Sorry to hear about this problem.

If you haven't already, could you close out of Firefox and do a normal Windows shutdown and restart to complete any pending updates and release any file locks.

If Firefox again starts up without your data, could you check whether your stuff is available in a different profile, as follows:

Profile Manager Page

Inside Firefox, type or paste about:profiles in the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it.

This page should list at least one profile and could list many. (Each profile has two folders and one or more buttons. Do not use any Remove buttons!)

The profile that Firefox is currently using will have this:

This is the profile in use and it cannot be deleted.

Do you have any other profile(s) listed on this page? If so, you can check whether it is the one you were using recently by clicking its Launch profile in new browser button.

If it isn't what you want, simply close that new window.

If it IS what you want, back on the about:profiles page, click the Set as default profile button for that profile so Firefox uses it automatically at the next startup.

Any progress so far, or do we need to keep looking for your data in some other places?

Thank you for the very detailed reply. I did the restart and it worked for the first 10 or so while I went to outlook and ebay then it went back to not working. All sites were dead ends- with no error message. I could not even reply to your message until I switched to Chrome. I went to ;about:profiles and there was only one.

I also see the under the 'hamburger' drop down at top right my bookmarks are there all under 'recent bookmarks'. However I want them as a drop down from the main firefox screen as they have been for the last ten years :-)

Thanks for your help.

For the bookmarks, were you using the menu bar at the top (File, Edit, View...), or the star/tray icon for the toolbar ()?

• You can summon the menu bar temporarily by tapping the Alt key, or show it persistently using the steps in: Restore the Menu bar in Firefox.
• You can find the optional bookmarks menu button in the Customize panel. See: Customize Firefox controls, buttons and toolbars.

I can't think of a good reason for sites to not load AND not have an error message. Hopefully someone else will have an idea overnight.

Does it still happen with all your extensions disabled and hardware acceleration disabled?

I restart with add-ons disabled. It works fine for about 15-20 min then reverts to not going to any websites. Sounds like add-ons to me , but I do not have any add-ons nor extensions listed (!?!), so I cannot find nor disable anything.

Does it still happen with the ESR version (115) or Developer Edition?

Try disabling any third-party antivirus or security software, this may require rebooting into Windows Safe Mode (networking enabled).

Thanks for your help.

If I just 'restart with Add-ons disabled' whenever it stops working (maybe about every 1/2 hour or so) , then it starts working again. However I have NO add-ons or extensions that I can find.

I have installed ESR and stopped malwarebytes, CCleaner, and microsoft firewall. That is all I know of. Same result-it kinda goes dead after 15-20 min. With ESR installed I cannot even go to 'about:profile' which was the saving grace for me in the normal version.

I have to re-install the normal version to even limp along.

The developer version is completely out of my league for using it so I did not even try it.

too bad Firefoz/Monzilla does not have a help desk...:-(

Reinstall the Visual C++ Redistributable.

Try changing DNS over HTTPS (DoH) to "Off" or "Max Protection" and in Connection Settings change "Use system proxy settings" to "No proxy".

Make sure you are not running the firefox.exe shortcut as admin or in compatibility mode and that you have UAC enabled in Windows.

Do you see any errors in the Browser Console (Ctrl+Shift+J) when the problem occurs?

Thanks for you persistant assistance.

\he first two paragraphs are greek to me. I have no idea how to do any of that stuff.

FYI: I never see any error message.

I guess I'll just go to Chrome for a while and try this again in a few months.

Apparently Monzilla doesn't care anyway: no help there. It was good while it lasted...

We do care, but we are volunteers and don't work 24-7. For your privacy and to avoid personal liability, we don't make remote connections to your computer, so we need to give you suggestions of things to check or try. This is not ideal, but it's where we are.

Your scenario is an unusual pattern, that everything is normal for the first 10-20 minutes, and then no pages can be loaded.

If the problem was that Firefox was updating in the background, instead of a spinner, you should get the usual message that you need to restart Firefox to continue.

If the problem was that Firefox was no longer able to look up website addresses because of a DNS problem, you would get a message that the server was not found.

If the problem was that the server was legitimately too busy, you should get a message to that effect. Endless spinners and blank pages are not normal.

You mentioned that you already reinstalled Firefox 125 after trying the Firefox 115 ESR. In case this is a malware scenario, one thing you could try is to rename the Firefox executable (after exiting out of Firefox). Here's how:

In Windows File Explorer, click your way into

C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\

Find firefox.exe and right-click > Rename

Add a 1 just before the dot so the file name is now firefox1.exe

Double-click firefox1.exe to start Firefox.

Can you browse at all or is Firefox?

If you can browser, how long does it work?

This is not a long-term fix because things will get confused during the next update, but because malware often does not target renamed Firefox executables, it is a common test.

No slight on you volunteer guys. You have all been bery helpful. Wish Monzilla had paid help instead of volunteers.

I tried to change DoH to 'off', but there is no 'off' option! I have 'standard', 'max', and 'custom'. Thats all!

I tried to change DoH to 'off', but there is no 'off' option! I have 'standard', 'max', and 'custom'. Thats all!

I think you may need to scroll down the page further. For me, the DNS over HTTPS options are Default, Increased, Max and Off.

After installing Firefox ESR, and later renaming firefox and reinstalling the normal version, and disabling all extensions and add-ons, and stopping all shields and anti virus programs, and trying to set the DoH off, etc, etc, etc., all with no success in solving the problem, I have gone over to Chrome. Disappointing to me as I have been using Firefox for about 10 years and like it. I did not want to go to a Google app, and I will NEVER go to Microsoft's Edge. C'est la vie.

Are there any active enterprise policies listed in about:policies?

Try disabling third-party modules in about:third-party.

Thanks for your suggestions. I do not know how to do any of that. I have been trying all kinds things that I can think of and following the support forum suggestions for weeks. I am not a computer jockey nor a programmer nor an application developer. I install a program, if it doesn't work I try something else, assuming Microsoft and Google and Monzilla and Duck-Duck-go and Edge and Chrome are all fighting and disabling each other with updates. I cannot fight that. I do not know how. They win.