Firefox won't open, want to find bookmarks file and save it
I have a laptop with Vista that is hopelessly crashed. Firefox will NOT open on this machine at all. Before the machine is wiped I would like to find the bookmarks file on the C: drive and save it, hopefully to restore it on my home desktop. Where do I find this file? How would I restore it?
To note: I have already tried importing my Firefox bookmarks into IE, but that won't work either - Firefox seems to be hopelessly corrupted on this machine.
Hi Swarnava,
Thanks for your help so far!
How do I identify the version or Firefox, please? It won't open via the shortcut or clicking Open in All Programs. When I right click the logo in All Programs and click on Properties, the 3 tabs there don't tell me the version of Firefox.
I'm using Windows XP.
Since I can't open my version of Firefox I don't see a Bookmarks or other Firefox tabs to follow the directions at backing up/recovering Bookmarks in the bottom of the article you kindly referred me to.
When I copy %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ into Search and get to my profile there are Bookmarks and Bookmarks Backup files. I get an error message when I try to open them.
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I used "my documents" for the profile folder, I removed the profile and firefox asked if i want to remove its file, and it took ALL my file except a few, all my photographs etc, are these now unrecoverable? as they are not in the recycle bin
disaster, thanks firefox 1 year of photos lostThanks for the obvious question. I mean it. The very same thought came to me this morning and, sure enough, I had booted into another drive--my old one that, of course, had the old desktop, etc.
It didn't dawn on me that this was the case since I hadn't set it as a boot drive but I guess in the course of all the restarts I did, it got switched.
I'm back to normal again. -
Firefox won't open until I restart my computer, and will not open links once it is open.
When I click the icon to open Firefox, it shows the little loading circle for a second or two, but then does nothing. Other browsers work fine on my computer, but when this happens I have to restart my computer and then it will open until the next time I log in to my computer. Also, when Firefox does finally open, it won't allow me to click on certain links within a website. It shows the hand cursor over the link, but when you click on it nothing happens and it will not open. I have tried doing a system restore, uninstalling Firefox and reinstalling it, all kinds of troubleshooting, and still nothing has worked. I love Firefox, but if this keeps happening I will have to stop using it altogether.
When you uninstall firefox, do you go to the control panel and in C:/ProgramFiles/(delete mozilla firefox)? Or only one of the two options?Try.
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Firefox tries to open but all that comes up is the Mozilla Crash Reporter and can't open past this point.
Do a clean (re)install:
* Download a fresh Firefox copy from http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/all.html and save the file to the desktop.
* Uninstall your current Firefox version and remove the Firefox program folder before installing that copy of the Firefox installer.
* Don't remove personal data if you uninstall the current version.
* It is important to delete the Firefox program folder to remove all the files and make sure that there are no problems with files that were leftover after uninstalling.
See:
* [[Basic Troubleshooting]] -
Updated Firefox yesterday and now the program will not open on my desktop. Screen goes black for a second, issues a beep and then get box asking if I want to allow Firefox to make changes to my computer. Does not matter if I click yes or no, box disapears and nothing happens. Willing to remove and reload the program but hate to lose all my bookmarks.
'''Try the Firefox Safe Mode''' to see how it works there. The Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode, which disables most add-ons.''
''(If you're not using it, switch to the Default theme.)''
* You can open the Firefox 4.0+ Safe Mode by holding the '''Shift''' key when you use the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
* Or use the Help menu item and click on the '''Restart with Add-ons Disabled...''' menu item while Firefox is running.
''Don't select anything right now, just use "'Start in Safe Mode"''
''To exit the Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before using the Firefox shortcut (without the Shift key) to open it again.''
'''''If it is good in the Firefox Safe Mode''''', your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one.
Please follow the [[Troubleshooting extensions and themes]] article for that.
''When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help other users who have the same problem.'' -
Firefox won't open because of my bookmarks
My firefox was working normally and great yesterday morning, but when I got home from work it wouldn't open. I looked online and it said to make a new profile, so I did, and when I use that one, it works. When I use the previous one with my bookmarks in, it doesn't. I tried to move the bookmarks into the new profile, but then it wont work again, so I had to make yet another one to get onto this website. If I click on firefox in one of the other profiles it just wont open. This is really frustrating as the bookmarks are very important, and I can't remember all of them, and I don't want to lose them.
