swing.LayoutStyle.ComponentPlacement.RELATED)
                .addComponent(jLabel2)
                .addGap(15, 15, 15)
                .addComponent(scrollPane, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, 214, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
        pack();
    private void formWindowClosed(java.awt.event.WindowEvent evt) {
        this.dispose();
    private void jButton1ActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
        updateTable();
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                new JTableComboSSCCE().setVisible(true);
    private javax.swing.JButton jButton1;
    private javax.swing.JLabel jLabel1;
    private javax.swing.JLabel jLabel2;
    private javax.swing.JScrollPane scrollPane;
}

Facebook reports that i'm using v3.5 of Firefox and Windows 2000 when running on 16.0.2 and XP (upgraded system). where is this info and how to reset?

the PC was upgraded from Win2000 to XP, and has all the XP service packs installed. it is also running Firefox 16.0.2. when i go to Facebook, and other pages, it says that i'm running an unsupported operating system (says i'm using Windows 2000), and i should upgrade my browser to the latest version (says i'm running FF 3.5, or FF 3.6, can't remember which). i' ve looked thru the registry, but haven't found anything that jumps out. where else could this info be stored that Firefox is looking at.

'' pbturner wrote:''
where is this information stored? and how can i correct it?
It's explained in the “Firefox is showing the wrong User Agent” section of the aforementioned article.
# Type ''about:config'' in the address bar and press Enter.
# Press the big button to bypass the warning.
# In the Search bar, paste ''general.useragent''
# If any of the search results show “Status: user set”, right-click each one and choose '''Reset'''
You should also get rid of Fast Browser Search, which is what corrupted your user agent string. Other names to watch out for are “Fast Browser search protection”, “Fast Browser Search (MyTattoo)”.<br>These may appear not only in your Firefox add-ons, but also your Internet Explorer add-ons and Windows Control Panel, in the Uninstall or Add or Remove Programs category.
* [[Disable or remove Add-ons]]

Switching windows in Linux/Firefox loses keyboard focus. Workarounds?

Hi,
I've been stumbling on an issue in which an applet gets into a state where it can receive mouse events but not keyboard events. This state occurs some of the time when switching from a non-modal dialog to the applet.
I've witnessed this behavior on:
Linux (fc8), Firefox 3.0.10, Java plug-in 1.6.0_13, Gnome 2.20.3
Sun Solaris (5.10), Firefox 3.0.8, Java plug-in 1.6.0_12, Sun Java Desktop System or CDE
I can not reproduce this behavior using appletviewer, nor can I reproduce it on the Mac (Opera/Firefox/Safari), nor on Windows (Firefox/IE).
I've crafted some code that shows the behavior:
FocusApplet.java:
import javax.swing.JApplet;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.border.*;
import javax.swing.event.*;
import java.beans.*;
public class FocusApplet extends JApplet {
JTextArea infoText;
    Object activeWindow;
    Object focusOwner;
    Object permanentFocusOwner;
       Applet contains two components.
       NORTH: Text field
       CENTER: Info text
       The info text is updated whenever the following
       KeyboardFocusManager properties change:
          activeWindow
       focusOwner
       permanentFocusOwner
public void init(){
      JTextField tf = new JTextField("Type here");
      infoText = new JTextArea();
      infoText.setEditable(false);
      infoText.setLineWrap(true);
      infoText.setWrapStyleWord(true);
      infoText.setBorder(new EtchedBorder());
      this.add(infoText, BorderLayout.CENTER);
      this.add(tf, BorderLayout.NORTH);
      KeyboardFocusManager focusManager =
       KeyboardFocusManager.getCurrentKeyboardFocusManager();
      activeWindow=focusManager.getActiveWindow();
      permanentFocusOwner=focusManager.getPermanentFocusOwner() ;
      focusOwner=focusManager.getFocusOwner() ;
      updateText();
      focusManager.addPropertyChangeListener(
       new PropertyChangeListener() {
         public void propertyChange(PropertyChangeEvent e) {
          String prop = e.getPropertyName();
          if ("focusOwner".equals(prop)) {
              focusOwner = e.getNewValue();
              updateText();
          } else if ("permanentFocusOwner".equals(prop)) {
              permanentFocusOwner = e.getNewValue();
              updateText();
          } else if ("activeWindow".equals(prop)) {
              activeWindow = e.getNewValue();
              updateText();
      // Create non-modal dialog
      JDialog jdl = new JDialog((Frame)null,"Extra dialog",
                    false/*modal*/);
      jdl.setSize (300,550);
      jdl.setVisible(true);
    public void updateText() {
     infoText.setText("Active window: "+getName(activeWindow)+
        "\nFocus owner: "+getName(focusOwner)+
        "\nPermanent focus owner: "+getName(permanentFocusOwner));
    public String getName(Object obj) {
     return (obj==null) ? "null" : obj.getClass().getName();
}Applet HTML:
<applet code="FocusApplet.class" width="400" height="400"></applet>When I run this applet, I can click on the text field ("Type here") and enter text. Then, I switch between the empty dialog box and the applet using the window manager. (I.e., clicking on the dialog, then clicking on the applet.) Sometimes I see the following Keyboard Focus settings when I bring the applet to the front:
Active window: sun.plugin.viewer.frame.XNetscapeEmbeddedFrame
Focus owner: javax.swing.JTextField
Permanent focus owner: javax.swing.JTextField
In this case, clicking on the text field will allows the user to edit text. Good! However, 10%-50% of the time I get the following settings after I bring the applet to the front:
Active window: null
Focus owner: null
Permanent focus owner: javax.swing.JTextField
In this case, I can click on the applet, and I can highlight text in the text field, but I can not edit the text. (No carat appears. Bad!) Since there is no keyboard focus owner, the applet appears non-responsive.
I have a few questions:
1. Is this a Java plug-in bug? A Firefox bug? Who do I file a bug with, assuming there's not something I'm missing?
2. Can anyone suggest a workaround?
Thanks,
-David-

