Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

I've tried everything--Firefox simply won't open. I opened the troubleshoot articles, but none of the fixes did the trick?

  • 36 replies
  • 122 have this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

more options

Firefox will not open. I tried every single troubleshoot recommendation, and it still won't work. I thought it may be under the "corrupt profile data" troubleshoot article, but when I followed the recommendations to change to a new profile, the profile manager would not open or run on my computer--as if it never existed. I tried downloading a different browser, and as soon as I imported my firefox data, it started misbehaving in the exact same way.

This is getting extremely frustrating. Anybody know what to do?


Comment by a forum moderator

See list of helpful information and links in my post under HERE

Firefox will not open. I tried every single troubleshoot recommendation, and it still won't work. I thought it may be under the "corrupt profile data" troubleshoot article, but when I followed the recommendations to change to a new profile, the profile manager would not open or run on my computer--as if it never existed. I tried downloading a different browser, and as soon as I imported my firefox data, it started misbehaving in the exact same way. This is getting extremely frustrating. Anybody know what to do? ------ Comment by a forum moderator ===See list of helpful information and links in my post under [/questions/964132?page=2#answer-477049 HERE] ===

Modified by John99

All Replies (20)

more options
more options

It is often due to problems with security related software, especially after a new upgrade. Please read the article linked by Waka_Flocka_Flame and then; if problems continue; post back with more information and any error messages you see.

A screenshot may help

more options

Thanks for the Replies,

But as I stated before, "I tried every single troubleshoot recommendation, and it still won't work. " That includes the page you just referred me to. According to that article, my problem may be due to "corrupt data in my Firefox profile"---So I followed the steps to try and create a new profile, however the Firefox Profile Manager application would not open. I tried both the "firefox.exe -p" address and the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p address in my computers "Run" application, and nothing ever opened--thus my problem is still at large.

If I could give a screenshot, I would. But like I said, I can't open Firefox. It simply won't open. I also checked my firewall and security software, and according to it, everything with the "Firefox" name attached is currently allowed and working.

more options

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!

more options

Tried it, and I am still having the same problem unfortunately. The browser still won't open...

more options
more options

Alright, I tried safemode, and Firefox did indeed open (but obviously without any internet network connection due to the safe mode). What does that mean?

more options

Try safe mode with networking, does that work.

more options

Tried safe mode with networking, Firefox also opened just fine, connections just fine... Any ideas?

more options

Likely Malware, check with ALL the programs below.

Microsoft Security Essentials is a good permanent antivirus for Windows 7/Vista/XP if you don't already have one.

Further information can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware article.

more options

The other possibility is that it is security related software causing the problem. Although the software is set to allow Firefox it may only recognise the last version as genuine Firefox but not the current version.

  • What security related software is in use ?

You may be able to disable the software at least temporarily, but sometimes it needs a special utility to remove it before it will become totally inactive.

You may need to refer to documentation or the support forum to ensure the software is setup correctly to recognise Firefox22.

more options

Alright here's the deal, I ran every single one of the suggested security scans and NO malware was found. I've also checked every single firewall and security software currently running on my computer, tried temporarily disabling them, double checked that everything is set to recognize and give full access to Firefox22------and I am still having the same problem. I've now deleted everything attached to my previous "profile"--yet the browser will not open unless I do so under the privilege of "administrator" on my computer...

more options

I am not too sure I understand what you mean by

 I've now deleted everything attached to my previous "profile"

Firefox has a "profile" that stores user settings.

That is important and should not normally be deleted or you will loose things like bookmarks and passwords. If you have more than one account, as is likely then each user has a separate profile. Firefox will need access to the profile and to operate normally will need read and write permissions for the profile.

If Firefox does not have a profile it will normally try to create and use a new profile.

I do not use Windows much now but as you say Firefox will open if run with administrator privileges it sounds as if it is possible it does not have the correct permissions to run properly for some reason. Have you or other account users made some sort of custom install of Firefox instead of allowing the standard default install ?

more options

Sorry, I was unclear. I tried to delete my previous profile, in case there was corrupted data, and completely restart with a clean install of Firefox. Not sure if I did that successfully or not. At this point, I am not concerned about keeping my bookmarks or passwords (I wrote down the important ones anyways)--so I intend to start from scratch.

