Question

Do a clean reinstall and delete the Firefox program folder before reinstalling a fresh copy of Firefox.

• C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Installation_directory

Download a fresh Firefox copy and save the file to the desktop.

• Firefox 17.0.x: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all.html

Uninstall your current Firefox version, if possible, to cleanup the Windows registry and settings in security software.

• Do NOT remove personal data when you uninstall your current Firefox version, because all profile folders will be removed and you will also lose your personal data like bookmarks and passwords from profiles of other Firefox versions.

Remove the Firefox program folder before installing that newly downloaded copy of the Firefox installer.

• 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.
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_Firefox

Your bookmarks and other profile data are stored in the Firefox Profile Folder and won't be affected by an uninstall and (re)install, but make sure that "remove personal data" is NOT selected when you uninstall Firefox.

If you keep having problems then also create a new profile.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox#Clean_reinstall

I'm still having this problem after a clean reinstall (including removing personal data). Short of editing the registry, what more can I do? I had this problem earlier, and solved it by unchecking "Use hardware accelerators where available," but now it is not working again. Opening in safe mode doesn't work either. Very frustrating because Firefox is my favorite browser. So of course I'm typing this in IE!!!

BTW - You cannot create a new profile because you CANNOT TYPE in anything related to Firefox!!!

You can remove the profiles.ini file to force Firefox to create a new default profile.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/profiles.ini_file
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

As a fellow tech support professional, I would hope and expect Mozilla to look into this issue and resolve it in a timely fashion. Clearly many of their users are affected by this problem. Clearly, the simple yet ineffective solutions listed on various forums and sites are not working as desired.

Firefox has been having issues for the past few years and with the likes of new browsers on the horizon I would think that customer satisfaction and a stable product would be on the forefront of their business plan.

Please get this issue resolved or I (a faithful firefox user and promoter since early 2005) will be sticking with Opera.

this happens every now and then can't type anywhere in firefox closing and restarting does nothing i never did the complete reinstall cause them problem just seem to come and go randomly the only thing that worked to fix it every time is to right click firefox and run as administrator.

It is possible that you have switched the keyboard layout by accident.

• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/258824 - How to change your keyboard layout

Windows remembers the keyboard layout setting per application and you may have changed the keyboard layout by accident via a keyboard shortcut.

• http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/The-Language-bar-overview - The Language bar (overview)
• http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/The-Language-bar-overview The Language bar (overview)

• Make sure that you have the Language bar visible on the Windows Taskbar
• You can do that via the right-click context menu of the Taskbar: Toolbars > Language Bar

• Check the keyboard language (keyboard layout) setting for the application that has focus via the icon on the Language bar
• You need to do that while Firefox has focus because Windows remembers the keyboard layout setting per application

• The default key combination to rotate the layout is the Ctrl+Shift or Alt+Shift combination that Firefox uses for some menu items
• To avoid an unintentional switch, assign a specific key sequence (Alt/Ctrl+Shift+number) to select keyboard layouts and remove the key combination to rotate layouts (Alt+Shift or Ctrl+Shift)

• Control Panel > Regional and Language Options > Keyboards and Languages > Change keyboards > Advanced key settings > Change key sequence

I had the same problem. It was probably just a coincidence, but when I hit the "+ =" button on my keyboard, it instantly started working again - might be worth experimenting on your computers.

Sorry user88888888, that didn't work for me. :(

I've been using Firefox fine for several weeks (sorry - can't remember what I did to "fix" it last time), then BAM!, it was not working again today. It happened right after I started my computer, let the Shockwave Flash update run, then opened Firefox. (The issue seems to happen only after something updates.) Thankfully, I decided to reboot my computer before I went through the hassle of trying anything too complicated, and now everything is working fine again.

The only other easy fix that has worked for me in the past is to uncheck "Use hardware acceleration when available" in the Options menu (after a clean install of Firefox).

I wish Mozilla would fix this recurring issue once and for all. No user should ever have to worry about not being able to type in the browser window.

I have found a solution to this problem (at least it worked for me). I don't have a language bar, because I don't have multiple languages installed. However, Windows may allow the keyboard shortcut to change the default lanugage for the application anyway. I had this problem, and have fixed it.

Open Firefox, and click on a text field. If you can't type in it, press "Fn+Windows Key". It will open the start menu. Just click back in the text field in Firefox and try typing. Do this 3 or 4 times, and suddenly it will work again. Don't ask why, because I have no idea, but it worked for me.