hi, this is likely happening because something on your system has overwritten all the default search providers in firefox. in order to recover please download and reinstall firefox from https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/ on top of your existing version.

since this is a behaviour often caused by adware on a system, please also run a full scan of your system with different security tools like the free version of malwarebytes and adwcleaner.

Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware

You can check if you have the XML files of the default search engines including Google in the browser\searchplugins folder in the Firefox program folder.

If not then you need to reinstall Firefox.

You can use the SearchReset extension to reset some preferences to the default values.

• https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/searchreset/

Note that the SearchReset extension only runs once and then uninstalls automatically, so it won't show on the "Firefox > Add-ons" page (about:addons).

Try to delete the search.json file and possible search-metadata.json and search.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder to reset the search engines to the default.

You can use this button to go to the currently used Firefox profile folder:

• Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

Firefox will rebuild the search.json file from the default search engines in the "browser\searchplugins" folder in the Firefox program folder and the searchplugins folder in the Firefox profile folder.

philipp said

hi, this is likely happening because something on your system has overwritten all the default search providers in firefox. in order to recover please download and reinstall firefox from https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/ on top of your existing version. since this is a behaviour often caused by adware on a system, please also run a full scan of your system with different security tools like the free version of malwarebytes and adwcleaner. Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware

Thanks, I tried this. Problem continues.

cor-el said

You can check if you have the XML files of the default search engines including Google in the browser\searchplugins folder in the Firefox program folder. If not then you need to reinstall Firefox.

---

You can use the SearchReset extension to reset some preferences to the default values.

• https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/searchreset/

Note that the SearchReset extension only runs once and then uninstalls automatically, so it won't show on the "Firefox > Add-ons" page (about:addons).

Try to delete the search.json file and possible search-metadata.json and search.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder to reset the search engines to the default.

You can use this button to go to the currently used Firefox profile folder:

• Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

Firefox will rebuild the search.json file from the default search engines in the "browser\searchplugins" folder in the Firefox program folder and the searchplugins folder in the Firefox profile folder.

I have seen this as a fix in earlier versions. I just tried it again but it has not helped.

what are the contents of your C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\browser\searchplugins folder?

philipp said

what are the contents of your C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\browser\searchplugins folder?

Hi, there was no such sub-directory. I re-reinstalled and the sub-directory was created. Problem solved. Thank-you.