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?

Similar Messages

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] .''

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 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.

Problem with new firefox tabs and window focus

Here's a problem that I've had for ages - sometimes it annoys me, other times I can live with it. Right now it's really p***ing me off. :x
I have selected 'a new tab in the most recent window' under FF's Preferences->Tabs->Open links from other applications in:, so as an example, if I click on a URL in a mail in Thunderbird, Firefox opens it in a new tab. However, window focus stays on Thunderbird. I run both of them full screen, so although I'm looking at the web page in Firefox, anything I do on the keyboards affects Thunderbird. It affects URLs opened from other apps too e.g. if I open a terminal and do
firefox www.archlinux.org
focus stays on the terminal window. The only exception is when firefox is not already running - in that case, firefox launches with focus.
DE is xfce4, and the system is completely up to date.
I've done some googling, and AFAICS, nobody else seems to have this problem. Any ideas, anyone?
TIA.

Thanks MAC!EK - definitely a useful add-on, but it still doesn't solve my problem. In Tab Mix Plus Options, I have the following selected:
Links -> Open links from other applications in: New tab
Events-> Tab Focus -> Focus/Select tabs that open from: <all>
However, the behaviour is as before i.e. I click a URL in Thunderbird, it opens in a new tab in Firefox, but window focus stays on Thunderbird. Within Firefox, the newly-opened tab is selected or focussed, but Firefox itself is not.
Anyway, thanks again. I think I need to keep looking.

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.

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 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. 
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/ 
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

Lasso tool problem, using alt key, no click within 5sec causes loss of active window focus

I have been using Photoshop since ver. 4 and have never seen this happen. The only difference is now I'm on Windows 7 64bit. Did not have this problem with XP. Current version CS3 Extended.
Problem: While using Lasso tool with the alt key if I do not make a mouse click in 5 seconds Photoshop's active window loses focus for a split second and then the first point of my selection and the last point will connect. Thus, wasting my time and my attempt at a selection.
I have task bar buttons to "Never combine". I see for that split second what appears to be another program button opening but it is so fast that I cannot see if there is a name on the task bar button. The current Photoshop button moves to the right and back too fast. This all happens very quickly as the window loses focus.
I first thought it was some another program but after many searches found nothing I can identify as the cause.
Right before posting this I had a thought and did a test that concluded in the 5 sec rule. For over a minute I held down the alt key and made a mouse click within the 5 second window of time and there was no loss of window focus. While still holding down the alt key in this same test but not making a mouse click within 5 seconds the window lost focus and the tool stopped with my selection.
I have a wireless Logitech M305 mouse that this morning updated the driver to its current version 5.20.51, Control Center version: 6.20.50.
I have not tested a wired mouse, yet.
Any help would be appreciated. Anyone else seen this? Windows 7 64 bit the culprit?????
Message was edited by: golfnut333

UPDATE
After I removed Photoshop from Norton 360's Administrative Settings_Silent Mode Settings_User-Specified Programs, I did not have the problem with the lasso tool that I first had with loss of window focus. I then put Photoshop back in the 360's settings and the lasso tool still worked, BUT...............
After a couple of days of not using Photoshop and turning computer on and off in that time, I tried Photoshop again and the same problem, it came back. Loss of focus after 5 seconds of not clicking mouse. So, once again I open Norton and took Photoshop out of the User-Specified Programs and the problem went away, no loss of focus.
So, I will see if after a couple of days of turning on and off the computer and NOT putting Photoshop in the Norton's User-Specified Programs setting if the problem stays fixed.
I don't have to have Photoshop in the Norton's setting I just thought that it would be a good idea so Norton didn't try to do any background processes or whatever while I was working in Photoshop or I was rendering a filter or something.
Another thought I also have the Full Screen Detection setting ON. I do use Photoshop in Full Screen mode so maybe when having both the Full Screen mode and User-Specified Programs setting selected it makes something go wacky.
Hope this helps anyone having the same problem I "did". Will post back after a few days to let you know if focus problem is gone.
If it does relieve the problem then I will leave Photoshop off the list in Norton. No sense in trying to fix something that really doesn't matter, really.
UPDATE 2
January 8, 2011, I tried the lasso tool again and it still appears to be working. I did my standard test of holding the alt key and clicking to make selections then not click for 5 seconds or more and I did not lose window focus. I do not know why the Norton 360 setting triggers the loss of focus but since I turned that setting off I'm not having any problem.
Will update again if something changes.
Anyone else out there with the same problem that was solved using this method?
Message was edited by: golfnut333

Where do i find all bookmarks in firefox i lose then every time i need to reinstall firefox/windows

Where do i find all bookmarks in firefox i lose then every time i need to reinstall firefox/windows
Where are my bookmarks in firefox
in explorer they will be in o folder called favorites
i think it must something like that in firefox but i cant find it

See:
*http://kb.mozillazine.org/Backing_up_and_restoring_bookmarks_-_Firefox
See also:
*http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Backing+up+your+information
*http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

