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MAC Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible (Already deleted Profiles file/folder and cleared cache, no avail). how to fix?

  • 13 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 31 views
  • Last reply by FredMcD

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Alright, I use Firefox like normal, but sometime today it stopped working, I get "Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible" error, I looked it up using safari, followed every possible interpretation of the instructions to no avail, I deleted the profiles folder and file, in both cache, and application support, on both my user folder and global HDD folder, no fix whatsoever, I don't know why this isn't working (yes I checked the hidden files, I searched my entire HDD and found no results for anything remotely named "Profile"/"Profiles" and I don't know what else to say.

I have checked: Application support (on every user) & Cache (on every user)

I don't know what's up, I also reinstalled Firefox after deleting everything related to it and I just don't know.

Alright, I use Firefox like normal, but sometime today it stopped working, I get "Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible" error, I looked it up using safari, followed every possible interpretation of the instructions to no avail, I deleted the profiles folder and file, in both cache, and application support, on both my user folder and global HDD folder, no fix whatsoever, I don't know why this isn't working (yes I checked the hidden files, I searched my entire HDD and found no results for anything remotely named "Profile"/"Profiles" and I don't know what else to say. I have checked: Application support (on every user) & Cache (on every user) I don't know what's up, I also reinstalled Firefox after deleting everything related to it and I just don't know.
Attached screenshots

Chosen solution

The problem fixed itself when I updated to Mac OS X 10.15, I think it had something to do with firefox not having permission to write the profiles folder and file

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FredMcD said

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-run-firefox-when-profile-missing-inaccessible http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox#Navigating_to_the_profile_folder https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles

Tried profile manager (both by clicking on Firefox and via terminal) and I got the profile error so I couldn't try that, I read every link you gave me and followed every possible interpretation of the instructions (as I said originally) I didn't even have a "Mozilla" folder in ~/Library so I couldn't look in there, so I still can't use Firefox, thanks though

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I called for more help.

What's your computer system and Firefox version?

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FredMcD said

I called for more help. What's your computer system and Firefox version?

Computer: MacOS X (10.14.6) (MacBook Pro) Firefox: Mozilla Firefox 76.0.1 (Had to use the terminal to find Firefox version, and I reinstalled Firefox last night so it should be fully updated)

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I'm in the exact same boat with 10.11.6.

Also tried 76.0.1. All options exhausted.

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I think it may have to do with the new update, though my internet is slow so the download keeps timing out when I try to download the update, I'll keep trying, if that works I will say so, since all my apps have had issues creating files since the update was published, so I think apple may of changed all the permissions on my Mac so apps cannot change anything without the update, since apple did slow down old iPhones to force people to buy new ones I wouldn't put purposely causing issues above them, if someone could tell me how to give Firefox permissions to write files I will try that, I just don't know how to do that, otherwise I will keep trying to download the update and see if that fixes anything

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Download the full installer from
Download Firefox For All languages And Systems {web link}

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Chosen Solution

The problem fixed itself when I updated to Mac OS X 10.15, I think it had something to do with firefox not having permission to write the profiles folder and file

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That was very good work. Well Done.

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My Mid-2009 mac won't let me update to 10.15 so I guess good bye firefox :(

Must be a write permissions for Firefox. Just don't understand why it changed since I hadn't done any updates.

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HawkEye
Please go to the top of any support.mozilla.org web page and use the Get Community Support link: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/new

Select the product for what the problem is (Firefox or whatever). Now select the category for the problem. At the bottom is Other.

Describe the problem in brief (one line). Then press <enter>. The website will display any prior posts that might help you. If nothing on the list can help, at the bottom press the button; None Of These Solve My Problem.

Now enter all the relative information on the problem. At the bottom of this, you can Add Images.

Under this is Troubleshooting Information. Please press the Share Data button. This will let us look at your system details. No Personal Information Is Collected.

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FredMcD

I had posted My Issue 4 days prior to this thread, perhaps I did it wrong (first time community user). Can I add the Share Data to my existing question?

Thanks for your help in advance.

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I posted at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1286289
Please continue there.