Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

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.

Avatar for Username

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

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Firefox will not run after update (3.6 > 8.0) WinXP

  • 1 reply
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

Raine Dragon
Raine Dragon
more options

I noticed that my mother's laptop was running Firefox 3.6 still, and offered to update. I downloaded 8.0, and ran the install. Had no issues with the install, no errors, nothing. I told it to run after the install finished, and it never came up. I tried the icon, still nothing. I downloaded Firefox 7.0, and installed it, figuring there might have been an issue with 8.0, since it just came out, nd tried it, same result. I rebooted the system, and tried again, still nothing happens, just the little hourglass for a moment, and then.. nothing. There is nothing in the task manager, no process for firefox. I tried running the profile manager and the plain program from the run under the start menu of windows with antivirus turned off, and got nothing there either.


I'm running windows XP Pro

edit::

I was able to re-instal 3.6.24 back over top, and it works, but I would like to update it for her still, if it can be done.

I noticed that my mother's laptop was running Firefox 3.6 still, and offered to update. I downloaded 8.0, and ran the install. Had no issues with the install, no errors, nothing. I told it to run after the install finished, and it never came up. I tried the icon, still nothing. I downloaded Firefox 7.0, and installed it, figuring there might have been an issue with 8.0, since it just came out, nd tried it, same result. I rebooted the system, and tried again, still nothing happens, just the little hourglass for a moment, and then.. nothing. There is nothing in the task manager, no process for firefox. I tried running the profile manager and the plain program from the run under the start menu of windows with antivirus turned off, and got nothing there either. I'm running windows XP Pro ::edit:: I was able to re-instal 3.6.24 back over top, and it works, but I would like to update it for her still, if it can be done.

Modified by Raine Dragon

All Replies (1)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

A possible cause is security software (firewall) that blocks or restricts Firefox or the plugin-container process without informing you, possibly after detecting changes (update) to the Firefox program.

Remove all rules for Firefox from the permissions list in the firewall and let your firewall ask again for permission to get full unrestricted access to internet for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process.

See: