
Firefox window is completely inaccessible, how do I get it back to my desktop?
I opened Firefox today to find that nothing would show up, at first I tried clicking on the icon on the taskbar, but it just made the icon bounce with the window briefly popping into view. That's when I realized that Firefox was completely offscreen and unusable.
For context, last night, I had 3 windows open, two were regular sessions, the last one was a private session I had open on a temporary second monitor that I unplugged afterward. My dad lended it to me, so I'd rather not ask him again unless I absolutely have to. I closed them in order making sure to close the default window last thinking that Firefox would open there next time I launch it, but comes tomorrow and when I launch Firefox it opens off-screen and I can't interact with the window at all.
There also seems to be no way to bring it back directly to my screen on this garbage OS everyone calls "windows 11" according to their help forum: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/4139775/app-runs-off-screen-in-windows-11?page=2#answers
So, I'm commenting here via brave browser, first to report a bug because I don't think Firefox should remember the last position of a private window of all things, but also because I don't know where else to go to ask that question since windows 11 itself cannot seem to have an option to solve this problem either. I know the position is stored in the profile folder, so what should I edit in there to get Firefox back where it should be? No, I will not delete/reset it it has a ton of search engines and settings that Firefox won't sync.
Chosen solution
The last window position is stored in xulstore.json in your profile folder.
As a short term workaround, once Windows thinks you have switched to/activate the off-screen window, can you use it by maximizing it from the menu - this menu:
Alt+Spacebar > Maximize
Note, if Maximize is not visible, you can press x to trigger it.
If the window is still not visible, could you hold the Windows key, then press and release the Tab key and release the Windows key to call up a desktop switcher? Just in case that Firefox window somehow got onto a second desktop.
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Chosen Solution
The last window position is stored in xulstore.json in your profile folder.
As a short term workaround, once Windows thinks you have switched to/activate the off-screen window, can you use it by maximizing it from the menu - this menu:
Alt+Spacebar > Maximize
Note, if Maximize is not visible, you can press x to trigger it.
If the window is still not visible, could you hold the Windows key, then press and release the Tab key and release the Windows key to call up a desktop switcher? Just in case that Firefox window somehow got onto a second desktop.
Hey, so I could not find xulstore.json anywhere in my profile folder, but the alt+spacebar trick worked and now Firefox is back to where it should be. Many thanks for the help, you saved me a lot of hassle!
For possible future reference, this article describes how to access your currently active profile folder: Profiles - Where Firefox stores your bookmarks, passwords and other user data.
You could consider moving your tabs to a new window. Hopefully the new window will be resizable and not require being maximized at all time. The steps would be:
(1) Open a new tab in the main window (Ctrl+T)
(2) Right-click the tab and "Select All Tabs"
(3) Ctrl+click the new tab to remove it from the selection
(4) Right-click any of the selected tabs > Move Tabs > Move to New Window
At this point, you can close the problem window.