Firefox suddenly won't start and I can't open the profile manager; what else should I do?
Firefox was working. When I went to re-open it the wheel spun, stopped, and then nothing. I search online and it said to create a new profile by running firefox.exe -p. But nothing happened. The support article said that perhaps another version of Firefox was running in the background but not visible and to reboot. I did. No difference. I'm stuck. What else can I do?
All Replies (5)
Since Firefox will not start, a back up of your profile will be needed to save the data stored: Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles
I do not want to recommend a clean reinstall if it will start in Safe Mode: Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode
Please try Safe Mode first.
I tried Safe Mode, but apparently you need Firefox to start regularly and then hit the menu button to get it to start in Safe Mode next time. Unfortunately I cannot get Firefox to start at all.
I'm going to try to save the profile and then re-install Firefox. However, the "Back up and restore" instructions on how to do this are a bit vague. For example, it tells you how to find your profile file by doing a search. But on my computer the search comes up empty (turns out on my computer the file name has the word "local" in the middle of the phrase given in the instructions.
guigs2 . . . oops, I forgot to say "thanks!!"
You can use one of these to start Firefox in Safe Mode:
- On Windows, hold down the Shift key while starting Firefox with a double-click on the Firefox desktop shortcut
Yep and the profile folder can be found by navigating to about:support Under "Application Basics" look for "Profile folder" and the option to open the folder from this page.