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After installing Firefox 23, I can no longer find Google as a search engine in my search bar and I also cannot restore default search engines.

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 4 views
  • Last reply by atrinh

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The restore default search engines button is greyed out and when I go to Google.com to try to add it as a search engine, there is no option to do so.

The restore default search engines button is greyed out and when I go to Google.com to try to add it as a search engine, there is no option to do so.

Chosen solution

By default, the Google search plugin is installed into this folder:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\browser\searchplugins

Can you see google.xml there?

If not, you may need to reinstall Firefox 23. No uninstallation needed, you can get the installer from the following page:

http://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/ (find your language and OS)


If you have google.xml in the usual location, it's possible the data file which stores the search plugins has become corrupted. You can address that by renaming or deleting the files listed below and having Firefox regenerate them.

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using

Help > Troubleshooting Information > "Show Folder" button

Switch back to Firefox and Exit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then rename (or delete) the following files:

search.json => rename to search.json.old
search-metadata.json (if found) => delete
search.sqlite (if found) => delete
search.rdf (if found) => delete

Restart Firefox. Hopefully now Google will be back on the list.

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https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/searchreset should help you restore google as your search engine.

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Chosen Solution

By default, the Google search plugin is installed into this folder:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\browser\searchplugins

Can you see google.xml there?

If not, you may need to reinstall Firefox 23. No uninstallation needed, you can get the installer from the following page:

http://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/ (find your language and OS)


If you have google.xml in the usual location, it's possible the data file which stores the search plugins has become corrupted. You can address that by renaming or deleting the files listed below and having Firefox regenerate them.

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using

Help > Troubleshooting Information > "Show Folder" button

Switch back to Firefox and Exit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then rename (or delete) the following files:

search.json => rename to search.json.old
search-metadata.json (if found) => delete
search.sqlite (if found) => delete
search.rdf (if found) => delete

Restart Firefox. Hopefully now Google will be back on the list.

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Thank you! That worked perfectly.