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

Unable to change new tab setting

  • 3 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

more options

Without knowing how, whenever I open a new tab, it defaults to an unwanted page. I've just spent the last hour reading your forums. Nothing is working. Yes, I tried resetting browser.newtab.url among other suggestions. I'd love it if my tops sites appeared as tiles in a new tab, or at least my homepage. Suggestions?

Without knowing how, whenever I open a new tab, it defaults to an unwanted page. I've just spent the last hour reading your forums. Nothing is working. Yes, I tried resetting browser.newtab.url among other suggestions. I'd love it if my tops sites appeared as tiles in a new tab, or at least my homepage. Suggestions?

All Replies (3)

more options

What is the current value of the browser.newtab.url pref?

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance).

  • Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window.

If you do not keep changes after a restart or otherwise have problems with preferences, see:

more options

The current value of browser.newtab.url is about:newtab

You suggest checking if one of the extensions or hardware is causing problems but don't advise on how to check that?

The add-ons appearance says Default 26.0

Thanks for your help!

more options

You can read the linked KB articles for more details.

You can use one of these to start Firefox in Safe Mode:

  • On Windows, hold down the Shift key while starting Firefox with a double-click on the Firefox desktop shortcut
  • On Mac, hold down the Options key while starting Firefox
  • Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

If it works in Safe Mode and in normal mode with all extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) disabled then try to find which extension is causing it by enabling one extension at a time until the problem reappears.

Close and restart Firefox after each change via "Firefox > Exit" (Windows: Firefox/File > Exit; Mac: Firefox > Quit Firefox; Linux: Firefox/File > Quit)