== Operating system ==
VistaYou can delete prefs.js or the files lightweighttheme-footer and lightweighttheme-header in the [http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox Firefox Profile Folder] to remove the persona and revert to the default theme.
Are there any extensions installed in that profile (Tools > Add-ons > Extensions)?
Some programs install extensions globally for each profile automatically. -
've just upgraded to latest version of Firefox 4 and my Mac is only OSX.10.4.11 and now it won't open. How do I downgrade and get old Firefox back. Don't want to lose all my bookmarks. Why was I able to install in the first place. Very frustrated!!
You can get the latest version of Firefox 3.6 from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-older.html
You can trash Firefox 4.0 then re-install Firefox 3.6, it will use your existing bookmarks, passwords etc
Mozilla are working to prevent Mac users with non-compatible systems from getting the notification about Firefox 4, and also not displaying the "Download Firefox 4" button on http://www.mozilla.com -
I installed Inbox Dollars toolbar, now Firefox won;t open at all. Using OS 3.6.8. Someone responded but I forgot to bookmark the answer, now I can't find it.
Will whomever posted the original reply, repost it today if possible. I am going tomorrow morning to try to have someone do this for me, and now I can't find what you said to do.
Thanks!
Rosemary -
Tried to use Restore to return to pre-Firefox4 but now Firefox won't open and won't uninstall.
After trying to maneuver the new Firefox 4.0 for a while and giving up, I wanted to go back to the 3.6.1.6 version. I used the Restore feature to try to go back to the pre-Firefox 4.0 dowload. Since then, Firefox won't open. I have tried to uninstall Firefox 3.6.1.6, which is listed in my installed programs in the Control Panel, but it doesn't do anything. At this point I don't know what to do. I want to re-instate the 3.6.1.6 version on my computer. Thanks.
You're in a bit of a pickle here because you can't use System Restore to revert to 3.6.16. You probably now have version 1.9.2.x which is in part, files which were not removed when you installed FF4
What you can try and do is use System Resore to undo the last restoration which should take you back to 4.0 again. If that fails, see this article: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_firefox
If the undo restoration is successful, do the following to revert to 3.6.16
Go to [http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-older.html Download Firefox v3.6.16] and download it to the desktop. If necessary, download the file with IE8 and choose to save it to your desktop when you see the prompt.
Then go to Add/Remove Programs, scroll down to Mozilla Firefox and remove it, choosing to keep your bookmarks, customizations etc., (don't checkmark the box).
Then reboot and delete the folder called '''Mozilla Firefox''' at this location: ''C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox''
Finally run the installation file you downloaded to the desktop earlier.
Your bookmarks, customizations etc., are maintained in a different location and will become available to you again once you complete the installation. -
Firefox won't open and won't uninstall so I can re-install and start anew. HELP!
I'm on a Dell laptop with Windows Vista using the latest version of Mozilla Firefox. My son was playing a game online (addicting games website I think) and the whole game screen didn't show up, he had to scroll. I went to the top of the page and right clicked and closed the address bar and menu bar so they weren't in the way. I've done this in the past and it worked fine. Not this time! When I went back to put those bars back on I couldn't do it. I had no address bar, no forward, back, refresh and home buttons, no file, edit, view buttons etc. I looked in my internet settings and all over the place and couldn't figure out how to replace those bars. I uninstalled Firefox and reinstalled it but those bars still were not there. I did this again after deleting browsing history (cookies and all) in case this problem was saved in my preferences. Still, no bars or buttons. I tried to uninstall again but now it won't even uninstall! It stubornly stays right there! It also won't even open now! I click on the icon and it sits. I right click the icon and hit open and it sits. I'm dead in the water. I can't even sign in to Pogo anymore because IE crashes everytime. I hate IE.....HELP!
Right... Back to square one.
- Open Internet Explorer, go to "www.mozilla.com" and download the installer for Firefox 3.6.12 and save it to your desktop.
