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Magnets will not download, they worked and I had to reset Firefox and now they don't... what changed or how can I make these work again?

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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I use Utorrent as my program for many downloads. The other day I reset Firefox due to some issues. Now I when I click on a magnet file it does nothing and says U torrent not available,. I can still dl a torrent file, thus my u torrent is set properly. Something changed in the Firefox reset, what I don't know.

I did check in the tools>>>options that magnets are opened with u torrent...still don't work

All ideas welcomed

I use Utorrent as my program for many downloads. The other day I reset Firefox due to some issues. Now I when I click on a magnet file it does nothing and says U torrent not available,. I can still dl a torrent file, thus my u torrent is set properly. Something changed in the Firefox reset, what I don't know. I did check in the tools>>>options that magnets are opened with u torrent...still don't work All ideas welcomed

All Replies (3)

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What kind of problems did you have that you reset Firefox?


Do you still have the "Old Firefox Data" folder on the desktop that contains the personal data from your previous Firefox profile?

You can try to check the prefs.js file in that folder and use copy and paste to add lines that refer to torrent to the prefs.js file in the current Firefox profile folder.

You may have to copy the mimeTypes.rdf file as well.


If you reset Firefox then a new profile is created and some of your data (bookmarks, history, cookies, passwords, form data) is automatically imported and your current profile will be moved to the desktop (Old Firefox Data). You will lose extensions and other customizations (toolbars, prefs) that you've made.

It is possible to recover more data from the old profile, but be cautious to avoid carrying over the problem.

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The issue I had was that the Firefox search bar stopped working, I clicked on it and nothing happened after typing the search words in. After the reset it worked but the magnets would not open on certain sites.

Yes I did keep the old folder on my desktop but am unable to open any of the files , the prefs.js as well as any others. How and what do you open them with?

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That prefs.js and the mimeTypes.rdf file are text files and you need to open it with a plain text editor like Notepad to inspect this file.


If it happens again then try the SearchReset extension or alternatively delete the prefs.js file to reset all prefs.

Use the SearchReset extension to reset some preferences to the default values.

Note that the SearchReset extension only runs once and then uninstalls automatically, so it won't show on the "Firefox > Add-ons" page (about:addons).

See also: