firefox.exe does not work
on another computer (Toshiba, Windows 7) on 5/23/16 Firefox starting running very slow. Tried many remedies. None worked. Then, after closing FF it would not open again. Today, 5/24/16, begain virus scan, malware scan, disk check, system check, registry check, etc. then uninstalled Firefox. It would not uninstall. Error message said I had to close Firefox before it would allow uninstall. All indicators were that Firefox was not then running. But, upon opening Task Manager I found two Firefox (32) programs running, so I turned them off. But, the uninstaller would not allow the uninstall. Using the file display system found at Windows Explorer I manually uninstalled FF. Removed shortcuts on screen display. Then using browser Internet Explorer I found the Mozilla official website and downloaded the latest version of FF. Then I installed it. Got a shortcut on the display screen, clicked it, no action - FF would not start. Went to Windows Explorer again, found FF planted under "Program Files (x86)" and located the application file simply called "Firefox.exe" clicked it - no response, that is Firefox would not load. What is going on? I have lost my FF! I want it back. Why won't version 46.0.1 start on the Toshiba especially since I am writing and using the same version of FF to write this complaint - but this FF 46..0.1 is working just fine on the HP computer that I am writing this on (it is an XP about 15 years old!). Don't know who to ask. Don't know why it isn't working. Don't know what to try. Thanks for anyones help. Injin
All Replies (8)
On the computer you are using;
Separate Security Issue: Update your Adobe Reader Version 2015.016.20039 Note: Other Software is offered in the download.
On the sick computer;
Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web Link} by holding down the <Shift>
(Mac=Options) key, and then starting Firefox.
A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh).
Is the problem still there?
While still in Safe Mode,
Type about:support in the address bar and press Enter. Under the main banner, press the button; Copy Text To Clipboard.. Then in the reply box at the bottom of this page, do a right click in the box and select Paste. This will show us your system details. No Personal Information Is Collected.
Hi Injin, what is your win 7 ? 32 bit Windows OR 64 bit Windows ?
In 32 bit Windows firefox exist in "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\" In 64 bit Windows firefox exist in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\"
check if by mistake download a wrong firefox version, you can download from the next full installer link : https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/
If again (after download full correct version and install it) does not work, then try a Clean reinstall.
This means you remove your Firefox program files and then reinstall Firefox. This process does not remove your Firefox profile data (such as bookmarks and passwords), since that information is stored in a different location.
To do a clean reinstall of Firefox, please follow these steps: Note: You might want to print these steps or view them in another browser.
- You already download the full installer from my above link and now save the setup file to your computer.
- After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (or open the Firefox menu
and click the close button 
).
- Delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
- Windows:
- C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
- Windows:
- Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
- Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
- Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.
More information about reinstalling Firefox can be found here.
WARNING: Do not use a third party uninstaller as part of this process. Doing so could permanently delete your Firefox profile data, including but not limited to, extensions, cache, cookies, bookmarks, personal settings and saved passwords. These cannot be easily recovered unless they have been backed up to an external device! See Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.
Please report back to say if this helped you!
Thank you.
My computer is a 64 bit machine. I did the clean install after deleting the Mozilla Firefox program with all of its subdirectories. Then I installed the new version 46.0.1. The display said the installation was complete. I checked "start upon completion", bu FF didn't start. I went back to my main screen display where an icon for FF is located and clicked on that icon but FF did not start. Then I opened Task Manager and it confirmed that Firefox.exe *32 was a running process (even though FF was not loaded or running i.e. could not be seen on the screen). I have now done 3 clean reinstalls. I don't know how to make FF work again? Help
to Fred McD see below: Application Basics
Name: Firefox Version: 46.0.1 Build ID: 20160502172042 Update Channel: release-cck-mozilla84 User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:46.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/46.0 Multiprocess Windows: 0/1 (Disabled) Safe Mode: false
Crash Reports for the Last 3 Days
All Crash Reports
Extensions
Name: Adblock Plus Version: 2.7.3 Enabled: true ID: {d10d0bf8-f5b5-c8b4-a8b2-2b9879e08c5d}
Name: Adblock Plus Pop-up Addon Version: 0.9.2.1-signed.1-signed Enabled: true ID: adblockpopups@jessehakanen.net
Name: Avast Online Security Version: 10.3.3.39 Enabled: true ID: wrc@avast.com
Name: Firefox Hello Version: 1.2.6 Enabled: true ID: loop@mozilla.org
Name: Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant Version: 1.3.1.1-signed Enabled: true ID: {20a82645-c095-46ed-80e3-08825760534b}
Name: Multi-process staged rollout Version: 1.0 Enabled: true ID: e10srollout@mozilla.org
Name: Pocket Version: 1.0 Enabled: true ID: firefox@getpocket.com
Name: Avast SafePrice Version: 10.3.5.39 Enabled: false ID: sp@avast.com
Graphics
Adapter Drivers: vga framebuf vga256 vga64k Adapter RAM: Unknown Asynchronous Pan/Zoom: none ClearType Parameters: Gamma: 2200 Pixel Structure: R ClearType Level: 100 Enhanced Contrast: 50 Device ID: 0x0000 Direct2D Enabled: Blocked for your graphics driver version. DirectWrite Enabled: false (6.1.7600.16763) GPU #2 Active: false GPU Accelerated Windows: 0/1 Basic (OMTC) Blocked for your graphics driver version. Subsys ID: 00000000 Supports Hardware H264 Decoding: No; Failed to create H264 decoder Vendor ID: 0x0000 WebGL Renderer: Blocked for your graphics driver version. windowLayerManagerRemote: true AzureCanvasBackend: skia AzureContentBackend: cairo AzureFallbackCanvasBackend: cairo AzureSkiaAccelerated: 0
