Why is there no answer to the question of why there's no search engine in Firefox after an upgrade, nor an answer on what to do about it.
I have read the instructions with reference to clicking on the little arrow to the right of the search magnifying glass, but no drop down menu or anything else appears when clicking on that arrow. I have also read that we should make sure we're not running Firefox in the 'compatibility' mode (so something to that effect); this answer usually appears with the link https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/292533. Clicking on that link takes one to a page that provides instructions on how to utilize compatibility mode - Unfortunately this is not very helpful if the solution is to be sure that we're not running in compatibility mode because there's nothing on the landing page advising of how to discontinue running in compatibility mode -- the page only advises of how to go about running in compatibilty mode, as per the following summary satement from the page:
"This article describes how to use Windows Program Compatibility mode. This mode provides an environment for running programs that closely reflects the behavior of earlier Windows operating systems."
This whole problem appears to occur, as it did with me, after following the direction on Mozilla to upgrade an 'aging' version of Mozilla. I now actually have to use Chrome to obtain instructions from a search engine on how to address this Mozilla search engine problem.
It's beginning to feel a bit like a conundrum; a riddle, perhaps. In any case, however, there's clearly a problem occurring during upgrade, which results in the elimination of the search engine function. Since there doesn't appear to be a fix on the horizon, is there any way to return to an earlier version; will that help?
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Hi, first try clicking on Restore Defaults as shown in - Customize Firefox controls, buttons and toolbars.
If that doesn't help, try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that temporarily turns off hardware acceleration, resets some settings, and disables add-ons (extensions and themes).
If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu:
- Click the menu button
, click Help 
and select Restart with Add-ons Disabled.
If Firefox is not running, you can start Firefox in Safe Mode as follows:
- On Windows: Hold the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
- On Mac: Hold the option key while starting Firefox.
- On Linux: Quit Firefox, go to your Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
(you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)
When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, select "Start in Safe Mode".
If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, theme, or hardware acceleration. Please follow the steps in the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article to find the cause.
To exit Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.
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If still not working, the Refresh feature (called "Reset" in older Firefox versions) can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your bookmarks, history, passwords, cookies, and other essential information.
Note: When you use this feature, you will lose any extensions, toolbar customizations, and some preferences. See the Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings article for more information.
To Refresh Firefox:
- Open the Troubleshooting Information page using one of these methods:
- Click the menu button , click help and select Troubleshooting Information. A new tab containing your troubleshooting information should open.
- If you're unable to access the Help menu, type about:support in your address bar to bring up the Troubleshooting Information page.
- Click the menu button
- At the top right corner of the page, you should see a button that says "Refresh Firefox" ("Reset Firefox" in older Firefox versions). Click on it.
- Firefox will close. After the refresh process is completed, Firefox will show a window with the information that is imported.
- Click Finish and Firefox will reopen.
Did this fix the problem? Please report back to us!
Thank you.
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.
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 current 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.