I noticed the problem too. Is there any fix or workaround? Friends using Windows say that all is ok.
Linux x86_64 (Gentoo), Firefox 3.5.1, jre 1.6.0.15.

EA2 - loss of window focus when fetching rows

Whenever Sql Developer has to pull information for Table or View tabs (switching panes or scrollling down in the Data pane), it looks like the window loses focus for 1/2 second, then regains it. This makes scrolling in the Data pane disconcerting, as the titlebar flashes all the time. I don't see any windows pop up or anything, so I don't know what's taking focus away. Scrolling a resultset in the SQL worksheet doesn't have this problem; focus is kept and fetching the next 100 rows is almost instantaneous.

I would be sharing some tech. details to give you an idea on the tradeoff made.
Querying and fetching data from db in all grids in sqldev is being done in background thread. You can see that 2.1 leaves GUI free for interaction, using background threads, in many area's, where 1.5.5 blocked you.
When an operation is done in a background thread we show you a progress component to let you know that it's working and to let you cancel or pause the operation in some cases.
As you can see in the worksheet's grids this progress component is shown in the results tab toolbar and in Task Progress dockable.
In case of all Object Viewer tabs this progress component is a modal dialog. Modal because we don't want the user to interact with the other parts of GUI till the operation in complete. In an ideal world, there should be no modal dialogs..but what you have now is what we could achieve.
The modal progress dialog, though created as soon as the operation starts in a background task, are shown to you after a tiny delay. This delay has been deliberately added since in most cases the operation would finish within seconds or split seconds. If there was no forced delay in the appearance of the dialog, constantly flashing dialogs would be disconcerting. The important thing is that though the dialog is visible after a little delay, or if the operation finishes within this force delay thereby not making this dialog to appear, the GUI is still blocked by an "invisible" modal dialog. Again, this is deliberate since we wan't to prevent interaction with GUI in this usecase, till the background task has finished.
When the operation finishes the Object Viewer tab regains the focus.
Scrolling and thereby incremental fetching in worksheet's grids is smoother because there is no modal dialog there which takes the focus from grid and later sets it back.
This is the tradeoff. As I said, ideally we would not want to show a modal task progress dialog when grid is busy. We'll try to address this in future.
-Raghu

Illustrator CS6 loses keyboard focus when using an extension panel

OS10.8.2 CS6. When clicking a button on any extension panel (even supplied Kuler), it seems that Illustrator can't get keyboard focus until something else on the screen is clicked. Anyone know a way to fix this? I need to be able to use the keyboard to copy or delete a selected object right after running script....
Tried running a javascript inline with app.activate() command. Didn't work. Help!!!!

I noticed the problem too. Is there any fix or workaround? Friends using Windows say that all is ok.
Linux x86_64 (Gentoo), Firefox 3.5.1, jre 1.6.0.15.

Firefox crashes windows 7 when recovering from sleep mode

Similar to the following:
http://support.mozilla.com/pl/forum/1/627872?s=window+7+crash&as=s
but not sure whether it depends on pages that are currently opened.
Sometimes, when recovering from sleep mode on win7 (with only Firefox and VS2008 running), win7 crashes. What's important - It doesn't happen always, but still, it's annoying (Firefox starts with startpage only).
I've been noticing this issue on different Firefox versions from Firefox 3.5 to 3.6.6.

Same exactly problem here, very annoying when the computer goes to sleep mode and then Firefox locks up.

Firefox loses window focus when flash reloads

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for