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

Firefox crashes

  • 4
  • 2
  • 3 views
  • Nzaghachi ikpeazụ nke John99

more options

Firefox keeps crashing within seconds of launching. I tried to a fresh install and now the program will not even install. So right now I cant even install it. 17 crashes today alone. 45 this month. I dont even know where to begin.. Help please!

Firefox keeps crashing within seconds of launching. I tried to a fresh install and now the program will not even install. So right now I cant even install it. 17 crashes today alone. 45 this month. I dont even know where to begin.. Help please!

All Replies (4)

more options

Sorry to hear about the crashes!

If you want to try installing again, I suggest a method toward the end of this post.

If you got the Mozilla Crash Reporter dialog and submitted reports, there is a way to find the crash report IDs on disk and we can use those to look up your crash reports.

If you can't open Firefox to retrieve crash report IDs::

Press the Windows key (Windows Key) + R to call up the Run dialog.

Paste:

"%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Crash Reports\submitted"

(including the quotation marks) into the dialog and click OK.

In the resulting folder will be a text file for each crash report you have submitted. In details view you can sort by date by clicking the Date Modified column heading. (You can use Alt+v to activate the View menu if needed.)

When you double-click each file, it should contain the crash report ID starting with bp- and you can paste those into a reply.


Clean Reinstall

We use this name, but it's not about removing your settings, it's about making sure the program files are clean (no inconsistent or alien code files). As described below, this process does not disturb your existing settings. Do NOT uninstall Firefox, that's not needed.

(1) Download a fresh installer for Firefox 38.0.5 from https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/ to a convenient location. (Scroll down to your preferred language.)

(2) Exit out of Firefox (if applicable).

(3) Rename the program folder:

(64-bit Windows folder names)

C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox

to

C:\Program Files (x86)\OldFirefox

(32-bit Windows folder names)

C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox

to

C:\Program Files\OldFirefox

(4) Run the installer you downloaded in #1. It should automatically connect to your existing settings.

Can you get Firefox reinstalled?

Note: Some plugins may exist only in that OldFirefox folder. If something essential is missing, look in these folders:

  • \OldFirefox\Plugins
  • \OldFirefox\browser\plugins
more options

Thanks for responding. I followed your instructions and was able to reinstall Firefox. Once installed I got the Mozilla Crash Reported. I started in Safe Mode. After being taken to the "Well, this is embarrass" page the browser crashed again. I retried Safe Mode with no success. I tried launching in Refresh Mode and the browser keeps crashing. I have the crash report saved in Notepad if that will help.

more options

Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web Link} by holding down the <Shift>
(Mac Options)
key, and then starting Firefox. Is the problem still there?

While still in Safe Mode,

In the address bar, type about:crashes<enter>. Note: If any reports do not have BP in front of the numbers/letters, click it and select Submit.

Using your mouse, mark the most resent 7 - 10 crash reports, and copy them. Now go to the reply box below and paste them in.


If you can't get Firefox to open, you will have to do this the hard way. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/mozillacrashreporter Open the file browser / explorer on your computer. Note: You may have to enable Show Hidden Folders / Files. Enter this in the address bar;

Windows: %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Crash Reports\submitted Win 7/Vista: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Crash Reports\submitted Win XP/2000: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Crash Reports\submitted

Mac OS: /Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Crash Reports/submitted Linux: /home/<username>/.mozilla/firefox/Crash Reports/submitted

Copy the last 5-7 Recent File Names in the folder. Post the information in the reply box below.

more options

dagindi said

... I have the crash report saved in Notepad if that will help.

All we need is the Crash ID of a few recent Crash reports. Thats the text beginning bp- Please paste that in to the forum reply. That is especially useful if it is from a Crash whilst in Firefox's safe mode.

After the preview, if you post your reply the Forum software converts the text in to a link.


Please follow the steps below to provide us crash IDs to help us learn more about your crash.

  1. Enter about:crashes in the Firefox address bar and press Enter. A Submitted Crash Reports list will appear, similar to the one shown below.
  2. Copy the 5 most recent Report IDs that start with bp- and then go back to your forum question and paste those IDs into the "Post a Reply" box.

Note: If a recent Report ID does not start with bp- click on it to submit the report.

(Please don't take a screenshot of your crashes, just copy and paste the IDs. The below image is just an example of what your Firefox screen should look like.)

aboutcrashesFx29

Thank you for your help!

More information and further troubleshooting steps can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox crashes (closing or quitting unexpectedly) article.