- To uninstall Firefox, first make sure no "firefox.exe" processes are running on your machine: Open the task manager (invoke it by pressing ctrl-alt-del and choosing the appropriate option), click on the "Processes" tab, click on the heading "Name" to sort all running processes by name.
Scroll down the list and right-click on the first "firefox.exe" process picking the "Kill process" option. If there's more than one of them, repeat for all instances of "firefox.exe".
- Now go to the directory C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\uninstall and double-click "helper.exe". This should uninstall Firefox completely.
- Now we're in for the hard part: Go to C:\Dokuments and Settings\[Your User Name]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles. That's where your profile resides. Unless you're using the Profile Manager, chances are you're seeing just one directory "[random string],default". (In my case it's called "4sr92zjz.default", f. ex.).
If you got any bookmarks you'd like to keep, open this folder, find the file "places.sqlite" and move it to your desktop.
Now delete the entire contents of your profile folder--you'll need to configure firefox anew. Do keep this window open, you'll need it again in a few moments.
Go to your desktop, run the installer, start Firefox once, close it again and move your "places.sqlite" file from your desktop to your profile folder.
Now double-click Firefox and reconfigure it according to your preferences.
N.B.: Do get "MozBackup". With this application you're able to save and restore a working Firefox profile--for your next mishap ;-) -
After cleaning out a trojan, Firefox won't open
Had a trojan. Got it deleted. Now, only for the user originally infected, Firefox won't open. When clicked, window opens asking which program I want to use to open firefox.exe. Huh? Opens & works fine for other users. How do I fix this? Can I recover this user's bookmarks?
See:
*http://kb.mozillazine.org/Backing_up_and_restoring_bookmarks_-_Firefox
*https://support.mozilla.com/kb/Recovering+important+data+from+an+old+profile
*http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox
*http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser_will_not_start_up -
Firefox won't open and the steps in tutorial didn't help nor did uninstalling and re-installing
Hi,
I have been thru the tutorial and none of the steps solved the problem I am having with firefox. I just installed it on a new computer and it won't open. It says that it cannot run until process is ended or computer is restarted. Restarting and ending the process don't seem to help. The other tutorial step of deleting the lock file doesn't work either as I could not find a lock file.Right... Back to square one.
- Open Internet Explorer, go to "www.mozilla.com" and download the installer for Firefox 3.6.12 and save it to your desktop.
- To uninstall Firefox, first make sure no "firefox.exe" processes are running on your machine: Open the task manager (invoke it by pressing ctrl-alt-del and choosing the appropriate option), click on the "Processes" tab, click on the heading "Name" to sort all running processes by name.
Scroll down the list and right-click on the first "firefox.exe" process picking the "Kill process" option. If there's more than one of them, repeat for all instances of "firefox.exe".
- Now go to the directory C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\uninstall and double-click "helper.exe". This should uninstall Firefox completely.
- Now we're in for the hard part: Go to C:\Dokuments and Settings\[Your User Name]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles. That's where your profile resides. Unless you're using the Profile Manager, chances are you're seeing just one directory "[random string],default". (In my case it's called "4sr92zjz.default", f. ex.).
If you got any bookmarks you'd like to keep, open this folder, find the file "places.sqlite" and move it to your desktop.
Now delete the entire contents of your profile folder--you'll need to configure firefox anew. Do keep this window open, you'll need it again in a few moments.
Go to your desktop, run the installer, start Firefox once, close it again and move your "places.sqlite" file from your desktop to your profile folder.
Now double-click Firefox and reconfigure it according to your preferences.
N.B.: Do get "MozBackup". With this application you're able to save and restore a working Firefox profile--for your next mishap ;-) -
Firefox won't open links from Mac Mail
Like everyone else Apple Mail links will not open in Firefox if it is already open. Clicking a link brings FF to the front but no page loads. Links work if FF is not open. Links work if command is pressed whilst clicking the link (opens in new tab in background).
Problem occurred after 32.0.2 update, it appeared to briefly resolve itself after 32.0.3 update, but stopped (I think) on next reboot.
Have monkeyed around for ages with different combinations of default browser and rebooting.
