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Firefox won't open after updates, unless I start it in safe mode

  • 3 replies
  • 7 have this problem
  • 7 views
  • Last reply by Jack2door

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If Firefox has an update, and I let it update, it will not restart in regular windows. If I click the icon, nothing ever happens. This has been going on for awhile now, it is not a new problem for me. I'm running Windows 7.

The only way for me to fix this issue is to go into SAFE MODE and open Firefox from there, then it finishes the update and will let me load it in regular windows. It is extremely annoying, I have done fresh installs of the program multiple times, that doesn't help.

Any help would be appreciated.

If Firefox has an update, and I let it update, it will not restart in regular windows. If I click the icon, nothing ever happens. This has been going on for awhile now, it is not a new problem for me. I'm running Windows 7. The only way for me to fix this issue is to go into SAFE MODE and open Firefox from there, then it finishes the update and will let me load it in regular windows. It is extremely annoying, I have done fresh installs of the program multiple times, that doesn't help. Any help would be appreciated.

All Replies (3)

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Certain Firefox problems can be solved by performing a Clean reinstall. This means you remove 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.

  1. Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from http://www.mozilla.org and save the setup file to your computer.
  2. After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (click Exit from the Firefox or File menu).
  3. 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.
  4. Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
    1. Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
    2. Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.

Please report back to see if this helped you!

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Do you mean to boot the computer in Windows Safe Mode?

A possible cause is security software (firewall,anti-virus) that blocks or restricts Firefox or the plugin-container process without informing you, possibly after detecting changes (update) to the Firefox program.

Remove all rules for Firefox and the plugin-container from the permissions list in the firewall and let your firewall ask again for permission to get full unrestricted access to internet for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process.

See:

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- Try clicking on the orange 'Firefox' button in the top left of the screen.

- Then click 'help' and 'troubleshooting information'.

- After this, click 'Reset Firefox'.

This will hopefully restore and repair Firefox without you needing to boot your computer in safe mode or completely reinstalling Firefox.

I hope this helps!

J2D