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My firefox browser no longer closes, minimizes, or restore up or down the window, all of them are grayed out

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Whenever I have Firefox browser window open, and then select to open a private browsing window, the open Firefox browser red X close button grays out and does not close, minimize, or restore up or down. This happens to both the regular Firefox browser window and the private browsing window. Sometimes, this occurs when only the regular Firefox browser is open and not any private browsing windows.

Whenever I have Firefox browser window open, and then select to open a private browsing window, the open Firefox browser red X close button grays out and does not close, minimize, or restore up or down. This happens to both the regular Firefox browser window and the private browsing window. Sometimes, this occurs when only the regular Firefox browser is open and not any private browsing windows.

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Hi CoolDave,

Thank you for posting your question. I understand that when you have both a private window open and a regular window open, sometimes the window will not minimize or restore, and that the buttons at the top of the screen are greyed out.

In order to better investigate this issue, can you please try the following:

  • Does this happen in Safe Mode? Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that turns off some settings and disables most add-ons (extensions and themes).

(If you're using an added theme, switch to the Default theme.)

If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu by clicking on the Restart with Add-ons Disabled... menu item:
FirefoxSafeMode

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)

Once you get the pop-up, just select "'Start in Safe Mode" Safe Mode Fx 15 - Win

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one. Please follow 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.

We look forward to your reply!