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One word search in address bar not working.

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  • 128 have this problem
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  • Last reply by Lurker

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I've been away from my desktop for a week and now the searches in the address bar are not working. For example, I used to just type 'test' into the search bar and the tab would show a list of Google searches. Two words work though. Any and all help would be deeply appreciated. I've tried Search Reset, changing the keyword and fixup in about:config.

I've been away from my desktop for a week and now the searches in the address bar are not working. For example, I used to just type 'test' into the search bar and the tab would show a list of Google searches. Two words work though. Any and all help would be deeply appreciated. I've tried Search Reset, changing the keyword and fixup in about:config.

Chosen solution

Thanks for the paste. Looks like this service based in Malaysia: http://midas.nervesis.com/ (http://www.nervesis.com.my/). Does it seem plausible that your ISP is using this service?? Even if it is, it should not be able to override the new way that address bar search works in Firefox 33.

I think the question of a bad extension was raised before. Have you tested in Firefox's Safe Mode to rule that out? It's a standard diagnostic tool to deactivate extensions, some advanced features, and some custom settings. More info: Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode.

You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
  • (menu bar) Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

Note: Flash and other plugins still run

After Firefox closes, a small dialog should appear: click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Reset)

Any difference?

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Did you check this setting in your Browser config browser.urlbar.autocomplete.enabled the default value is True . You can also check for Google settings for Google Instant Predictions here you check point in Always show Instant result from settings.

Let us know if this work !!

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Both methods didn't work. I just want to point out that I did not have this problem a week ago when I last shutdown my computer as I was leaving. Today, I opened Firefox and encountered this problem.

Modified by Lurker

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Bump, really appreciate any help guys and gals.

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Wait, so what you're saying is that a recent update broke it ? And there's no way to fix the problem until the next update comes out ?

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In current Firefox releases Firefox will first try to resolve a one word search via a DNS look up and do an URL fixup if this is enabled via their prefs. Firefox 33 will use a different approach and only search locally or possibly check the cache (?) and not on internet, so this is a lot faster.

You can always use a (one letter) keyword search to specify to use a specific search engine to search for one word or multi word terms to skip this look up.


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So, which version of Firefox doesnt do this then ? Like I said it was still 1 fine 1 week before.

Also, you said 'You can always use a (one letter) keyword search to specify to use a specific search engine to search for one word or multi word terms to skip this look up.' How do I do that ? If possible I'd like all terms typed in to the address bar to be searched.

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You can set a keyword to installed search engines if you click the search engine icon on the search bar and click "Manage Search Engines". You can do the same to a bookmark in the Bookmarks Manager (Library; Show All Bookmarks; click the More button at the bottom right) or in the Bookmarks Sidebar (View > Sidebars; Ctrl+B) via the right-click context menu (Properties).

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It seems that inputting the keyword in the search engine would only redirect you to said search engine. It doesn't automatically performs the search ? And I'm sorry but I don't understand what you meant with the bookmarks ? I just want Firefox to perform a search for whatever I have typed in to the address bar. Just what changed ? Like why cant I do that now ?

Sorry if I sound angry but this is getting very frustrating.

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Hello,

I am really sorry that you are facing this problem. Lets try to fix it.

Try this: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/searchreset/

The above add-on is very simple: on installation, it backs up and then resets your search preferences and home page to their default values, and then uninstalls itself. This affects the search bar, URL bar searches, and the home page.

Hope it helps.

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Hi, Talha.

I've did that before as stated in my main post but I just tried it again and no luck.

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Bump again.

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You can enter the keyword in the location/address bar and add a space followed by the search terms that you want to send to the search page. E.g. to search on Google for firefox if g is the keyword for Google, you enter in the location bar: g firefox

Modified by cor-el

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But that's not my point here. I never needed to set keywords to search from the address bar. I kept stressing this : It worked before. So why isn't it working now ? And how or what can I do to fix this ?

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Is keyword.enabled set to true on the about:config page?

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Yes, it is.

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