Will abandon FF and go back to Safari if this isn't sorted soon - shame.I just want to link to these earlier threads so you don't get a lot of duplicate suggestions that have already been covered there:
* [https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1018542 Firefox won't open email links after update to version 32]
* [https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1023202 No tab opens when I click on a link if any Firefox window is already open]
(There might be others, but those are the ones I've seen)
Work is proceeding on [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1017595 Bug #1017595 – Links from external applications sometimes fail to open when Firefox is hidden] but as you can tell from the title, this is focused on the problem of Firefox not coming out of hiding from the dock or coming out of hiding but not loading the page. If this also occurs when Firefox is not hidden at all, there may be a secondary issue. But hopefully solving the one will solve the other. Unfortunately, I don't know whether it will be in time for Firefox 33. -
I'm running Firefox on a Windows 7 machine. Firefox won't open following the latest update. I've read the help articles and it seems like I need to create a new profile because my settings have likely been corrupted. I'm unable to open Profile Mgr, even when using entire directory path in cmd line. I've tried the following commands in the command line:
firefox -p
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p
Nothing happens with either command.
I'm also running Norton Internet Security. I read a help article Re Virtual Browsing features possibly causing a problem. The article said to check the virtualization setting in the internet security software and to clear the virtual cache. I went thru all of the settings menus in Norton Internet Security version 21.6.0.32 and I didn't see anything that looked like 'virtualization" settings, so I assumed that this doesn't apply to me.
If you have any ideas, I'd sure appreaciate your expertise!!''arcandl [[#question-1038482|said]]''
<blockquote>
I'm running Firefox on a Windows 7 machine. Firefox won't open following the latest update. I've read the help articles and it seems like I need to create a new profile because my settings have likely been corrupted. I'm unable to open Profile Mgr, even when using entire directory path in cmd line. I've tried the following commands in the command line:
firefox -p
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p
Nothing happens with either command.
I'm also running Norton Internet Security. I read a help article Re Virtual Browsing features possibly causing a problem. The article said to check the virtualization setting in the internet security software and to clear the virtual cache. I went thru all of the settings menus in Norton Internet Security version 21.6.0.32 and I didn't see anything that looked like 'virtualization" settings, so I assumed that this doesn't apply to me.
If you have any ideas, I'd sure appreaciate your expertise!!
</blockquote>
''philipp [[#answer-670108|said]]''
<blockquote>
hello arcandl, when firefox isn't launching after you double-click on the shortcut this is sometimes also a sign of malware being active on a system.
you might want to try running a scan with some different other security tools like the [http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free free version of malwarebytes] and [http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/ adwcleaner] which are specialised in removing adware and browser hijackers.
[[Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware]]
</blockquote>
Phillip - You're a genius!!! I ran malwarebytes and it resolved my problem. Thank you so much!!! -
Firefox won't open because it says it is already open when it ain't
Firefox won't open because it says it is already open. It appears Firefox is operating in the background. Tried to remove it but we get the same message to log out of Firefox. For 10 years we have been using McAfee with all features but it does not detect any virus or malaware etc. It appears it might be a malaware problem but even using all the latest Microsoft fixes hasn't helped. We used Vista Business Professional with all the latest service packs updated. We use the latest version of Firefox as of up to around 3 weeks or so ago when this issue first appeared.
I suspect you need more expert help but here are a few things you can try.
If you can't open Firefox(double click on Firefox desktop icon) try Safe Mode - Hold down the Shift Key as you double click on the icon>don't check anything on the page that opens>continue. If Firefox opens and works in this safe mode go to Add-ons> Extensions and look for "Ask". Then look at Add-ons >Plug-ins and again look for "Ask" . Remove, delete,disable any Asks. If you do remove any, close Firefox. And try again in Normal Mode.
The Ask website has detailed instructions for removal but you need to find it on your computer and have your computer in working order.
If there is no sign of Ask and Firefox is working well in Safe Mode you should work your way through this -
https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Troubleshooting%20extensions%20and%20themes
Eventually you might need to grapple with About:Config and even your Windows Registry but I would recommend a complete uninstall and re-install before that. Unfortunately that often doesn't work.
That all sounds very daunting but taken step-by-step you might get lucky early.
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