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.

Avatar for Username

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

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Firefox stopped working

  • 1 reply
  • 2 have this problem
  • 14 views
  • Last reply by patrickmc

jamesthirteen
jamesthirteen
more options

Firefox displayed an alert:

Alert Could not initialize the application's security component. The most likely cause is problems with files in your application's profile directory. Please check that this directory has no read/write restrictions and your hard disk is not full or close to full. It is recommended that you exit the application and fix the problem. If you continue to use this session, you might see incorrect application behaviour when accessing security features.

I press "OK" in the alert to clear the alert. The tab label displays "Connecting..." and I am unable to go online.

I tried a complete uninstall, even removing all the files not deleted by the complete uninstall. Reloaded from the distribution site using synaptic, and the problem persists. Repeated the process and made sure the information in the .mozilla folder had no read/write restrictions, yet the problem persists. I am out of ideas as I am not willing to run firefox as root.

Firefox is a clean install with no modifications to any parameter. Basic system information:

Ubuntu 

  Release 12.04 (precise) 64-bit
  Kernel Linux 3.8.0-36-generic
  GNOME 3.4.2

Hardware 

  Memory: 3.9 GiB
  Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 920 Processor x 4

System Status 

  Available disk space: 1.4 TiB
Firefox displayed an alert: Alert Could not initialize the application's security component. The most likely cause is problems with files in your application's profile directory. Please check that this directory has no read/write restrictions and your hard disk is not full or close to full. It is recommended that you exit the application and fix the problem. If you continue to use this session, you might see incorrect application behaviour when accessing security features. I press "OK" in the alert to clear the alert. The tab label displays "Connecting..." and I am unable to go online. I tried a complete uninstall, even removing all the files not deleted by the complete uninstall. Reloaded from the distribution site using synaptic, and the problem persists. Repeated the process and made sure the information in the .mozilla folder had no read/write restrictions, yet the problem persists. I am out of ideas as I am not willing to run firefox as root. Firefox is a clean install with no modifications to any parameter. Basic system information: Ubuntu Release 12.04 (precise) 64-bit Kernel Linux 3.8.0-36-generic GNOME 3.4.2 Hardware Memory: 3.9 GiB Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 920 Processor x 4 System Status Available disk space: 1.4 TiB

All Replies (1)

patrickmc
patrickmc
more options

Hello jamesthirteen,

Thank you for contacting Mozilla Support. I'm sorry this error is preventing you from using your browser. Have you taken a look at this article?

Fix the "Could not initialize the application's security component" error message

Please let us know if this solves your issue.

Cheers, Patrick