I had been running the latest version (52.8) of Firefox supported under Windows XP, but now I can no longer run Firefox, and, worse, cannot reinstall it.
On June 7, Fire… (Lesen Sie mehr)
I had been running the latest version (52.8) of Firefox supported under Windows XP, but now I can no longer run Firefox, and, worse, cannot reinstall it.
On June 7, Firefox lost all the tabs from the previous day. This happens from time to time, and it's simplest first to try restoring Windows to the previous checkpoint: this is sometimes successful in that Firefox then does display tabs. I restored Windows to the then most recent checkpoint, June 6, only to find the attempted cure worse than the disease: Firefox would not even start. There were no messages of any type.
Attempts either to create a new Firefox profile (-p) or to start Firefox in safe mode (Shift) were no different. Windows Task Manager showed no evidence, however transient, of either any Application or Process for Firefox. Again, there were no messages of any type.
Restoring Windows to still earlier dates produced the same situation: Firefox would not run, exactly as after the initial restoration.
Deleting the (only) Firefox profile made no difference.
All subsequent attempts to reinstall Firefox--whether or not Firefox had been uninstalled--have been equally unsuccessful, and equally mute.
Program Firefox Installer.exe (306 KB in size, downloaded from https://stubdowloader.cdn.mozilla.net, for example) begins a process which occupies either 2,484KB or 2,488KB of storage, but which does nothing. I tried several Firefox installers (all downloaded via various links from Mozilla): all are bit-for-bit identical, albeit with one occasional exception, i.e., sometimes a string is "duckduckgo.", and sometimes it's "getfirefox-". None of these installers produces any message, and each creates a process which occupies c. 2.5MB and then does nothing.
Knowing that it would not run successfully under Windows XP, I nonetheless tried later Firefox installers (e.g., Firefox Setup 60.0.2.exe downloaded from https://download-installer.cdn.mozilla.net). Rather than my receiving the expected message saying that 60.0.2 isn't supported on Windows XP, this installer, too (once it's used some amount of both CPU and storage), is simply suspended occupying 2,544KB and staying silent.
The following may or may not be relevant.
1. Running any of these installers (and also firefox.exe itself) from a CMD window confirms instant termination. Even from the CMD window, it remains the case that the installers create a process occupying c. 2.5MB. (I didn't try Firefox Setup 60.0.2.exe from the CMD window.)
2. Things are essentially the same in Windows Safe Mode, with the following differences. (a) The 306 KB installers occupy slightly less storage: c. 2.2 MB instead of c. 2.5 MB. (2) Clicking on the Firefox shortcut and selecting "Run As" with the same account produces the message "A device attached to the system is not functioning"; a 'Web search for his message turns up nothing relevant.
The current situation is that Windows was restored to the most recent checkpoint, June 6, as in the second paragraph (although obviously Windows has taken later checkpoints, so that the June 6 checkpoint has been overwritten), and Firefox is installed. Firefox still won't run, and none of the installers produces any output.
FWIW, I'd wondered whether Firefox might simply be refusing to run any longer on Windows XP, but recent tests show that the Firefox-based TOR browser runs from a memory stick just as normal.