We're calling on all EU-based Mozillians with iOS or iPadOS devices to help us monitor Apple’s new browser choice screens. Join the effort to hold Big Tech to account!

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

Starting last week, Firefox suddenly won't start, I just get the Crash Reporter window.

  • 10 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

more options

When: Immediately when i click the icon to open it. I never get a Firefox window at all, only the Crash Reporter. What I've tried: Uninstall Firefox; delete Mozilla folders from all 3 subfolders of C:\Users\[my username]\AppData; reinstall Firefox I also get this same result when trying the command firefox.exe -safe-mode or the command firefox.exe -p What I'm running: Windows 7 Enterprise, SP1, 64-bit Thanks in advance for any help you can give me!

When: Immediately when i click the icon to open it. I never get a Firefox window at all, only the Crash Reporter. What I've tried: Uninstall Firefox; delete Mozilla folders from all 3 subfolders of C:\Users\[my username]\AppData; reinstall Firefox I also get this same result when trying the command firefox.exe -safe-mode or the command firefox.exe -p What I'm running: Windows 7 Enterprise, SP1, 64-bit Thanks in advance for any help you can give me!

Chosen solution

Product Firefox Release Channel release Version 51.0.1 Build ID 20170125094131 OS Windows 7 OS Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1

All the reports are the same;

Signature: qipcap.dll@0x31100

This is for Sumo's Related Bugs 682912 REOPENED --- qipcap.dll WebSense Content filtering dll crashes Firefox on launch


Unfortunately, this crash is caused by the Websense/Forcepoint security software that is running on your device.

If that's in a corporate environment - please get in contact with your IT department to make sure that Websense is fully up to date, as it has the tendency to crash newly released Firefox versions until they adapt accordingly.

Another option would be to install an esr version of Firefox:

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (10)

more options

I promise I had line breaks in that post for readability. Oh well!

more options

I just now successfully installed and opened Firefox Developer Edition, if that is useful info.

more options

Some problems occur when your Internet security program was set to trust the previous version of Firefox, but no longer recognizes your updated version as trusted. Now how to fix the problem: To allow Firefox to connect to the Internet again;

  • Make sure your Internet security software is up-to-date (i.e. you are running the latest version).
  • Remove Firefox from your program's list of trusted or recognized programs. For detailed instructions, see

Configure firewalls so that Firefox can access the Internet. {web link}

more options

Thanks for your detailed response. No luck. I tried the steps as recommended: (1) Opened Windows Firewall, removed Firefox (there were 2 of them), added it back. I ticked all 3 boxes in the entry. (2) Ran EnumProcess, with these results: Windows Firewall is on 2 processes from Symantec Corporation detected (3) Checked all Symantec logs I could find, but no entries were found corresponding to my FF crash. (4) Updated Symantec, then temporarily disabled Symantec. No change. (5) Also dug thru Symantec options for anything resembling a list of allowed programs, but didn't find anything.

What would you recommend I try next?

Modified by adblockfreak

more options

Type about:preferences#advanced<Enter> in the address bar.

Under Advanced, Select Network. Look for Configure How Firefox Connects and press the Settings button. If you are using a proxy, make sure those settings are correct. If there is no proxy, first use No Proxy. If there is a problem, then try System Proxy.

more options

You said you had crash reports.

If you can't get Firefox to open, you will have to do this the hard way. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/mozillacrashreporter Open the file browser / explorer on your computer. Note: You may have to enable Show Hidden Folders / Files. Enter this in the address bar;

Windows: %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Crash Reports\submitted Win 7/Vista: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Crash Reports\submitted Win XP/2000: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Crash Reports\submitted

Mac OS: /Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Crash Reports/submitted Linux: /home/<username>/.mozilla/firefox/Crash Reports/submitted

Copy the last 5-7 Recent File Names in the folder. Post the information in the reply box below.

more options

Re: proxy - I never get an address bar so unfortunately I won't be able to try that step. Here are the file names: bp-264db6e3-a33d-439d-8288-454262170206.txt bp-532be8a7-57a5-4f24-86ab-f90b02170206.txt bp-538704d0-ada2-447b-b89b-62fef2170206.txt bp-604f8af3-240e-487e-99ab-e85312170206.txt bp-be1bba16-209a-4285-8b8e-63baa2170207.txt bp-f12a4863-a7ea-4a34-82e6-381262170206.txt bp-f8c55a76-5094-4278-97c9-04c242170206.txt

more options

Chosen Solution

Product Firefox Release Channel release Version 51.0.1 Build ID 20170125094131 OS Windows 7 OS Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1

All the reports are the same;

Signature: qipcap.dll@0x31100

This is for Sumo's Related Bugs 682912 REOPENED --- qipcap.dll WebSense Content filtering dll crashes Firefox on launch


Unfortunately, this crash is caused by the Websense/Forcepoint security software that is running on your device.

If that's in a corporate environment - please get in contact with your IT department to make sure that Websense is fully up to date, as it has the tendency to crash newly released Firefox versions until they adapt accordingly.

Another option would be to install an esr version of Firefox:

more options

Thank you! That's exactly what I needed to know. I'll chase down those options from my end. Have a great week!

more options