Does Firefox open and just show the home page? Or does nothing happen at all?

Could you try a default browser "double-switch"?

(1) Open Internet Options (either from IE's Tools menu or from the Control Panel) to the Applications tab and make IE the default browser. When you double-click the desktop shortcut the page should open in IE.

(2) Have Firefox make itself the default browser again:

orange Firefox button or classic Tools menu > Options > Advanced > General > Check Now button

Does the desktop shortcut now launch in Firefox?

By the way, did this start recently, after an update or other change?

Do you run Firefox directly in Windows or do you use a virtual environment such as Sandboxie?

See also:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Default_browser

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/How+to+make+Firefox+the+default+browser
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Setting+Firefox+as+the+default+browser+does+not+work

Hi, thank you for replying. No, nothing happens at all. I click the icon, the hourglass shows up for about 5 seconds & then it disappears. That's all that happens

OK, also I think it started when I loaded "Magic DVD Ripper" & put a DVD into my hard drive. I got rid of the program but I still have a problem

I use Firefox directly

I'm now using IE8 as my default browser. I can't get anything from Firefox to open at all so none of its features are available to me

A possible cause is security software (firewall,anti-virus) that blocks or restricts Firefox or the plugin-container process without informing you, possibly after detecting changes (update) to the Firefox program.

Remove all rules for Firefox and the plugin-container from the permissions list in the firewall and let your firewall ask again for permission to get full unrestricted access to internet for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process.

See:

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Server+not+found
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Firewalls

See also:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser_will_not_start_up