I am the only user--and I've only ever downloaded and installed Firefox through Mozilla.org---the standard way. I did some investigating about the privilege thing, but it says it is open for access to any user, not just administration.

I took your advice and looked into the Event Log---and you were correct! There is both an 'application' error message, as well as a 'windows' error message upon Firefox refusing to start. Here is what it says in the Event Log dialogue box:

Event 1000, Application Error Faulting application name: firefox.exe, version: 22.0.0.4917, time stamp: 0x51c06b1b Faulting module name: unknown, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x00000000 Exception code: 0xc0000005 Fault offset: 0x00178541 Faulting process id: 0x1ab8 Faulting application start time: 0x01ce7b685b8682ce Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe Faulting module path: unknown Report Id: 99d9d512-e75b-11e2-826f-889ffae8d651

Event 1001, Windows Error Reporting Fault bucket 3694120898, type 5 Event Name: BEX Response: Not available Cab Id: 0

Problem signature: P1: firefox.exe P2: 22.0.0.4917 P3: 51c06b1b P4: StackHash_0a9e P5: 0.0.0.0 P6: 00000000 P7: 00178541 P8: c0000005 P9: 00000008 P10:

Attached files: C:\Users\Chase\AppData\Local\Temp\WERF325.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml

These files may be available here: C:\Users\Chase\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_firefox.exe_d65e5249175390963e47aba5983e3b9ffb5d68_0d512194

Analysis symbol: Rechecking for solution: 0 Report Id: 99d9d512-e75b-11e2-826f-889ffae8d651 Report Status: 0

So...what next? Haha. I do appreciate your help with all this.

more options

Also, my main security software is McAfee Antivirus Plus, along with the default Windows Defender.

more options

I am not sure it is a good idea to have two security programs, but presumably it will be ok if set correctly, but I certainly would not for instance run two Anti Virus programs they would be likely to conflict.

I am not sure if the error report may indicate Firefox is crashing but it needs the same steps anyway. So a brief explanation and a couple of suggestions.

Profiles
Before even considering deleting or creating profiles a very simple & quick test is always worthwhile, using Firefox's Safe Mode

Problems with the profile may prevent Firefox starting or cause all sorts of problems.
(This is JUST FOR INFORMATION, I am not asking you to do anything.)
Briefly the profile stores settings etc. and there are better options than just removing it. The simplest option is the Firefox Reset feature and although that looses extensions and some information it does at least retain bookmarks and passwords.

More advanced users have better options available if they wish such as creating new clean profiles although it does need some care to be taken

Program Files
The profile and the main program files are completely separate. Possibly your problem is due to faulty program files or their installation. A clean install involves deleting these files rather than the profile files.

Next Steps

  1. Try starting Firefox in Safe Mode following the instructions from the article linked above. It probably will not help but is worth a try.
  2. Do a clean reinstall
    1. you may want to copy or print the instructions
    2. download a new copy of the Firefox installer from
      http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/
    3. After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (click Exit from the Firefox or File menu).
    4. 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
    5. Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
    6. Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
    7. Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.
more options

Im having exactly the same problem, I've tried a clean reinstall but still Firefox won't start.

It was working fine 1 day then when I started my computer the following day it just wouldn't start.

more options

Same problem for me!

Been using firefox for years and never had this problem before. I restarted my computer, after which Firefox was unable to open despite working perfectly fine before.

I've tried all of the above solutions and nothing seems to fix it... looks like I'm going to have start using Google Chrome as my browser now :(

more options

darellen & Jezzy_H

If reading the information in this thread and the linked articles does not help then I suggest you start your own threads

  • use /questions/new
  • If possible please follow the prompts to include system information

(That assumes you are able to at least able to start Firefox in Safe Mode Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode )

more options

That goes for me too. Unfortunately. I'm hoping I can use it again when a new version is released.

  1. 1
  2. 2