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New toolbar always disappears upon restart of Firefox

  • 10 replies
  • 4 have this problem
  • 11 views
  • Last reply by rovf

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I add a new toolbar (right click on toolbars, then "customize"), give it a name, and put a few buttons on it.

The new toolbar is visible and working, and can be seen for instance in the View/Toolbars pop-up menu.

However when I exit firefox and start it again - after this, the new toolbar is gone. Even in View/Toolbars it is not listed anymore, i.e. it is not a problem of being unselected, but it is completely gone.

I add a new toolbar (right click on toolbars, then "customize"), give it a name, and put a few buttons on it. The new toolbar is visible and working, and can be seen for instance in the View/Toolbars pop-up menu. However when I exit firefox and start it again - after this, the new toolbar is gone. Even in View/Toolbars it is not listed anymore, i.e. it is not a problem of being unselected, but it is completely gone.

Chosen solution

-> Troubleshooting extensions and themes

IF the solutions in above link doesn't work, see this:

-> Preferences are not saved - User.js file overriding preferences

Check and tell if its working.

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All Replies (10)

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Corrupt localstore.rdf

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I was able to get it working, but not *exactly* like the description you sent me. Here is what I did:

(1) First I verified that error still occurs. The interesting thing here is that the toolbar doesn't get lost when I use "restart firefox" (Ctrl-Alt-R), but only when I exit Firefox and then start it again.

(2) I exited Firefox and went to the profile folder. I found that there are two profile folders, not one:

...\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\22y5k01i.default

and

...\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\22y5k01i.default

The timestamp on 22y5k01i.default is the same for both profiles, but the content is different: Only the ...\Roaming\....\22y5k01i.default folder contained a file localstore.rdf, but the ...\Local\.....\22y5k01i.default folder did not.

(3) I erased localstore.rdf

(4) I started Firefox again

(5) Now I had expected to see the default toolbars, but in fact I saw my recently created toolbars recreated!!!! This effect seems to persist - even repeatedly closing Firefox and starting again, keeps my toolbar.

In effect, *erasing* the localstore.rdf had brought me back my toolbar, which is something I don't really understand.

Modified by rovf

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You can Start Firefox using Different Profiles to see the changes among them.

Profile Manager

To help other users find solutions, please return to this Thread and Sign-in to the forum with your Username and Password:

click on "Solved It" next to the reply ABOVE that BEST solved your question

DO NOT click "Solved It" next to this reply

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I don't have different profiles. I have only one (and, actually, don't need another one right now). As you can see from my post, it's called 22y5k01i.default, and stored in two places. If I would have different profiles, they would have different names, don't they?

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Profile folder - Firefox

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Thanks, but I knew this page already. It just shows how to find the location of the profile folder, which I know anyway. This is not related to the disappearing toolbars.

In the meantime, the toolbar had disappeared again, and I had to restore it. I found that the fastest way to restore it, goes like this:

If, after starting Firefox, I see that my toolbar is gone, I first erase localstore.rdf, then exit Firefox, and then start Firefox again. After this, my toolbars are restored.

If I exit Firefox first, and then erase localstore.rdf, the toolbars are gone forever and need to be recreated manually. Had to learn that the hard way.

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I think I was too optimistic. Toolbar is gone again, and neither deleting localstore.rdf and restarting Firefox, nor restoring the saved localstore.rdf (saved at a time where my custom toolbaras were visible).

After more investigation, I think a corrupt localstore.rdf is not the problem. There must be a different cause for this cause. I believe this for two reasons:

(1) localstore.rdf *does* contain the entry for the saved toolbar:

.... <NC:persist RDF:resource="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#customToolbars"/>

</RDF:Description> ....

 <RDF:Description RDF:about="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#customToolbars"
                  toolbar1="bleibda:zoom-controls"
                  toolbar2="nochmehr:sync-button" />

....

(2) It is also not the case that I look at the wrong profile folder, because: Not only have a never created a separate profile, but I also can see that localstore.rdf is updated when I restart it.

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Chosen Solution

-> Troubleshooting extensions and themes

IF the solutions in above link doesn't work, see this:

-> Preferences are not saved - User.js file overriding preferences

Check and tell if its working.

Modified by Hasan

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I don't have a User.js file, but testing the addons is certainly the next logical step. I have already started it, but it will take some time, because the effect of the disappearing toolbars is not so obviously reproducible (it requires a reboot of the PC to really make sure that it occurs, though sometimes it also occurs by just restarting Firefox). I will post my findings here as soon as I have any, but this might take a couple of days...

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I solved it. It was indeed a compatibility issue with an extension. When I disabled the add-on "Browser Backgrounds 1.7", the problem disappeared.

Thank you for helping!