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How to start firefox, when it can't get going at all?

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  • Last reply by FredMcD

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Round two.

Firefox 51 was slow to load until yesterday, when it stopped loading altogether. As in never even gets tot he splash screen.

this morning remove ff51, and install 53. Launch from desktop icon with command line: "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p Depart for meeting. Three hours and 42 minutes later, it has popped up the window "Which profile do you wish" - only it is a) no responding" (says so right int he title bar) and b) grey, faded, incomplete and did I mention "not responding"? Kill process, remove the -p option, start again.

Eventually it hangs because a script is not exiting. Again with the faded, greyed out pop-up window, which shows nothing other than the title at the top of the window.

WIndows 7, FF53

Is there some way to start Firefox in "minimalist" mode - no add-on,s extensions, options, themes, excessive resource demands, so that I can just get it running?

Round two. Firefox 51 was slow to load until yesterday, when it stopped loading altogether. As in never even gets tot he splash screen. this morning remove ff51, and install 53. Launch from desktop icon with command line: "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p Depart for meeting. Three hours and 42 minutes later, it has popped up the window "Which profile do you wish" - only it is a) no responding" (says so right int he title bar) and b) grey, faded, incomplete and did I mention "not responding"? Kill process, remove the -p option, start again. Eventually it hangs because a script is not exiting. Again with the faded, greyed out pop-up window, which shows nothing other than the title at the top of the window. WIndows 7, FF53 Is there some way to start Firefox in "minimalist" mode - no add-on,s extensions, options, themes, excessive resource demands, so that I can just get it running?

Chosen solution

It sounds like Firefox is having a problem with profiles.

You may have a corrupt profiles.ini file. Close Firefox. Open your file browser to this hidden location:

  • Mac: *~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/
  • Linux: *~/.mozilla/firefox/
  • Windows: %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\
  • *C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\

Locate the profiles.ini file. Then rename or delete it. Use this new profile as is. Is the problem still there?

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Chosen Solution

It sounds like Firefox is having a problem with profiles.

You may have a corrupt profiles.ini file. Close Firefox. Open your file browser to this hidden location:

  • Mac: *~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/
  • Linux: *~/.mozilla/firefox/
  • Windows: %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\
  • *C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\

Locate the profiles.ini file. Then rename or delete it. Use this new profile as is. Is the problem still there?

Modified by FredMcD