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Firefox will not install on XP, hangs after extract, setup.exe at 100% of CPU

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Did full FF unistall, ran CCleaner, cleaned registry of any mention of FF or Mozilla, rebooted. Downloaded FF 21, 22 and 24, all have same problem: Install extracts all the files to C:\Temp\7Z..., then runs setup.exe, but setup.exe consumes 95+ of CPU for an hour, but does not install anything. Tried in Win XP Pro SP3 Safe Mode, same issue. Machine runs OK otherwise, can use other browsers w/o problem. If I kill the FF setup.exe, machine returns to normal w/o reboot. C: drive has ample space. Also tried killing all unneeded services and programs before running install, but that does not help.

(It is not the machine from which I am writing this message, so the Automatically Add does not apply.)

Real puzzler!

Did full FF unistall, ran CCleaner, cleaned registry of any mention of FF or Mozilla, rebooted. Downloaded FF 21, 22 and 24, all have same problem: Install extracts all the files to C:\Temp\7Z..., then runs setup.exe, but setup.exe consumes 95+ of CPU for an hour, but does not install anything. Tried in Win XP Pro SP3 Safe Mode, same issue. Machine runs OK otherwise, can use other browsers w/o problem. If I kill the FF setup.exe, machine returns to normal w/o reboot. C: drive has ample space. Also tried killing all unneeded services and programs before running install, but that does not help. (It is not the machine from which I am writing this message, so the Automatically Add does not apply.) Real puzzler!

All Replies (2)

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Note that on this computer you have two Flash plugins, one a very old Flash 9.0 r45 version that you should remove. You need to check the pluginreg.dat file in the Firefox profile folder to find the location of this plugin.

Did you try to boot the computer in Windows Safe Mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen)?

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?? How would you know that the machine had any plugins at all? FF was completely unisntalled and there is no pluginreg.dat file, no profiles, nichts.