Getting already running error and missing profile error. None of the fixes listed work. Please help.
I'm running Windows 7 Professional (64 bit Windows 7). I have tried doing a fresh installation of Firefox, which didn't help. Task Manager doesn't find Firefox running, but I still get the error message. The only way to run Firefox is as administrator, which seems to me to be dangerous. I have tried all the fixes listed in articles on this site, restarting Windows after each one, and none of them fix the problem.
Additionally, I keep getting the missing profile error message, and when I try to create a new profile it says "Profile couldn't be created. Probably the chosen folder isn't writable." So I went into Windows Explorer and right clicked on AppData\Roaming\Mozilla and un-checked read only, and told it to include all sub-folders, gave it administrator permission, and tried again, but it still can't be done, because Windows immediately restores read only status. I tried going as high as AppData to remove read only status, and it still gets restored immediately.
All Replies (6)
Hi, any luck if you delete the user.js file in your profile folder ?
The user.js file does not exist by default. If you create the file, forget it, if you have not create the file then delete the User.js file, to see if the problem goes away (some programs create and write in the file also).
thank you
Sorry, no. Exact same error as before, "already running but unresponsive."
I saw some other .js files (Java script?); should I try deleting them, too?
Margret
No, do not delete the other .js files
Any luck if you delete the profiles.ini file ? it is in firefox profile folder path, see the Method 2: Manually delete the profiles.ini file : https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-run-firefox-when-profile-missing-inaccessible
thanks again
All that did was to get me a message that I can't run Firefox without creating a new profile, which I'm still unable to do. I can restore the old profile from the recycle bin, can I edit it? Do I WANT to edit it? Or do I perhaps want to create a new profile in a different folder and then move it to the correct folder (assuming that I can move it -- it lets me delete files from this presumably read only folder).
Modified by Margret Minette
Did you check the owner and the permissions of the location where Firefox stores the profiles.ini file and the profiles?
You should find the profiles.ini file in this hidden location:
- Windows: %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\
C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\
You can try to rename the Mozilla or the Mozilla\Firefox\ if you have other software (Thunderbird) that has profiles and add .old to the name (Firefox.old) to force Firefox to create a new folder structure.
- C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\
If the new profile works then you can transfer files from a previously used profile to the new profile, but be cautious not to copy corrupted files to avoid carrying over problems.