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Since they Quantum update, my Firefox browser will not open, I am using windows 10 .. any suggestions please

  • 4 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by Jack01

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Before the update, I just clicked on the Firefox icon and hey presto!, the browser opened and away I went

Since the update to Quantum, No matter how many times I click the icon, the browser will not open

I am not exactly "tech savvy", so any help would be appreciated

I tried adding the "troubleshooting information" using the "automatically add" button, but when I press it .. I get another page with the error message

"We're sorry, but we can't find what you're looking for.

The page or file you requested wasn't found on our site. It's possible that you clicked a link that's out of date, or typed in the address incorrectly.

If you typed in the address, please double check the spelling. If you followed a link from somewhere, please file an issue. Tell us where you came from and what you were looking for, and we'll do our best to fix it."

Before the update, I just clicked on the Firefox icon and hey presto!, the browser opened and away I went Since the update to Quantum, No matter how many times I click the icon, the browser will not open I am not exactly "tech savvy", so any help would be appreciated I tried adding the "troubleshooting information" using the "automatically add" button, but when I press it .. I get another page with the error message "We're sorry, but we can't find what you're looking for. The page or file you requested wasn't found on our site. It's possible that you clicked a link that's out of date, or typed in the address incorrectly. If you typed in the address, please double check the spelling. If you followed a link from somewhere, please file an issue. Tell us where you came from and what you were looking for, and we'll do our best to fix it."

All Replies (4)

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Hello,

Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that temporarily turns off hardware acceleration, resets some settings, and disables add-ons (extensions and themes).

If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu:

  • Click the menu button New Fx Menu, click Help Help-29 and select Restart with Add-ons Disabled.

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)

When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, select "Start in Safe Mode".

SafeMode-Fx35

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, theme, or hardware acceleration. Please follow the steps in 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.

When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help others with the same problem.

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Hi Mk11, many thanks for the prompt reply.

When I press the "shift key" and click on the icon, still nothing happens

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Certain Firefox problems can be solved by performing a Clean reinstall. This means you remove your Firefox program files and then reinstall Firefox. This process does not remove your Firefox profile data (such as bookmarks and passwords), since that information is stored in a different location.

To do a clean reinstall of Firefox, please follow these steps: Note: You might want to print these steps or view them in another browser.

  1. Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from mozilla.org (or choose the download for your operating system and language from this page) and save the setup file to your computer.
  2. After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (or open the Firefox menu New Fx Menu and click the close button Close 29).
  3. Delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
    • Windows:
      • C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
      • C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
    • Mac: Delete Firefox from the Applications folder.
    • Linux: If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder firefox in your home directory.
  4. Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
    1. Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
    2. Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.

More information about reinstalling Firefox can be found here.

WARNING: Do not use a third party uninstaller as part of this process. Doing so could permanently delete your Firefox profile data, including but not limited to, extensions, cache, cookies, bookmarks, personal settings and saved passwords. These cannot be easily recovered unless they have been backed up to an external device! See Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.

Please report back to say if this helped you!

Thank you.

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Once again, thanks for the prompt reply

I'll give your suggestion a try, but it will be 2-3 days before I can do it

Hopefully, it will be Ok, as I said at the outset, I certainly am not tech savvy

Thanks