Important Modified Preferences
accessibility.loadedInLastSession: true accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar: 0 browser.cache.disk.capacity: 358400 browser.cache.disk.filesystem_reported: 1 browser.cache.disk.hashstats_reported: 1 browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max: false browser.cache.frecency_experiment: 1 browser.cache.memory.capacity: 65536 browser.display.show_image_placeholders: true browser.download.importedFromSqlite: true browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion: 7 browser.search.suggest.enabled: false browser.search.useDBForOrder: true browser.sessionstore.upgradeBackup.latestBuildID: 20160502172042 browser.startup.homepage: alltheinternet.com browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID: 20160502172042 browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone: 46.0.1 browser.tabs.loadInBackground: false browser.urlbar.autocomplete.enabled: true dom.apps.reset-permissions: true dom.mozApps.used: true extensions.lastAppVersion: 46.0.1 font.internaluseonly.changed: true 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C:\Users\Phil\AppData\Local\Temp\WebRTC.log media.youtube-ua.override.to: 43 network.auth.allow-subresource-auth: 2 network.cookie.cookieBehavior: 1 network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true network.http.max-connections: 48 network.http.max-connections-per-server: 16 network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy: 16 network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server: 8 network.http.pipelining.maxrequests: 8 network.http.request.max-start-delay: 0 network.predictor.cleaned-up: true places.database.lastMaintenance: 1463707690 places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 77071 plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types: application/pdf plugin.expose_full_path: true plugin.importedState: true plugin.state.java: 0 plugin.state.nppdf: 2 plugin.state.nprpchromebrowserrecordext: 0 print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_bgcolor: false print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_bgimages: false print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_colorspace: 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print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_margin_left: 0.5 print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_margin_right: 0.5 print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_margin_top: 0.5 print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_oddpages: true print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_orientation: 1 print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_page_delay: 50 print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_paper_data: 1 print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_paper_height: 279.00 print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_paper_name: print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_paper_size_type: 0 print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_paper_size_unit: 1 print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_paper_width: 215.00 print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_plex_name: print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_resolution: 600 print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_resolution_name: print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_reversed: false print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_scaling: 0.50 print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_shrink_to_fit: false print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_to_file: false print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_unwriteable_margin_bottom: 0 print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_unwriteable_margin_left: 0 print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_unwriteable_margin_right: 0 print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_unwriteable_margin_top: 0 privacy.cpd.offlineApps: true privacy.cpd.siteSettings: true privacy.sanitize.migrateClearSavedPwdsOnExit: true privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs: true privacy.sanitize.timeSpan: 2 services.sync.declinedEngines: storage.vacuum.last.index: 1 storage.vacuum.last.places.sqlite: 1462209202
user.js Preferences
Your profile folder contains a user.js file, which includes preferences that were not created by Firefox.
Important Locked Preferences
JavaScript
Incremental GC: true
Accessibility
Activated: false Prevent Accessibility: 0
Library Versions
NSPR Expected minimum version: 4.12 Version in use: 4.12
NSS Expected minimum version: 3.22.3 Basic ECC Version in use: 3.22.3 Basic ECC
NSSSMIME Expected minimum version: 3.22.3 Basic ECC Version in use: 3.22.3 Basic ECC
NSSSSL Expected minimum version: 3.22.3 Basic ECC Version in use: 3.22.3 Basic ECC
NSSUTIL Expected minimum version: 3.22.3 Version in use: 3.22.3
Experimental Features
It could be the Firefox window has opened where you can't see it.
Do you have the Firefox icon on your quick launch? Right click on the icon and select Open New Window. Sometimes this works. If it opens, close it by Menu > File > Exit.
If you can't use Firefox, open your file browser to; C:\Users\==<UserName>==\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\
Locate the xulstore.json file. Then rename or delete it. Restart Firefox.
to Fred McD: twice I have started FF in Safe Mode (Shift + FF icon while in Safe Mode). It does load, appears on the screen, is in fact FF; but it still will not load FF in regular mode. Am I supposed to be looking for something in particular while in Safe Mode? Explain what good it is to be in Safe Mode? Now I just tried Refresh in Safe Mode while in FF. Did Restate. When ordinary screen came on on the restart I again tried to load FF - but NO it still will not load after the Refresh. Plus, on my screen there is no icon showing "Old FireFox Data" such as I have seen in past experiences following a Refresh of FF??
Your profile folder contains a user.js file, which includes preferences that were not created by Firefox.
Rename / remove this file.
Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that temporarily turns off hardware acceleration, resets some settings, and disables add-ons (extensions and themes). If the problem goes away, that tells us one thing. If it does not, that tells us something else.
When Firefox is refreshed, it moves the current profile to a folder on the desktop called Old Firefox. After creating a new profile, some files are copied from the original (passwords, bookmarks, history . . . .)