This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Firefox will start running, but wont open into an interactable window.

  • 2 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

more options

Every time I click on Firefox to open a window, the taskbar icon and task manager say that it is open, but no window appears on my screen. If I hover over the icon on the taskbar, I can see the window, and even navigate to frequent pages by right clicking, but I can't SEE any Firefox window open.

Every time I click on Firefox to open a window, the taskbar icon and task manager say that it is open, but no window appears on my screen. If I hover over the icon on the taskbar, I can see the window, and even navigate to frequent pages by right clicking, but I can't SEE any Firefox window open.

Chosen solution

Close Firefox. Open your file browser to this hidden location:

  • Mac: *~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/
  • Linux: *~/.mozilla/firefox/
  • Windows: %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\
  • *C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\

Locate the xulstore.json file. Then rename or delete it. Restart Firefox.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (2)

more options

Chosen Solution

Close Firefox. Open your file browser to this hidden location:

  • Mac: *~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/
  • Linux: *~/.mozilla/firefox/
  • Windows: %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\
  • *C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\

Locate the xulstore.json file. Then rename or delete it. Restart Firefox.

more options

Try to start Firefox in Safe Mode to see if that works.

  • Windows: hold down the Shift key while starting Firefox
  • Mac: hold down the Options key while starting Firefox