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Recently, when I copy and paste an error message to the search box in Firefox and the first word contains a ':', such as when searching for this error message - "MESA-LOADER: failed to open dri: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gbm/dri_gbm.so: cannot open shared object file" - I get the "Open the mesa-loader link with System Handler?" prompt (see screenshot).

I used to be able to copy and paste such an error before into the search box and it would just work but now the browser defaults to thinking you are entering a URL. This could be because when I start typing in the search box, it immediately relocates what I'm typing to the address bar. Maybe this is the behaviour I need to disable? But how and why is it the default?

Help!

Browser details

$ > snap info firefox name: firefox summary: Mozilla Firefox web browser publisher: Mozilla✓ store-url: https://snapcraft.io/firefox contact: https://support.mozilla.org/kb/file-bug-report-or-feature-request-mozilla license: unset description: |

 Firefox is a powerful, extensible web browser with support for modern web application
 technologies.

commands:

 - firefox
 - firefox.geckodriver

snap-id: 3wdHCAVyZEmYsCMFDE9qt92UV8rC8Wdk tracking: latest/stable/ubuntu-24.04 refresh-date: 19 days ago, at 13:56 AEDT channels:

 latest/stable:    144.0.2-1    2025-10-29 (7177) 261MB -
 latest/candidate: 145.0-1      2025-11-04 (7242) 262MB -
 latest/beta:      145.0b9-1    2025-10-31 (7213) 262MB -
 latest/edge:      146.0a1      2025-11-05 (7250) 298MB -
 esr/stable:       140.4.0esr-2 2025-10-14 (7023) 258MB -
 esr/candidate:    140.5.0esr-1 2025-11-05 (7236) 258MB -
 esr/beta:         ↑                                    
 esr/edge:         ↑                                    

installed: 144.0-2 (7084) 261MB -

OS Details

PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS" NAME="Ubuntu" VERSION_ID="24.04" VERSION="24.04.3 LTS (Noble Numbat)" VERSION_CODENAME=noble ID=ubuntu ID_LIKE=debian HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/" SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/" BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/" PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy" UBUNTU_CODENAME=noble LOGO=ubuntu-logo

I've been backing up my opened tabs for the past 4 or 5 years with the steps in this legendary post: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1257866

But this time it failed me and I don't know why. I just switched from Debian to Linux Mint, put everything up to date, but when I copy the sessions-store folder back into my session folder, as described in the post, nothing happens. I tried restoring only the 2 files listed there, and also dropping them in the general user folder, outside sessions-store, but still nothing. I've also noticed that the sessions-store folder isn't created automatically, even if I open a bunch of new tabs now and close the browser.

I don't even know how to begin troubleshooting this to be honest, this is the first time this method's ever failed me :(

I also saw this post: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-restore-browsing-session-backup But it doesn't help either.

I need to recover a `.jsonlz4` file to restore a Firefox session with 8 active instances, as the "Restore Session" feature only opened 5 due to the `browser.sessionstore.max_windows_undo` setting being capped at 5, and the full original `.jsonlz4` file is now missing.

In the`firefox/Crash Reports` directory, there are numerous files I can’t interpret, can I retrieve my session data via telemetry or other methods using this crash information. I’m using Linux Mint with Flatpak Firefox, and I also have crash logs containing a "last crash" text file and a string of numbers, could these be useful for getting back my session?

NB - For the past half a year I have to sometimes right click to interact with them, anyway

Effectively, I will interact with the extension at the most basic, normal level on something that has interactive elements like a dropdown menu, or basic options.

I will click / right click on the icon and the highlight will appear, then that's it ... the browser then crashes and does not recover. :(

What's worse is that I have to Force Quit and when I restart there is no crash report to send to Moz.

I am just wondering if other Linux users have experienced similar issues.

The attached image is taken at the moment before the 'Force Quit' dialogue opens up in Debian 12 Gnome (Wayland) ...

I have Hardware Acceleration on.

I am about to start testing with it off, but I work from the browser, and do not want performance compromises. So that is (at best) a work-around, and certainly is not a fix.

I'm on version 147.0.2 (64-bit) which would appear to be from the Mozilla Firefox Debian Package mozilla-deb - 1.0 install/repo/whatever ... and the PC specs are: Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10850H CPU @ 2.70GHz Memory: 32705MB (11893MB used) Resolution: 7680x2358 pixels OpenGL Renderer: Quadro RTX 3000/PCIe/SSE2

These are my media. prefs ... but ... I doubt that it is relevant: media.ffmpeg.allow-openh264 true media.ffmpeg.customized-buffer-allocation true media.ffmpeg.disable-software-fallback false media.ffmpeg.enabled true media.ffmpeg.encoder.cpu-used 7 media.ffmpeg.encoder.enabled true media.ffmpeg.encoder.quantizer-max 35 media.ffmpeg.encoder.quantizer-min 10 media.ffmpeg.vaapi.force-surface-zero-copy 2

I'm trying to setup 2fa on my account. It requires sending a code to my email which I then use to verify. These codes consistently are sent outside of the time window and as a result expired. I've added accounts@firefox.com to my contacts, and I've tried this on firefox desktop and firefox mobile on an iphone, and both produce the same results.

