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Firefox files used by onother application -- launch error

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 8 views
  • Last reply by jtummins

jtummins
jtummins
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When opening Firefox, I receive a message stating "The bookmarks and history system will not be functional because one of Firefox's files is in use by another application. Some security software can cause this problem." This seems to have started with Firefox 70.0.1.

I have tried resolving this by creating another profile, and by removing Firefox completely and reinstalling it. The problem persists in all cases.

Firefox: 70.0.1 OS: Mac OS 10.15.1 Hardware: MacBook Pro 13" (2016)

When opening Firefox, I receive a message stating "The bookmarks and history system will not be functional because one of Firefox's files is in use by another application. Some security software can cause this problem." This seems to have started with Firefox 70.0.1. I have tried resolving this by creating another profile, and by removing Firefox completely and reinstalling it. The problem persists in all cases. Firefox: 70.0.1 OS: Mac OS 10.15.1 Hardware: MacBook Pro 13" (2016)
Attached screenshots

All Replies (3)

deepthapasan
deepthapasan
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Hi , When this issue arises try opening up the task manger and close FF. Then deactivate virus guards that are active and try launching it again.This might fix the issue. 


                          Thanks
cor-el
cor-el
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  • Top 10 Contributor
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If you use Sync then best is to disconnect Sync temporarily during troubleshooting.

You can check for problems with the places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder.

  • use "Verify Integrity" button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page

In case errors are reported with "Verify Integrity" close and restart Firefox and retry.

If "Verify Integrity" cannot repair places.sqlite, rename/remove all places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder. Firefox will rebuild places.sqlite and restore the bookmarks from a recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.

  • keep a backup copy of places.sqlite in case a new places.sqlite database has to be created

See also:

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.

jtummins
jtummins Question owner
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Thank you for the responses to my question.

Here's what seems to have fixed the problem, at least it's tot occurring at the moment. And unfortunately it doesn't point to a specific problem.

  1. Removed Firefox completely, searching for all Firefox or Mozilla related files and directories, and deleting them.
  2. Ran Disk Utility to check and repair and file system issues. (None were found.)
  3. Restarted the Mac.
  4. Reinstalled Firefox as if for the first time.
  5. Launched Firefox, and signed into my Firefox account to sync extensions and bookmarks.

The virus checker solution is interesting. If the problem reoccurs I will certainly try that.

I had tried to repair places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite, and rebulit them several times in an effort to solve this problem, but that never worked.

Thanks again for your suggestions.

Modified by cor-el