"Use Firefox Web Browser (default)" instead of trying to render a page starts FF again
Expected behaviour: Firefox actually trying to open a document.
What happens: Firefox, as the default option, re-feeds a document to itself in a roundabout way that leads only to repeating the same choice. If "Do this automatically..." box is checked, this causes spamming tabs or windows recursively. Which certainly constitues a bug.
Happens e.g. when trying to open HTML pages that have ".asp" extension due to being saved with original server filenames. Which also is the easiest way to reproduce this bug. Same files renamed or hardlinked as "*.asp.html" open normally, thus it happens only due to "Open with: Use Firefox Web Browser (default)" choice not working correctly. I didn't find addons to circumvent this, either.
Version: 26.0 (Mozilla Firefox for Ubuntu canonical - 1.0) - but a web search shows that the same happened 10 years ago and under Windows.
Modified by TBeholder
All Replies (3)
Hello,
Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that turns off some settings and disables most add-ons (extensions and themes).
(If you're using an added theme, switch to the Default theme.)
If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu by clicking on the Restart with Add-ons Disabled... menu item:
If Firefox is not running, you can start Firefox in Safe Mode as follows:
- On Windows: Hold the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
- On Mac: Hold the option key while starting Firefox.
- On Linux: Quit Firefox, go to your Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
(you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)
Once you get the pop-up, just select "'Start in Safe Mode"
If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one. Please follow the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article to find the cause.
To exit Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.
When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help others with the same problem.
Thank you.
The problem doesn't go away in safe mode.
It seems to be with mime vs. applications function treating FF itself as yet another external program, even though in GUI it seems to be treated as a special entry as it should be. Maybe it simply got swept in a mass-replacement of some low-level function's calls with high-level one?
Does anyone NOT have this bug?
To me, it's perfectly peproducible: rename foo/bar.html to foo/bar.asp, open file://.../foo/ with Firefox and try to open bar.asp - just like with downloads, it will make a dud window/tab and pop a window "opening bar.asp" that asks what to do, then the choice "Firefox Web Browser (default)" spawns another file opening window/tab which does exactly the same again.
You get this problem if you select the Firefox program to handle a file when you get an "Open With" dialog.
You should never do this because Firefox won't ask if it can handle this file internally.
You can rename (or delete) the mimeTypes.rdf file in the Firefox profile folder to reset all file actions.