I'm on a gmail account and gmail flags these emails as suspicious despite being added as a contact, which likely means they are poorly formatted. Despite this flag, they are still sent to my inbox when they finally arrive.

This is incredibly frustrating as this is a service provided by basically every company and yet I have never seen it perform this poorly as it has with firefox.

Is it possible to click individual segments of an URL in the address bar to navigate there directly (without manually selecting and deleting the tail)? It's a convenient way to reach upper layers of a website.

For example Vivaldi implements it via Ctrl+<Mouseover/click> (see attached screen capture)

Is there an option or addon to enable this? Thanks in advance

(In reference to [post] where it said "This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.")

I have Linux OS Mint Cinnammon 22.2 and firefox 145.0.2 I have ticked "Save and auto-fill payment info" and my credit card ## are recorded. When I want to pay, the default credit card ## appear correctly, but if I click on them to apply, nothing happens. Every time I have to re-enter all the numbers ! Many thanks for your answer.

Will this fricking "The bookmarks and history system will not be functional" B.S. ever be fixed? Firefox didn't have this issue for years now for almost a year every time Firefox starts up on a cold boot I get this idiotic non-sense message!. I have to close the browser I JUST OPENED and reopen in. This error is pure B.S. as again cold boot, just launched there is NOTHING other than Firefox that might be accessing the various sql.db's...so if this message is to be believed Firefox is blocking Firefox from Firefox... FIX THIS!

Each time I click a particular icon, it goes to a page to set up an account for that website. But I already have an account there. How can I change the icon to go to my account instead of the setup page?

I am using version 88.0 and browser, both outdated and not supported. How do I update to current version and update browser? I am 80 yrs old and not computer literate, please keep it simple. Also, I am alone, not help available. Thank you

Hello, any best practices for converting Firefox bookmarks once they're exported? The exported_bookmarks.html are an html file which are impossible to edit. Converting so the data for folders, titles and urls can be edited is what's needed.

I tried Vi with some Regex code, however the cleaned file is not so clean.

I have Privacy & Security set to Strict with Cookies and Site Data deleted when the browser is closed with only 3 sites in the exclusion tab. I also use a VPN to assist with masking and for connections to defined systems and as part of that I will randomly set it to different countries 'because I can'.

I was looking at the website for the current Rugby World Cup (https://www.rugbyworldcup.com) but it was showing the wrong times for the matches. A little digging showed it had remembered my location from some point last week when the VPN was active and set to Iceland.

There is nothing I can find in my browser settings to permit this and I would appreciate pointers to check further since one of the reasons I have set the higher level of restrictions in my browser is to stop this kind of activity from websites.

I've been using Firefox for years because more popular browsers like Chrome and Edge have anti-features I dislike. In recent years, however, it feels like Mozilla has been more eager to follow trends set up by it's larger competitors even when those trends seem destructive to the principles that used to be at the core of this project. AI is the final straw for me. I don't understand why I would even use Firefox over Chrome if both are full of AI anyways. Even if AI wasn't a deal-breaker for me, I'm worried Firefox will make similar decisions later. I want out.

Is there any good and maintained alternatives to Firefox? Something like how Firefox was just a handful of years ago? Maybe a fork of an old version?

This wave of so-called AI (really nothing of the sort) is a nightmare for security, usability, performance and efficiency and if you keep forcing it on us I'll be jumping ship, probably for whichever fork excising it all gets popular.

I've been using first the Mozilla suite and then Firefox (since it was called Firebird, even) for twenty years now, don't do this to the browser I love.

Only on firefox, the music on apple music keeps changing volume. I can hear it sound fine for a second but then it changes the volume to around half of what its meant to be. I dont see any settings to change it, its fine on other browsers, im genuinely unsure of what to do.

Hi Firefox community,

I’m not your usual tech influencer or a corporate “enthusiast”—I’m just a longtime open source user who’s spent more than a few years behind the veiled curtain, watching how this world of software and possibility unfolds. I love what Mozilla does for users like me. That’s exactly why I want to raise something: I keep seeing the word “chatbot” show up for Firefox’s new AI-powered assistants (like the sidebar and what’s coming next). But let’s be honest—“chatbot” belongs to the days of robotic customer service and scripted dead-ends.

What we have now in Firefox—powered by real LLMs (Large Language Models)—is a whole different species. Calling these assistants “chatbots” just doesn’t fit. It sells short what LLM-based assistants can do: they’re powerful, context-aware, and, at times, strikingly human in their conversation. New users might miss the true magic if we stick to old language. So why not call them “AI assistants,” “LLM-powered assistants,” or just “AI” instead? It would help everyone see the progress, and show how Mozilla’s still leading, not just catching up.

I’ll leave it open for discussion, but I hope others feel this shift too. Language shapes how we see these things—and sometimes it takes a Singular Fella (or maybe two) to nudge the world past old memes. Thanks for hearing me out, and here’s to a future where our assistants, and our words, keep getting smarter.

—Robert Beck