Win 7 system popup says Firefox is running, so I can't open it. Task Manager is blank.
Popup suggests I close it or restart the system. Restarting the system has no effect. Uninstall says to close Firefox first. How do I fix this? I have reviewed 99 processes that are active when the system is started and none of them appear to be related to Firefox.
All Replies (3)
Hey toedtman,
Sounds like the issue can be solved by performing a Clean reinstall. This means you remove all Firefox program files and then reinstall 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 http://www.mozilla.org and save the setup file to your computer.
- After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (click Exit from the Firefox or File menu).
- 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 let me know if this helps, hope it does!
Curtis Parfitt-Ford Mozilla Support
Hey Curtis,
Made no difference- my Windows 7 machine still thinks Firefox is running when its not. I am going to run MSFT registry fix next.
Do you have the Firefox icon on your quick launch? Right click on it, and select Open New Window. Sometimes this works. If it opens, close it by Menu > File > Exit.
This is not a cure but will make it easier if Firefox locks up in Windows. https://support.mozilla.org/questions/997866 {web link}