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Firefox constantly being unable to open after it has been closed and requires a machine restart

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  • 2 have this problem
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  • Last reply by Big_Munz

Diane_Fisher
Diane_Fisher
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I have used all of the solutions published and consistently find that I close Firefox, go to reopen it and I get the two standard messages:

Firefox is already running, but is not responding. The old Firefox process must be closed to open a new window. Then: Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible.


Task manager cannot close the application the application is not visible in any session I have followed all the posted solutions I have uninstalled Firefox, shut down, rebooted. shut down again, rebooted, then downloaded a fresh copy of Firefox, run updates, got the messages that says it is fully up to date, and I am still encountering the problem.

After three days of tackling the issue and countless hours, I'm ready to move to another browser, but do not want to.

I have used all of the solutions published and consistently find that I close Firefox, go to reopen it and I get the two standard messages: Firefox is already running, but is not responding. The old Firefox process must be closed to open a new window. Then: Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible. Task manager cannot close the application the application is not visible in any session I have followed all the posted solutions I have uninstalled Firefox, shut down, rebooted. shut down again, rebooted, then downloaded a fresh copy of Firefox, run updates, got the messages that says it is fully up to date, and I am still encountering the problem. After three days of tackling the issue and countless hours, I'm ready to move to another browser, but do not want to.

All Replies (1)

Big_Munz
Big_Munz
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Typically when we see the 'Firefox Process' refusing to close the issue is with a misbehaving plugin, add-on, or toolbar component. I will post a link to the Mozilla Knowledge Base about creating a test profile:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles

Follow the instructions on that page to create a brand new profile for your browser, we will use this to confirm the source of the issues you are having. Use this new profile to browse briefly, then close Firefox and confirm if the issue is still giving you trouble. With the new profile the Firefox Process should end without any issues.

If this new profile is not having issues, then your problem is most likely with one or more plugins or add-ons installed on your original user profile. If you find that the new profile has fixed your issues, then you can follow the steps labelled under "Removing a profile" to delete the files that were causing issues with your browser. Removing a profile can permanently delete files, so make sure to confirm that the new profile has solved all of your issues before removing a previous profile.