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Firefox will not open on my computer, even after reinstall, with no error message or when I try to run "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p. Help?

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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I recently installed firefox so I could use an adblocker. It installed just fine, and it worked just fine for about three days. Then yesterday it stopped opening. I'm on a Toshiba running Windows 7. The icon highlights when I click on it, but then it stops and won't open the browser at all. When I try to run it with the manual command "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p, I get the error message, "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\ refers to a location that is unavailable. It could be on a hard drive on this computer, or on a network. Check to make sure that the disk is properly inserted, or that you are connected to the Internet or your network, and then try again. If it still cannot be located, the information might have been moved to a different location." I installed it to that location, and I don't need a disk. I'm connected to the Internet just fine and my other browsers (Chrome and IE) work the same as always. But they're swamped with ads and I really was happy wih Firefox when it was opening...how can I fix this issue?

I recently installed firefox so I could use an adblocker. It installed just fine, and it worked just fine for about three days. Then yesterday it stopped opening. I'm on a Toshiba running Windows 7. The icon highlights when I click on it, but then it stops and won't open the browser at all. When I try to run it with the manual command "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p, I get the error message, "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\ refers to a location that is unavailable. It could be on a hard drive on this computer, or on a network. Check to make sure that the disk is properly inserted, or that you are connected to the Internet or your network, and then try again. If it still cannot be located, the information might have been moved to a different location." I installed it to that location, and I don't need a disk. I'm connected to the Internet just fine and my other browsers (Chrome and IE) work the same as always. But they're swamped with ads and I really was happy wih Firefox when it was opening...how can I fix this issue?

All Replies (6)

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Certain Firefox problems can be solved by performing a Clean reinstall. This means you remove Firefox program files and then reinstall Firefox. Please follow these steps:

Note: You might want to print these steps or view them in another browser.

  1. Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from http://www.mozilla.org and save the setup file to your computer.
  2. After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (click Exit from the Firefox or File menu).
  3. Delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
    • Windows:
      • C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
      • C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
    • Mac: Delete Firefox from the Applications folder.
    • 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.
  4. Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
    1. Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
    2. Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.

Please report back to see if this helped you!

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Do a malware check with some malware scanning programs on the Windows computer.
Please scan with all programs because each program detects different malware.

Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.

You can also do a check for a rootkit infection with TDSSKiller.

See also:

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Please perform the following steps to give us a crash report ID that helps us find out more about the cause of the crash.

  1. Press the following shortcut to get a Run window: [Windows] + [R]. This should bring up a window that contains a text field.
  2. In that text field, enter %APPDATA% and press Enter. An explorer window should open.
  3. From that explorer window, double-click on the Mozilla folder, then double-click on Firefox and then on Crash reports. Double-click on submitted.
  4. Now, you should see a list of files that contain reports. Go to View > Arrange Icons by > Modified to get the most recent files at the top of the window.
  5. Open the most recent 5 files with a text editor and copy the IDs.
  6. Paste each ID with bp- into the reply window on the forums.

Thanks in advance!

You can find more information and troubleshooting steps in the Troubleshoot Firefox crashes (closing or quitting unexpectedly) article.

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Hi, I'm getting to the Firefox folder there, but I can't see a "Submitted" folder. There's a "pending" report. What do I do in that event? Thanks!

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You dont have a crash then.

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If you have a pending folder that contains crash reports then those haven't been send to the Mozilla servers for some reason. If you can't Firefox even in Firefox Safe Mode in when booting Windows in Safe Mode with network support (F8 on boot screen) then you won't be able to send the reports.