One user profile gone bad

[Geeky]

As Administrator, I ran a search for localstore.rdf in This PC and found one copy relating to the primary user. There is also a localstore-safe.rdf file relating to the primary user but nothing relating to User2.

[Geeky]

Geeky,
An un/re-install of the program generally does no good, because the problem/s usually stem/s in the profile.
ref; > http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

& if you back up your bookmarks beforehand.....
> http://kb.mozillazine.org/Bookmarks
&, the localstore.rdf will be hidden, by default.
ref; > http://kb.mozillazine.org/Show_hidden_files_and_folders

I suppose the problem could even be in the primary user profile - something disrupting a second user.
I suppose it's not that much hassle to uninstall FF and start again but I know junk gets left behind when you uninstall and I'm somewhat fearfull that I'll end up with more trouble than I have at present.

[LIMPET235]

Have you tried creating that 2nd profile in a different directory using the Custom option?
You should not have 2 default profiles.
Re-name the 2nd one before creating it.

ref; > http://kb.mozillazine.org/Using_multipl ... _-_Firefox

[dfoulkes]

From reading the posts made by the OP ... and in one of them Geeky stated that the second (problem) Windows account was removed and created again. Wouldn't that ... or it's supposed to... remove everything relating to that second account... including everything Firefox from all areas? ... and if so... wouldn't all profile data also be removed?... thus setting things up for a "clean" Firefox install? If that is true... then it sure seems to me that security software ... or Windows user-data restrictions is in play here... especially since the localstore.rdf file can not be found via a search... even though that Private Firefox account is set up in its own Windows user account... could there be some cross-over between the two...

I don't have but one account in here so I'm not up on the innards of handling multi accounts.

[Geeky]

Well, I've now uninstalled Firefox completely, deleted every file/folder I could find with firefox in the title, run CCleaner registry cleaner to eredicate all left-over files. I then rebooted the PC, reinstalled Firefox and it runs correctly for the primary user. I then signed out and back in as User2, where I find a Firefox icon. I double-click that icon and Firefox opens to a blank screen with no menu bars and no menu button dropdown menu - as it has been since the start of this incident.

I would have said the fault is with the second user profile but I have already deleted several second user profiles.

I'm bewildered!

[DanRaisch]

Please post a screenshot of what you are seeing -- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Posting_a_scr ... _the_forum

[kreemoweet]

There's nothing unusual in not getting a Menu Bar or Bookmarks Toolbar, since they're not enabled by default. It's just the weird non-response of
the Menu Button. How about if you right-click somewhere in the Tab Bar and choose Customize ... from the menu. Does the left-click content of the
Menu Button appear to right of the Customize dialog, as it normally does? How about instead of using the View>Toolbars>Bookmarks Toolbar, you
right-click on an empty spot of the Tab Bar and choose Menu Bar or Bookmarks Toolbar -- do those choices persist?

[Geeky]

There's nothing unusual in not getting a Menu Bar or Bookmarks Toolbar, since they're not enabled by default. It's just the weird non-response of the Menu Button. How about if you right-click somewhere in the Tab Bar and choose Customize ... from the menu. Does the left-click content of the Menu Button appear to right of the Customize dialog, as it normally does? How about instead of using the View>Toolbars>Bookmarks Toolbar, you right-click on an empty spot of the Tab Bar and choose Menu Bar or Bookmarks Toolbar -- do those choices persist?

If I right-click the menu button and select 'Customize' all that happens is 'about:customize' appears in the url box preceded by an orange Mozilla logo. If I right-click the logo, a small Mozilla panel appears with the legend 'This is a secure Firefox page'.
In the primary user version, behaviour is normal.
When selecting menu bar or bookmarks bar, the ticks appear in the boxes and the bars appear on the screen, with added target sites in the bookmarks bar. If I then exit and re-open FF, the bars have disappeared. If I then use View or right-click in the tabs area the mini menu opens with the ticks still in place. However, if I then untick one of those items, the two bars appear on screen. It seems to me that User2 preferences are corrupted.
I did also delete the localstore.rdf file and that made no difference.

[Geeky]

Here is a photo of the blank screen that appears for User2.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r229 ... fox1-2.png

[DanRaisch]

That looks like you need to install the Classic Theme Restorer extension in that profile to change the UI back to the pre-version 31 appearance.

viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2824649

[Geeky]

That sounds interesting but I'm not sure where the file should be placed.
Meanwhile, I checked the 'Properties/Security tab' for FF and found there are two 'Unknown user' entries, both with S1-5-21...' names. I also search for files acquired around the time that this incident started and found two files with the same names as the unknown users. Oh boy! Does this mean I've got some form of infection. Avast and Trend Housecall both say there is no infection but how reliable is that?

[dfoulkes]

I did a quick net-search for S1-5-21 and the first on the list was...
Well-known security identifiers in Windows operating systems
...so, it sounds/looks like it has to do with Windows and other accounts.

That sounds interesting but I'm not sure where the file should be placed.

If you're referring to the Classic Theme Restorer "Extension" ... it just installs like other extensions... and then you use its options.

But frankly... from what you've been describing I'm thinking that something else is going on. From a basic-standpoint your Firefox install for the private user should act exactly the same way as the other one... you may want to install stuff into either one of those profiles but not until you get that private install working as it should.

I'm not going to re-read everything here so maybe it's been asked B4... but why the need to create another "user" account for that private stuff? ... why not just create another profile under your normal user-account ... but just call it private. I've got 4 profile here and the way that they can be set they are all separate. Plus you can run both at the same time using the last link I posted... but the "remote" stuff only goes in the Private shortcut.
Creating a new Firefox profile on Windows - MozillaZine Knowledge Base
And,.... DON'T TOUCH THAT "Choose Folder..." BUTTON! ... unless you fully know all about it.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Opening_a_new ... er_profile

[Geeky]

I am using Win 8.1, which requires you to sign on with an MS account for full access to all functions. I don't want to be tied to an MS account so I set up User2 with a local acount. I want both users to be able to use FF independently of each other. The essential point about all of this is that it was working fine and then something went wrong. Something is broken and I want to fix that before thinking about alternative ways of achieving the same objective.
I have already been through the Profile Manager procedure but that is evidently not necessary with two Windows users as FF creates a default profile for each one. However, it seems here that there is something inhibiting the functionality of FF for the second user.

[TheVisitor]

I am using Win 8.1, which requires you to sign on with an MS account for full access to all functions. I don't want to be tied to an MS account so I set up User2 with a local acount. I want both users to be able to use FF independently of each other. The essential point about all of this is that it was working fine and then something went wrong. Something is broken and I want to fix that before thinking about alternative ways of achieving the same objective.
I have already been through the Profile Manager procedure but that is evidently not necessary with two Windows users as FF creates a default profile for each one. However, it seems here that there is something inhibiting the functionality of FF for the second user.

Still sounds like a a windows permission issue to me.

1. Login to User2
2. when starting Firefox there right-click and try: 'Run as Admin'...

[Geeky]

Still sounds like a a windows permission issue to me.

1. Login to User2
2. when starting Firefox there right-click and try: 'Run as Admin'...

Perhaps but how do I find those permissions and why did they change?
I tried running User2 FF as administrator but it made no difference. I also tried restoring Win 8.1 to a date before 30 July, which is when this started. MS have now made this an incredibly difficult process. The closest was 23 July but even that has made no difference. What a nightmare!