Firefox and Firefox Profile Manager will not run
Some time ago, Firefox stopped updating, continuously saying "Update Pending" and the reason for the failure. Other glitches crept in, so I tried uninstalling and reinstalling it without success. Finally, I tried what some site suggest in similar cases - uninstalling, then deleting all associated folders, files and registry entries I could find.
Apparently, the job I did was either too good or not good enough. Firefox now appears to install, but will not run, presenting instead and pop-up window saying "Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible." See the attached image.
I've tried all solutions to this issue I could find on this site and via an Internet search. Using the Run command "firefox.exe -P" returns only the same pop-up error message. Attempts to run the Firefox Profile Manager also returns the same pop-up message. Obviously, it's something other than just a missing profile.
My PC is a Lenovo Thinkpad running Windows 7 Professional, Service Pack 1; 64-bit, with 4 GB of RAM.
I'm have a growing distaste for the alternatives to Firefox I'm currently using, until I can get it working again, so I really appreciate your help.
Thank you.
Teslawire
Всички отговори (8)
Let's do this one step at a time.
- 1
Download Firefox Full Version For All languages And Systems {web link} Save the file. Then;
Using your file browser, open the Programs Folder on your computer.
Windows: C:\Program Files C:\Program Files (x86) Mac: Open the "Applications" folder. Linux: Check your user manual.
• Linux: If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder Firefox in your home directory.
Look for, and rename any Mozilla or Firefox folders by adding .old to them.
After rebooting the computer, run a registry scanner. Then run the installer.
- 2
Is Firefox working?
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-run-firefox-when-profile-missing-inaccessible
Look on your desktop. Do you see a folder called; Old Firefox?
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recovering-important-data-from-an-old-profile
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles
What Anti-Virus security software do you have?
You need to locate the profiles.ini file and delete this file or use the Profile Manager to create a new profile.
See:
This is usually caused by a problem with the profiles.ini file.
You can use one of these to make Firefox create a new default profile or recover an existing profile:
- Delete the profiles.ini file to make Firefox create a new (default) profile
- Use the Profile Manager to create a new profile
If you still have an existing profile then click "Choose Folder" in the Profile Manager and browse to the location of a lost profile to recover this profile
https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Managing+profiles
You should find the profiles.ini file in this hidden location:
- Windows: %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\
*C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\ - Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/
- Linux: ~/.mozilla/firefox/
If clearing the profiles.ini file isn't working then also check the location of the cache files.
- Windows: *C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\
- Mac: ~/Library/Caches/Firefox/Profiles/
- Linux:~/.cache/mozilla/firefox/
Thank you very much to FredMcD and cor-el for your replies. Unfortunately, they were not successful.
FredMcD, I followed the instructions in your first note. I used CCleaner for the registry scanner, running it four times, until it came back with no issues to fix. I received the same error message almost immediately after it appeared to complete installation of the new version. I say "appeared" because there is no Mozilla folder my AppData\Local folder (and hence, no profile). There are a couple of very old (years) "profiles.ini" files from another PC buried several levels down in the My Documents folder, but I understand they wouldn't impact this situation.
The links in your second note take me to pages I've seen previously and offer things I've already tried multiple times. As I mentioned in my original post, Profile Manager will not run and returns the same error message when I try.
Also, there is no folder on my Desktop called "Old Firefox".
cor-el, My anti-virus program is Microsoft Security Essentials. I have used it for years on multiple PCs along with Firefox with no issues.
As I mentioned to FredMcD above, there is no Mozilla folder in my AppData folder, and hence no Profiles.ini file to delete. Your other suggestions are ones I've also tried before. As I mentioned, Profile Manager also does not run, so I can't manually create a new profile or copy one from another location.
I've been told by an IT person I know that there is a hidden file that Firefox creates and buries somewhere on the PC, with a cryptic name not obviously related to Mozilla or Firefox. He could not remember the name or location of the file, but said he recalled situations similar to mine where the only way to get Firefox running again was to delete that file. Are you aware of such a file?
Do you have any other ideas?
Teslawire
The location in AppData\Local is used for the disk cache and some other data.
The main Firefox profile folder is not in AppData\Local, but in AppData\Roaming and that is also where the profiles.ini file should be.
- C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\
You will have to look there for the Mozilla folder and delete the profiles.ini The file should be there because otherwise Firefox wouldn't show this error message.
cor-el, This is really strange, because there is no Mozilla folder in AppData\Roaming either. See the attached image.
Teslawire
It is possible that the folder is there, but is hidden for some reason (security software or malware).
Is the Mozilla also not there if you boot the computer in Windows Safe Mode?
Can you manually create a Mozilla folder in both AppData\Roaming and in AppData\Local?
Do a malware check with several malware scanning programs on the Windows computer.
Please scan with all programs because each program detects different malware. All these programs have free versions.
Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.
- Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php - AdwCleaner:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Removal-Tools/AdwCleaner.shtml - SuperAntispyware:
http://www.superantispyware.com/ - Microsoft Safety Scanner:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx - Windows Defender:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/using-defender - Spybot Search & Destroy:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html - Kasperky Free Security Scan:
http://www.kaspersky.com/security-scan
You can also do a check for a rootkit infection with TDSSKiller.
- Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller:
http://support.kaspersky.com/5350?el=88446
See also:
- "Spyware on Windows": http://kb.mozillazine.org/Popups_not_blocked
You may have to enable Show Hidden Folders / Files.