Did you close and restart Firefox after toggling browser.search.showOneOffButtons?

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

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes

I tried all of the suggestions and the problem still exists.

Do a clean reinstall and delete the Firefox program folder before (re)installing a fresh copy of the current Firefox release.

• Download the Firefox installer and save the file to the desktop
  https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/

If possible uninstall your current Firefox version to cleanup the Windows registry and settings in security software.

• Do NOT remove "personal data" when you uninstall your current Firefox version, because this will remove all profile folders and you lose personal data like bookmarks and passwords including data in profiles created by other Firefox versions.

Remove the Firefox program folder before installing that newly downloaded copy of the Firefox installer.

• (32 bit Windows) "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\"
• (64 bit Windows) "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\"

• It is important to delete the Firefox program folder to remove all the files and make sure that there are no problems with files that were leftover after uninstalling.
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_Firefox

Your bookmarks and other personal data are stored in the Firefox profile folder and won't be affected by an uninstall and (re)install, but make sure NOT to remove personal data when you uninstall Firefox as that will remove all Firefox profile folders and you lose your personal data.

If you keep having problems then create a new profile.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

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• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox#Clean_reinstall

I just deleted the Firefox folder and reinstalled Firefox and no joy. It seems like this started happening when I updated to Firefox 40.2. Is there any way to go back to Firefox 39 and try that? I can't find any website that will let me download the older version.

HI, this isn't recommended because it may compromise your security, but if you really want to try it, older versions are here - Install an older version of Firefox.

This problem started occurring for me too, when I updated to FF version 43.0 on Ubuntu Linux.

How can I restore the old drop down search bar behavior of FF version 33? Setting "browser.search.showOneOffButtons" to "false" and restarting doesn't work anymore.

The old Search Bar has been deprecated. "browser.search.showOneOffButtons" was a temporary thing. The underlying code that supported that preference is gone as of Firefox 43.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/classicthemerestorer/ has an option for Old search (experimental) in CTR Options > General UI (1)

Thanks for your answer. How nasty. It was one of the features, which I used very often (multiple times per day). Why fix things that aren't broken?

I'd like to make two new feature request for: 1. Making the one-click selected search provider sticky. 2. Displaying the active search provider's icon in front of the search bar.

Where could I find out if such an initiative is already underway or make the request myself?