Avatar for Username

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

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

The Add-ons Manager will not display!

A_Phoenix_Rising
A_Phoenix_Rising
more options

I've lost all access to Firefox's "Add-ons Manager". It has happened at least one time before, but installing the last update to Firefox v4.01 brought it back.

Now, however, it seems to be completely disabled again. I had just removed the IE Tab Plus extension, to be sure I hadn't installed it over the original IE Tab, because the author said that could cause unpredictable issues.

I used "Install Extensions" from the File menu in the Add-ons Manager tab, and selected a copy of IE Tab Plus I'd saved to disk in October 2010 to re-install.

But nothing seemed to happen. No pop-up, nor any notification or indication of any kind that an extension was about to be installed. Nothing at all.

Next did a search for IE Tab Plus to acquire the latest version from the Add-ons page, where I noticed a "Comment" claiming the IE Tab Plus author was using it to secretly install Ad-ware, and recommended using IE Tab 2 instead.

I decided to do as suggested, but found there was no link on the page to install IE Tab 2 from? I decided to quit and reload Firefox, and still, even in Safe Mode, I can not get the Add-ons Manager Tab to load. I was finally able to install IE Tab 2, however.

Note: I also have Mr. Tech's cool Toolkit extension, which I believe added the "Extension Options" item to the Tools menu, which is also empty now.

Oops, scratch that: it was empty just before, but is now populated again. In fact, it still displayed my Extension Options list from the Tools menu even after Firefox's Add-ons Manager had already failed to load for the last time, which it is still refusing to do.

I've lost all access to Firefox's "Add-ons Manager". It has happened at least one time before, but installing the last update to Firefox v4.01 brought it back. Now, however, it seems to be completely disabled again. I had just removed the IE Tab Plus extension, to be sure I hadn't installed it over the original IE Tab, because the author said that could cause unpredictable issues. I used "Install Extensions" from the File menu in the Add-ons Manager tab, and selected a copy of IE Tab Plus I'd saved to disk in October 2010 to re-install. But nothing seemed to happen. No pop-up, nor any notification or indication of any kind that an extension was about to be installed. Nothing at all. Next did a search for IE Tab Plus to acquire the latest version from the Add-ons page, where I noticed a "Comment" claiming the IE Tab Plus author was using it to secretly install Ad-ware, and recommended using IE Tab 2 instead. I decided to do as suggested, but found there was no link on the page to install IE Tab 2 from? I decided to quit and reload Firefox, and still, even in Safe Mode, I can not get the Add-ons Manager Tab to load. I was finally able to install IE Tab 2, however. Note: I also have Mr. Tech's cool Toolkit extension, which I believe added the "Extension Options" item to the Tools menu, which is also empty now. Oops, scratch that: it was empty just before, but is now populated again. In fact, it still displayed my Extension Options list from the Tools menu even after Firefox's Add-ons Manager had already failed to load for the last time, which it is still refusing to do.

All Replies (2)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Start Firefox in Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of the extensions is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox (Tools) > Add-ons > Appearance/Themes).

This can be a problem with the file(s) that store the extensions registry.

Delete the files extensions.* (extensions.sqlite, extensions.rdf, extensions.cache, extensions.ini) and compatibility.ini in the Firefox profile folder to reset the extensions registry. New files will be created when required.

See "Corrupt extension files": http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_install_themes_or_extensions

If you see disabled, not compatible, extensions in "Tools > Add-ons > Extensions" then click the Tools button at the left side of the Search Bar (or click the "Find Updates" button in older Firefox versions) to do a compatibility check or see if there is an update.

A_Phoenix_Rising
A_Phoenix_Rising Question owner
more options

I just found it! Apparently, during one of Firefox's frequent crashes lately, the Add-ons Manager Tab was simply closed! I found it on the closed tabs list, so now I have it back again!

Does any one know why the App Tabs often double up after closing and restarting Firefox? Almost every time, I have to re-close these "extra" App Tabs again each time I load the Fox.

So I was able to find my own solution this time, leaving only 2 other problems which I still have. They are...

1) I've been without the Magnifying Glass search icon in the Search bar since about v3.5, and it is still missing.

2) The "Properties" option has also disappeared from the Right-Click Context menu, though I don't remember if it disappeared in FF v3.x , or not. I think it was right after upgrading to v4 though, and it hasn't returned since, either.