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URL does not open unless Firefox is already open

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Double clicking on a URL launches Firefox but to a New Tab screen only. The URL does not open in the home tab. The same URL will open in the second tab if Firefox is already open. I'm using Firefox ver 67 on Windows 10. I have tried a Reset and a delete reinstall.

Double clicking on a URL launches Firefox but to a New Tab screen only. The URL does not open in the home tab. The same URL will open in the second tab if Firefox is already open. I'm using Firefox ver 67 on Windows 10. I have tried a Reset and a delete reinstall.

Chosen solution

Hi Radman777, thank you for your report. Some other users are experiencing the same thing.

It might be related to some shutdown settings which are associated with Firefox 67.0 not showing a custom home page at startup. Are you using both of these settings?

(1) "Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed"

  • set in Options > Privacy & Security > Cookies section

  • about:config => network.cookie.lifetimePolicy => 2 (modified)

(2) "Clear history when Firefox closes"

  • set in Options > Privacy & Security > History section, with "Firefox will: Use custom settings for history" selected to show detailed options

  • about config => privacy.sanitize.sanitizeOnShutdown => true (modified)

If either of those has its default value, the problem does not occur, they need to both be set to cause the problem. Note for anyone testing it: the custom home page may load on the first restart, it stops loading on the second and later restarts.

I think some kind of fix is in development (bug 1554167; dupes: 1554747, 1553239).

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All Replies (3)

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Chosen Solution

Hi Radman777, thank you for your report. Some other users are experiencing the same thing.

It might be related to some shutdown settings which are associated with Firefox 67.0 not showing a custom home page at startup. Are you using both of these settings?

(1) "Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed"

  • set in Options > Privacy & Security > Cookies section

  • about:config => network.cookie.lifetimePolicy => 2 (modified)

(2) "Clear history when Firefox closes"

  • set in Options > Privacy & Security > History section, with "Firefox will: Use custom settings for history" selected to show detailed options

  • about config => privacy.sanitize.sanitizeOnShutdown => true (modified)

If either of those has its default value, the problem does not occur, they need to both be set to cause the problem. Note for anyone testing it: the custom home page may load on the first restart, it stops loading on the second and later restarts.

I think some kind of fix is in development (bug 1554167; dupes: 1554747, 1553239).

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Thank you jscheer2000. It was the first setting (1) that was the culprit. The second setting (2) is not causing the issue and I have set it to delete Cookies and Data anyway so (1) does not need to be activated. Thanks again.

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Thank you for reporting back.

I'm not sure why that combination causes a problem, but maybe trying to clean cookies two different ways is more taxing than we realize.