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Need search engine in Firefox. (No response when searching, etc.)

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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I installed Mozilla Firefox successfully, finally (I think). There is/was no place in install process, nor on Start Page, to put any Search Engine (I want DuckDuckGo). How/where to put a search engine. Currently, whatever I put in search spot (and then hit Enter) does nothing, goes nowhere. Same behavior with address bar spot. I am a disabled person. Thank you in advance.

I installed Mozilla Firefox successfully, finally (I think). There is/was no place in install process, nor on Start Page, to put any Search Engine (I want DuckDuckGo). How/where to put a search engine. Currently, whatever I put in search spot (and then hit Enter) does nothing, goes nowhere. Same behavior with address bar spot. I am a disabled person. Thank you in advance.

Chosen solution

Hi, please see Customize Firefox controls, buttons and toolbars, and click on Restore Defaults.

This may also help you - Use the Search bar in Firefox and manage search engines.

If search is still not working Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that temporarily turns off hardware acceleration, resets some settings, and disables add-ons (extensions and themes).

If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu:

  • Click the menu button New Fx Menu, click Help Help-29 and select Restart with Add-ons Disabled.

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)

When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, select "Start in Safe Mode".

SafeMode-Fx35

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, theme, or hardware acceleration. Please follow the steps in 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.

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Some features of your Firefox may be disabled by a compatibility setting.

Please right-click your desktop icon for Firefox > Properties

Click the Compatibility tab

Remove all the selections on this tab, in particular, do not run in Windows 2000 mode

You may need to exit out of Firefox and start it up again after making this change. You can use either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "power" button
  • (menu bar) File > Exit

If the menu bar is not normally displayed, you can activate it temporarily by tapping the Alt key once or by pressing the F10 key once.

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Chosen Solution

Hi, please see Customize Firefox controls, buttons and toolbars, and click on Restore Defaults.

This may also help you - Use the Search bar in Firefox and manage search engines.

If search is still not working Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that temporarily turns off hardware acceleration, resets some settings, and disables add-ons (extensions and themes).

If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu:

  • Click the menu button New Fx Menu, click Help Help-29 and select Restart with Add-ons Disabled.

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)

When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, select "Start in Safe Mode".

SafeMode-Fx35

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, theme, or hardware acceleration. Please follow the steps in 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.

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Note that your user agent shows that you run Firefox in compatibility mode for Windows 98 (NT 4.10).

  • Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 4.10; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/38.0

Make sure that you do not run Firefox in compatibility mode. You can open the Properties of the Firefox desktop shortcut via the right-click context menu and check the "Compatibility" tab. Make sure that all items are deselected in the "Compatibility" tab of the Properties window.