How do make the search bar work as it used to.
The search bar, just to the right of the address bar, does not start a search when I enter a search term and press the magnifier symbol or hit Enter. I am able to select a search engine.
Chosen solution
I saw your other question that was locked and pointed to this thread. Resetting Firefox should fix this issue. It takes about 10 seconds and will remove add-ons and customizations that could be causing issues. It will save all of your personal information. You can read more about it here - Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings.
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Download the Mozilla Search Reset
This 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.
If there is still a problem,
Start Firefox in Safe Mode
While you are in safe mode; Firefox Options > Advanced > General.
Look for and turn off Use Hardware Acceleration.
Poke around safe web sites and see if there is still a problem. Then restart.
Do you still have all default search engine listed in Manage Search Engines?
Try to delete the search.json file and possible search-metadata.json and search.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder to reset the search engines to the default.
Firefox will rebuild the search.json file from the default search engines in the "browser\searchplugins" folder in the Firefox program and the searchplugins folder in the Firefox profile folder.
You can check for problems with preferences.
Delete a possible user.js file and numbered prefs-##.js files and rename (or delete) the prefs.js file to reset all prefs to the default value including prefs set via user.js and prefs that are no longer supported in the current Firefox release.
You can use this button to go to the currently used Firefox profile folder:
- Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.
- Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
- Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window
Chosen Solution
I saw your other question that was locked and pointed to this thread. Resetting Firefox should fix this issue. It takes about 10 seconds and will remove add-ons and customizations that could be causing issues. It will save all of your personal information. You can read more about it here - Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings.