Firefox won't start after update
Troubleshooting this for a user. Already checked the knowledge base suggestions about this problem, and I was not able to get Firefox to open so that I can run it in Safe Mode. So the knowledge base article wasn't helpful at all.
User is running Windows 7, said she installed a Firefox update and after doing so Firefox did not open up. Reinstalling Firefox did not solve the problem. I tried installing from the Mozilla website and from Ninite, the problem was the same either way. Tried manually removing the Firefox folder and deleting registry keys before reinstalling, but no difference. I also tried allowing the Firefox process in our antivirus program (BitDefender), since it's been known to block programs that we use for no good reason, but that didn't appear to solve anything either.
Saw that a Firefox process opens up in Task Manager and appears to use an awful lot of memory before crashing completely and showing the Firefox Crash Reporter. Pressing the 'Restart Firefox' button just lands us in the same cycle. Not sure what else to do here. Any suggestions? I've attached a screenshot from Task Manager.
- I see that posting this from my computer posts Data from my machine, but please note that I am troubleshooting for a user who uses a different computer. Sorry about this -- if I'd known posting a question would do that, I would've posted from her computer :) I will get data from her computer if necessary.
jaleesadl மூலமாக திருத்தப்பட்டது
தீர்வு தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்டது
Try this if we cannot get it to open after troubleshooting steps:
Second lets try this, try to start Firefox with the Profile manager from the cmd.exe: Profile Manager - Create, remove or switch Firefox profiles
Certain Firefox problems can be solved by performing 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.
- Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from mozilla.org (or choose the download for your operating system and language from this page) and 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
- Mac: Delete Firefox from the Applications folder.
- Linux: If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder firefox in your home directory.
- 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.
Read this answer in context 👍 0All Replies (4)
தீர்வு தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்டது
Try this if we cannot get it to open after troubleshooting steps:
Second lets try this, try to start Firefox with the Profile manager from the cmd.exe: Profile Manager - Create, remove or switch Firefox profiles
Certain Firefox problems can be solved by performing 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.
- Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from mozilla.org (or choose the download for your operating system and language from this page) and 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
- Mac: Delete Firefox from the Applications folder.
- Linux: If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder firefox in your home directory.
- 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.
It is possible that your firewall or other security software blocks or restricts Firefox or the plugin-container process without informing you, possibly after detecting changes (update) to the Firefox program.
Remove all rules for Firefox and the plugin-container from the permissions list in the firewall and let your firewall ask again for permission to get full, unrestricted, access to install for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process.
See:
Thanks for the suggestions. I already tried doing a clean uninstall/re-install but not the others. I will try them and report back.
OK, I made a new profile for her and it worked. Was able to recover all of her old information as well. Thanks for the help with this, both of you -- I had no clue about Firefox profiles, and it's useful to know that they exist in case this ever happens again.