Firefox Portable Windows Xp
Deandra Schikora
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I've been running Firefox successfully on my Windows 10 PC for a long while now. Last night, for some reason it simply ceased to work. New windows and tabs would not load any content. I also couldn't access the Settings at all (clicking on Settings in the browser menu produces no results or feedback.)
Yesterday, I had Firefox open all day (I usually have my computer on all day), and it was working fine. Around 8 or 9pm, I first noticed that none of my open tabs were loading any content, and the tabs had the "loading" animation playing. New tabs would also not load any content. I assumed it was an internet issue as I did see my internet connection get disrupted once or twice. I did not see anything (apps, etc) on my PC updating.
This morning I found Firefox was still not loading anything, although my internet connection was fine. I tried opening Chrome, and it ran just fine. Everything else that it is internet or cloud based on my PC is running fine too. So it seems to be an issue just with Firefox.
I have listed my steps to troubleshoot below, but I want to note one weird thing I observed: Even when Firefox is closed, and Task Manager doesn't show any Firefox processes open, my PC seems to think Firefox is running. For ex. while trying to uninstall Firefox or delete certain files, I would get a warning to "close Firefox first" or "can't perform this action while app is running." After seeing these, I would again confirm that Firefox appears closed and Task Manager shows no related tasks.
Things I have tried for troubleshooting already:- I have WebRoot on my computer due to my job, and I asked our IT staff if they could see WebRoot blocking anything related to Firefox on their end. They said it was not.- Used "Firefox Refresh"- Uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox- Cleared app cache / app data- Updated Windows from 20H2 to 21H2
I love Firefox specifically because it lets me use Ctrl+Shift+N, i.e. reopen a closed window. I have this one window with several pinned tabs (Facebook etc.) and a few other open tabs (some reseach, YouTube etc.) where I keep things that I need to return to. I essentially NEVER close this window without reopening it, because it has the most important things I need. Sometimes I open a second/third window to work in (I had an online exam the other day, so I opened that and my materials in a separate window, so I can cycle through them more easily).
SOLVED - EDIT: The amount of windows that can be reopened can be fixed as mentioned below. Lost window probably cannot be restored, sadly.EDIT 2: Actually it can be restored! See the answer to find out how. Both these lovely people gave me answers to my questions, kudos to both of them.
There is are pref that you can find on the about:config page that set how many tabs and how many windows you can undo.
The default for tabs has been increased some releases ago to 25, but the default for windows is only 3 and you can increase its value to something that works for you.
This should fix the issue for future should a similar situation be repeated. I've set it to 10 for now just to be sure, haha. Unfortunately, that will not give me back my lost window, but thank you very much for your reply. I hope you have a lovely day.
thank you very much! Excatly what I needed. Could have thought Firefox would store it somewhere. Unfortunately, the previous.jsonlz4 is about 2 hours old at this point (i.e. created after the question was asked), but the newest upgrade.jsonlz4-build_id (from May 9th) has most of the tabs I needed. Thank you very much, your page is also great, the tool is easy to use and has a nice and clean output for the data that is easy to read. I am really happy you decided to respond to this even though I already picked the answer. Thank you very much again for taking the time out of your day to help.
For the last two upgrades of Firefox (108.0.2 currently) I've seen strange behavior in the "Window" menu where open windows are missing, and the number of windows shown changes depending on which Firefox window is currently in the foreground. It's frustrating because I have to jump from window to window to have the menu show whichever window I'm looking for.
I think it is worse with 108.0.2. The previous version would reorder the windows pull down menu randomly. This current version reorders and deletes windows. If I go to history and select restore recently closed windows, they come back until I select one of the windows and then they disappear again.
I seem to have found a work around. I'm running an older MacBook Pro, if you set a hot corner ---system preferences --- desktop & screen saver --- hot corners --- then set one corner to --- application windows, when you run the cursor to that corner all your windows come up and you can then select the one you want. Not what I'm used to, but I'll adapt. Hope this helps!
I've been having the same problem running macOS 10.14.6 on a mid-2012 MacBook Pro, and it seems to be getting worse with each Firefox "upgrade". Fortunately, after reading Kipuka's workaround I tried a variation of it that is working for me. Grabbing the top of a window and moving it up as if trying to move it off the screen will show all windows for any open programs, including the missing Firefox windows. (Essentially the same as his hot corner suggestion.) The fact that the windows are missing in the Firefox window menu is still a pain, but this at least lets you find them.
The seems to be no pattern to which windows are missing. The issue appears to be random, with no regard to whether the windows are regular/private, web page vs. a built-in page vs. a blank page, or on the same display vs. on a different display? (As far as the latter, I'm only using one display.) Some of them disappear regardless.
There is a big difference between open windows not being visible on the menu and windows getting closed and needing to be reopened from the History menu. Firefox shouldn't close windows on its own (although one-tab windows launched by a website script -- popup windows -- do have permission to close themselves).
If we focus on the open windows that are not listed on the menu, is there any pattern to which windows are missing? For example, does it seem to matter whether it is regular/private, a web page vs. a built-in page vs. a blank page, or on the same display vs. on a different display?
Regarding menu order, Firefox 108 surrendered menu ordering to Mac OS in order to add support for "Tile Window to Left/Right of Screen" and "Move to [SCREEN]". Because Firefox sets the window title to the tab (page) title, a windows will move around the menu as you move between pages. I created an add-on to try to help with stabilizing the order, but as a Windows user, I can't test/debug it fully. If you want to take a look: -number-windows/
I can't see a distinct pattern to how windows disappear from the "Window" menu, but if I go back to the first window that I opened on the start of Firefox it will typically show me all subsequent windows. The sequencing of those windows is not stable, shuffling them around possibly based on last used. Some windows will show a few other windows, some more, with no consistency that I've yet found.
I believe this change in 108 is likely the cause of the problem. I'm running an older OS (10.13) because of software compatibility issues, but hope to upgrade in the coming months. Perhaps that will fix the problem, but for this user the erratic listings of the menu are a real aggravation.
Before anyone else wastes their time trying, I attempted to regress my Firefox to 107 to test if the window problem went away, but I would have had to create a new profile. I now plan to migrate to another browser for the time being until this problem is resolved.
I'm also running IOS 10.13. In the Firefox version just prior to this current one the drop down would reorder randomly, all windows being displayed in the drop down. This current version 108.0.2, does not display all the open windows in the drop down. The private windows are not listed in the drop down, but I've discovered a couple others that are not private that are also not in the drop down. One window, if I change to another tab will appear in the drop down, back to the other tab, it 'disappears' again. And I just discovered another non-private window that is not in the drop down. The best way I've found to get to the windows, is through the hot corner trick mentioned in an earlier post. Or shrinking windows until I can see the one I want, yet not a great solution. jscher2000, thanks for replying to Phil and I, I appreciate it!
Another possible workaround while waiting for a fix, I went into Mission Control and mapped the right control key to show all windows. I'm not a fan of hot corners, and I don't really use the right control button, so this seems like a decent compromise. I can't see tabs within each window, but I group tabs into similar themed windows, so this should help me get through how ever long it takes developers to figure out how to correct the issue.
I assumed this was a WIndows 11 thing, and was just about to send off a negative missive to MS, but Edge has a much wider scroll bar, as does Chrome, so it must be a Firefox thing, or Fiefox thing under Windows 11. Is the width of the vertical Scroll Bar on a Firefox Window customisable, becuase I find it far too thin at the moment (not all firefox users are under 65), and a real pain to use, so much so that if it stays the same I'll have to reluctantly change to using Chrome or Edge, just for the usablility and ergonomics. Thanks.
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