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.

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

Cuireadh an snáithe seo sa chartlann. Cuir ceist nua má tá cabhair uait.

How do I stop the "Reset Firefox" prompt appearing when there is no need for it?

  • 6 fhreagra
  • 42 leis an bhfadhb seo
  • 2 views
  • Freagra is déanaí ó dmcff1

more options

Every time I start Firefox I now get the reset firefox prompt in the status bar:

"It looks like you haven't started Firefox in a while. Do you want to clean it up .... etc."

I use Firefox practically every day, so it is not true that I haven't used it in a while. After a bit of research, I read that Firefox may display this prompt if it has diagnosed other problems, particularly with add-ons. I haven't noticed any problems in my normal use, and I don't think that it is reasonable to expect me to wipe all my installed add-ons and then re-install and re-configure them again just to make this annoying prompt go away, when it is not giving me any details about the so-called "problem".

Is there any way of getting Firefox to tell me what it thinks the problem is so that I can try to fix it? Failing that, can this prompt be disabled completely?

Every time I start Firefox I now get the reset firefox prompt in the status bar: "It looks like you haven't started Firefox in a while. Do you want to clean it up .... etc." I use Firefox practically every day, so it is not true that I haven't used it in a while. After a bit of research, I read that Firefox may display this prompt if it has diagnosed other problems, particularly with add-ons. I haven't noticed any problems in my normal use, and I don't think that it is reasonable to expect me to wipe all my installed add-ons and then re-install and re-configure them again just to make this annoying prompt go away, when it is not giving me any details about the so-called "problem". Is there any way of getting Firefox to tell me what it thinks the problem is so that I can try to fix it? Failing that, can this prompt be disabled completely?

All Replies (6)

more options

hello pakmoz, please try to rename/delete the parent.lock file in your profile folder - it is used to detect the time when the profile was active the last time & once there has been no activity for 60 days, you'll get the prompt you've referred to in your question.
maybe the file is write-protected or corrupted and that's why you get the notice each time you start firefox...

more options

OK - I'm using linux so the file is .parentlock and deleting it does stop the invitation to reset firefox appearing. But this is not a complete solution. .parentlock is re-created when I start firefox up again, and after that when I exit and restart firefox the timestamp on .parentlock is not updated. Unless I delete this file again, the prompt will reappear in 60 days.....

I suspect that I have found a bug, and when I have time I may try with a development version and file a report if the behaviour is still there. For the record, I am using openSUSE 12.3 with the stock firefox that comes with it, currently version 25.0. Possibly relevant: my profile directory is in an NFSv4 filesystem (but other files in the profile directory are having their timestamps updated).

more options

Did you check that Firefox and possible plugin-container processes are ended properly when you quit Firefox?

Did you check the permissions and owner of the .parentlock file?

Does it help if you use Firefox > Quit instead of clicking the close X on the title bar?

The .parentlock files in all profiles are updating their time stamp properly for me.

more options

@cor-el: thanks for the suggestions

The permissions of the .parentlock file are 0644 and the owner/group are correct (my user id and my principal login group). The profile directory has permissions 0700 and the correct ownership as well. (The user/group are not local, but come from an LDAP authentication server: might that be significant?)

Using Quit (which I normally do anyway) rather than closing the window(s) makes no difference.

I have tried the nightly build now (28.0a1), and the problem is still there, even when I create a new profile. (I start up the browser, create a new profile, wait a couple of minutes, do "quit", do "ps -fu <me> | grep -i firefox" to check that it isn't still running somewhere.) The timestamp of .parentlock is when I started firefox up, not when I shut it down.

If no-one else is seeing this problem, it may be to do with my setup or network environment. I need to investigate a bit further. Thanks for the hints.

more options

I have repeated the test with nightly, but this time created the new profile on a local filesystem (ext4 FWIW) rather than an NFS-mounted one. As before the timestamp on .parentlock is not updated when firefox exits, so almost certainly a bug. If there is a problem with permissions/ownership, that problem is created by firefox, so still a bug :-) (given that the profile is a brand new one).

I'll report this on bugzilla as soon as I can.

more options

This is an old thread, but the issue can come up again. If the date on your computer clock was inadvertently changed (by looking up a date in the past and accidentally hitting apply), then you open firefox, it logs an earlier date. If you then fix the date, firefox thinks it wasn't opened in a while.

Just hit cancel and the issue should be resolved.