Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

My windows taskbar disappears with new Firefox 57

more options

Firefox 57 automatically updated in the last few days. I am not in Full Screen Mode (F11). The new version makes my windows taskbar disappear at the bottom of the screen. The old trick of hovering down the bottom does not work and I either have to press F11 twice - putting it in to full screen mode and then not OR minimising the app in order to get my taskbar back. My windows taskbar is locked.

Any help would be gratefully recieved as I much prefer Firefox to Chrome or IE... however I cant work like this and will have to go backto IE.

Many Thanks

Firefox 57 automatically updated in the last few days. I am not in Full Screen Mode (F11). The new version makes my windows taskbar disappear at the bottom of the screen. The old trick of hovering down the bottom does not work and I either have to press F11 twice - putting it in to full screen mode and then not OR minimising the app in order to get my taskbar back. My windows taskbar is locked. Any help would be gratefully recieved as I much prefer Firefox to Chrome or IE... however I cant work like this and will have to go backto IE. Many Thanks

All Replies (1)

more options

Firefox should be able to properly compute the height of the screen, so that's not good behavior. Sometimes inappropriate window and dialog dimensions can occur due to nonsensical values in a settings file. The file is hard to edit, so the general remedy is to remove it and let Firefox use default sizes. Here's how.

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, click the "Open Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows Explorer.

Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

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

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then rename xulstore.json to something like xulstore.old. If you see a file named localstore.rdf, rename that one to localstore.old.

Start Firefox back up again. Do maximized windows display normally again?

If you prefer the Menu Bar or Bookmarks Toolbar displayed, you'll have to turn them on again. You can use one of these methods to show the toolbar list and select the desired bars there:

  • right-click (on Mac Ctrl+click) a blank spot on the tab bar (or the "+" button)
  • (menu bar) View > Toolbars
    On Windows, tap the Alt key to activate the menu bar temporarily.
  • in Customize mode > Show/Hide Toolbars (see: Customize Firefox controls, buttons and toolbars)

To turn on the Bookmarks Toolbar, Menu Bar, or other bars, click it on the list. This is also how you can turn off toolbars.