Randomly lose the ability to minimize windows (possibly after 5.5 update)

Just like the title says I randomly lose the ability to minimize windows.
I just noticed it a few days ago; and I think it started after I updated to 10.5.5... It seems to happen when I use the spaces feature. Since I'm always use Windows XP in vmware, I give Windows it's own desktop. At times I drag, or open up new applications in other spaces. And when I go bettween the spaces using a command arrow, I notice the "yellow" minimize botton turns a grayish white, and I can't click on it. Sometimes I can still do a command M to minimize that Window, other times that feature is "grayed out" as well. The only thing I can do to fix it is to close and reopen the Window(s), affected.
About my machine:
Macbook Pro 4,1
2.4 ghz Intel
2 gig's of Ram
Nivida 8600 256meg
200 gig drive (Partitioned a 100 for leopard, and a 100 for Windows XP Pro "NTFS")

Update:
I found the problem has to do with vmware.
When I run Windows XP Pro in full screen mode in vmware, and I got bettween spaces, that's when I lose the ability to minimize my OSX applications.
If I run Windows XP Pro with in a window in Vmware or in "utility" mode, I don't have that problem...

HELP! Firefox keeps randomly switching windows.

Every time I open a new window link from a current window, the new window will pop up like normal.
But after I click on anything inside the new window, Firefox randomly switches to the previous window and I have to reclick the new window to get it back.
How do I fix this? I don't want it to keep switching back to the old window when I've already opened a new one.
I'm using the latest Firefox build 23.0.1, fresh install with Windows 7 64 bit.

Sounds like a bug in the Flash Player plugin's Protected Mode. Check out the following thread for a further description and known workarounds: [https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/955659 Opening New Windows and Shockwave Flash].

After installing Firefox 4 the window minimizes at random, how do I fix this?

The title pretty much sums it up.

This issue can be caused by an extension that isn't working properly.
Start Firefox in [[Safe Mode]] to check if one of the extensions is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox (Tools) > Add-ons > Appearance/Themes).
* Don't make any changes on the Safe mode start window.
* https://support.mozilla.com/kb/Safe+Mode
* [[Troubleshooting extensions and themes]]
If it does work in Safe-mode then disable all extensions and then try to find which is causing it by enabling one at a time until the problem reappears.
* Use "Disable all add-ons" on the [[Safe mode]] start window to disable all extensions.
* Close and restart Firefox after each change via "File > Exit" (Mac: "Firefox > Quit"; Linux: "File > Quit")
In Firefox 4 you can use one of these to start in [[Safe mode]]:
* Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
* Hold down the Shift key while double clicking the Firefox desktop shortcut (Windows)

Camera Raw loses system focus and becomes inactive

While working in ACR if I hover over any of the command buttons, Save Image, Open Image, Cancel, or Done for a few seconds the "tool tip" for the button displays and as soon as I move the mouse again the whole Camera Raw windows loses system focus and becomes inactive (every tab, control, menu, etc., becomes greyed out). To regain the system focus I must move the mouse to the windows 7 taskbar and then back into Camera Raw. If the fullscreen checkbox in Camera Raw is active the only way to regain system focus is to press the Windows Key twice on the keyboard and move the mouse out of the taskbar tray. This gets pretty frustrating. Any clues?

It doesn't normally do this, I can assure you. Normally the tooltips just pop up and Camera Raw stays active.
Do you have any desktop management software installed, besides what Windows provides?
Are your video drivers up to date?
-Noel

Why does Firefox switch which window is active?

It seems like nobody has had this problem since Firefox 3, but I've been having it since Firefox 5, and 7 hasn't solved it yet.
I work with multiple Firefox windows open, each with multiple tabs open. Often I will click a link in one window, then switch to another window while the page in window one opens.
The problem is that when the page has finished loading, Firefox will switch the focus back to window one, ripping me out of whatever I'm doing in window two. There's no warning, no flash on the taskbar, just a jump to the window where a page has finished loading.
I have changed my Windows XP settings to prevent apps from stealing focus and changed to notification time setting to max, so it's not a Windows issue (as near as I can tell; no telling what new default Microsoft has decided everybody wants).
If it matters, I switch active windows via ALT-TAB (I'm a dinosaur who started keyboarding before Windows hit the market).

This issue can be caused by an extension or plugin that isn't working properly.
Start Firefox in [[Safe Mode]] to check if one of the add-ons is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Tools > Add-ons > Themes).
* Don't make any changes on the Safe mode start window.
See:
* [[Troubleshooting extensions and themes]]
* [[Troubleshooting plugins]]
If it does work in Safe-mode then disable all extensions and then try to find which is causing it by enabling one at a time until the problem reappears.
* Use "Disable all add-ons" on the [[Safe mode]] start window to disable all extensions.
* Close and restart Firefox after each change via "File > Exit" (Mac: "Firefox > Quit"; Linux: "File > Quit")

Firefox randomly loses window focus.

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