Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

I keep getting this error : Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible.

  • 8 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by iamtess

more options

I am on a macbook pro. I have deleted app and at, reinstalled, still get this error:Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible.

I rename the Firefox folder /Library/Application Support/Firefox and still I get this error: Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible.

In terminal I tried ot create a new profile using: /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin -P but receive this error in terminal: Error: Access was denied while trying to open files in your profile directory and this error pops up in Freifox: Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible.

I am on a macbook pro. I have deleted app and at, reinstalled, still get this error:Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible. I rename the Firefox folder /Library/Application Support/Firefox and still I get this error: Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible. In terminal I tried ot create a new profile using: /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin -P but receive this error in terminal: Error: Access was denied while trying to open files in your profile directory and this error pops up in Freifox: Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible.

Chosen solution

Problem solved - I reset my user permissions using info from this page: https://appletoolbox.com/2016/07/fix-corrupt-user-accounts-macos/

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (8)

more options

This is a problem with the profiles.ini file that registers all Firefox profiles. The profile folder is in the ~/Library folder in your home directory and not in the global /Library folder if that is where you are looking.

In Mac OS X v10.7 and later, the ~/Library folder in the Home directory is a hidden folder.

Make sure that the permissions of this folder are OK.

  • ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/<profile>/
  • ~/Library/Caches/Firefox/Profiles/

You can use the Profile Manager to create a new profile.

See "Creating a profile":

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.

more options

Thanks I have seen all of the links you suggested. I have completely uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox and all the data about 5 times but I am still getting the "Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible" and am unable to access the profile manager . Any more suggestions?

more options

Reinstalling Firefox won't help, you will have to locate the profiles.ini file.

Did you try to use the Profile Manager to create a new profile?

more options

I have located the profile.ini file.

In terminal I tried to create a new profile using: /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin -P but receive this error in terminal: Error: Access was denied while trying to open files in your profile directory and this error pops up in Freifox: Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible.

more options

You can try to do some maintenance and cleanup with OnyX.

more options

I downloaded onyX and ran the maintenance on my machine - Firefox STILL not working. :(

more options

Can someone please help me with this? I have run onyX and it didn't help.

more options

Chosen Solution

Problem solved - I reset my user permissions using info from this page: https://appletoolbox.com/2016/07/fix-corrupt-user-accounts-macos/