Update to Windows 11 broke Firefox?
Firefox has been awesome. But, my computer just updated to windows 11 and now it doesn't work. Sometimes I try to open the browser and nothing happens (but I somehow end up with something like 7 instances of it running in the background, according to task manager), sometimes I get it to open, but it won't load my homepage or anything, and sometimes it seems to work fine but only for a little while - then it just stops responding.
I have no idea why this is happening or how to fix it. I tried the browser reset, which helped for a little bit but then the problems came back. I think having a theme installed makes it worse, but now I can't even get settings to open so I can try turning it off to see if that helps.
Any ideas? Not being able to use the internet on my computer is a pretty big deal. I'd prefer to not switch browsers, but I don't know what other option I've got at the moment.
Thanks!
Chosen solution
A couple of other users identified Webroot (security software) as blocking 64-bit Firefox 97 -- released today -- from running properly:
If you are still running an earlier release of Firefox, this would not be relevant.
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There are several possibilities
Some problems occur when your Internet security program was set to trust the previous version of Firefox, but no longer recognizes your updated version as trusted. Now how to fix the problem: To allow Firefox to connect to the Internet again;
- Make sure your Internet security software is up-to-date (i.e. you are running the latest version).
- Remove Firefox from your program's list of trusted or recognized programs. For detailed instructions, see
Configure firewalls so that Firefox can access the Internet. {web link}
You can check for issues caused by a corrupted or incomplete Visual C++ installation that is missing runtime components (Redistributable Packages) required by Firefox, especially VCRUNTIME140_1.dll.
Install both 32-bit and 64-bit "Visual Studio 2015, 2017 and 2019" downloads, (x86: vc_redist.x86.exe and x64: vc_redist.x64.exe) from https://support.microsoft.com/help/2977003/the-latest-supported-visual-c-downloads
You may not need the latter (32-bit version) if you use 64-bit Firefox. You may have to reboot the computer. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ In another thread, a user reported that a recent update of Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit (version 415) may be causing symptoms similar to the VC Runtime problem. If you have MBAE, it should have a setting to exempt Firefox. You could test whether that makes any difference.
Chosen Solution
A couple of other users identified Webroot (security software) as blocking 64-bit Firefox 97 -- released today -- from running properly:
If you are still running an earlier release of Firefox, this would not be relevant.
jscher2000 said
A couple of other users identified Webroot (security software) as blocking 64-bit Firefox 97 -- released today -- from running properly: If you are still running an earlier release of Firefox, this would not be relevant.
This does seem to be have been the problem, as I was running both Webroot and 64-bit Firefox 97. I've installed the 32-bit version and it seems to be working just fine now.
Thanks everyone!
Your workaround sounds good for now while people work with Webroot to issue an update.
For other readers:
In an active bug report, a user posted that another workaround would be to run 64-bit Firefox 97 in backwards compatibility mode. I haven't tested this myself, but here is how you would set that up:
(1) Open the Properties dialog for your Firefox shortcut. Either:
- right-click a Desktop shortcut, then click Properties
- right-click a pinned Taskbar icon, then right-click the Firefox (or Mozilla Firefox) item, then click Properties
(2) Switch to the Compatibility tab
(3) Check the box for "Run this program in compatibility mode for"
(4) If the selector for that option is not set on Windows 8, switch it to Windows 8
As a result of this change, you may notice that some Windows 10-specific features and styling are disabled. However, I am not aware of any major changes. If you experiment with this, let us know your experience.
https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/97.0.1/releasenotes/
Fixed Works around problems with WebRoot SecureAnywhere antivirus rendering Firefox unusable in some situations