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How to disable shift key for starting FF in safe mode?

  • 7 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 11 views
  • Last reply by AndyScull

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Hi, I tried everything I could find on internet and all those suggestions didn't work in FF quantum. Basically, I want to block FF starting in safe mode when shift key is pressed. Just start as usual

Where it comes from: 1. I use Far Manager in my everyday life 2. I am opening .html files from it 3. In Far manager I have shift+enter hotkey to open file types registered in windows, shift modifier is preventing accidental run on enter while I am just navigating the folders. You see where this is going? I press shift-enter to open html file, it is associated with FF, FF detects that shift key is pressed and starts in safe mode when I don't want it to. And no, this hotkey cannot be changed.

I found one way to circumvent it - run FF on computer startup, open bookmarks manager window and minimize it to tray (external program). Close main FF windows and now I have FF staying in memory and starting up very fast and not in safe mode since it's already running. But memory leaks...

Hi, I tried everything I could find on internet and all those suggestions didn't work in FF quantum. Basically, I want to block FF starting in safe mode when shift key is pressed. Just start as usual Where it comes from: 1. I use Far Manager in my everyday life 2. I am opening .html files from it 3. In Far manager I have shift+enter hotkey to open file types registered in windows, shift modifier is preventing accidental run on enter while I am just navigating the folders. You see where this is going? I press shift-enter to open html file, it is associated with FF, FF detects that shift key is pressed and starts in safe mode when I don't want it to. And no, this hotkey cannot be changed. I found one way to circumvent it - run FF on computer startup, open bookmarks manager window and minimize it to tray (external program). Close main FF windows and now I have FF staying in memory and starting up very fast and not in safe mode since it's already running. But memory leaks...

Chosen solution

And that actually pointed me to the solution: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox] "DisableSafeMode"=dword:00000001

Seems like that specific 'DisableSafeMode' option does not work in policies files, it only works when applied by windows GPO. Nothing documents that though, to that was a lucky hit.

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All Replies (7)

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Problem here is no one knows what your trying to fix.

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WestEnd said

Problem here is no one knows what your trying to fix.

Wasn't I clear enough? I want to keep shift pressed when starting FF and it should start in normal mode instead of safe.

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Maybe use more than one modifier key (i.e. not only Shift, but Ctrl or Alt in addition to Shift).

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cor-el said

Maybe use more than one modifier key (i.e. not only Shift, but Ctrl or Alt in addition to Shift).

Sorry, I mentioned in first post that shift+enter hotkey cannot be changed. And honestly, I wouldn't change it, I lived my whole life with it.

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Note that Shift to start in Safe Mode only works when used solely, so there is no easy way to avoid starting in Safe Mode when the Shift key is pressed .

You consider to try a policies.json file to disable safe mode entirely, but you wont be able to do any troubleshooting that requires safe mode.

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cor-el said

Note that Shift to start in Safe Mode only works when used solely, so there is no easy way to avoid starting in Safe Mode when the Shift key is pressed . You consider to try a policies.json file to disable safe mode entirely, but you wont be able to do any troubleshooting that requires safe mode.

Sorry, not working. This is one of things I tried already. Just to be sure, I done this again and documented the process: 1. created folder 'distribution' in firefox's installation folder 2. created a file 'policies.json' inside this folder with this content: {

"policies": {
  "DisableSafeMode": true
}

} 3. run FF with shift pressed. 4. result - safe mode windows pops up

I used process monitor to check that FF actually loads this file, it does. It reads the policy file when starting up but then just ignores that safe mode policy

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Chosen Solution

And that actually pointed me to the solution: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox] "DisableSafeMode"=dword:00000001

Seems like that specific 'DisableSafeMode' option does not work in policies files, it only works when applied by windows GPO. Nothing documents that though, to that was a lucky hit.