Firefox Clears All Settings
Firefox clears all of my settings every time I close and reopen it. My homepage, settings for various extensions, custom toolbar settings, application settings, etc., are all gone and I have to start all over. Additionally, Firefox usually takes 20 to 30 minutes or more to fully load upon opening. Any solution for the problem of losing all of my settings everyday?
All Replies (5)
Your System Details show that you have a user.js file in the profile folder to initialize prefs each time Firefox starts. The user.js file will only be present if you or other software has created this file and is normally not present.
You can check its content with a text editor (right-click: "Open with"; do not double-click). The user.js file is read each time Firefox is started and initializes preferences to the value specified in this file, so preferences set via user.js can only be changed temporarily for the current session.
You can delete the user.js file if you didn't create this file yourself.
You can use the button on the "Help -> More Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page (Root directory).
- Help -> More Troubleshooting Information -> Profile Folder/Directory:
Windows: Open Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder - https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data
No, I didn't create the user.js file. I opened it in Notepad and not being a programmer, I have no idea what I was looking at except it was 3 characters and the total size was 3 bytes. I deleted the folder and I'll see what happens.
If there are no user_pref() lines in user.js then you can ignore it and delete the file.
You can check for problems with preferences. You can delete possible user.js and numbered prefs-##.js files and rename/remove the prefs.js file to reset all prefs to the default value including prefs set via user.js and prefs that are no longer supported in current Firefox releases.
You can use the button on the "Help -> More Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page (Root directory).
- Help -> More Troubleshooting Information -> Profile Folder/Directory:
Windows: Open Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder - https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data
You can create a new profile as a quick test to see if your current profile is causing the problem.
See "Creating a profile":
If the new profile works, you can transfer files from a previously used profile to the new profile, but be careful not to copy corrupted files to avoid carrying over problems.
Try disabling any third-party antivirus or security software, this may require rebooting into Windows Safe Mode (networking enabled).
Well, I'm back with the same issue. Apparently Firefox decided to update or something without my permission. I opened Firefox and was greeted by a page that wanted to keep me safe...instead of my homepage. Firefox changed all my settings and preferences again. All of my personal options are reset. Configuration is reset. Some extensions are disabled and one, Dashlane asks me to login and when I try to, I get an error. When I go to Dashlane's website and login I am sent an email about using Dashlane on a new machine and it's the same laptop. Extension options are reset and I have to enable them again for a multitude of websites. This is really getting old having to reconfigure everything every time Firefox decides to update with or without me deciding to install a new update.