Firefox crashes at startup (no safe mode or profile manager)

[Meetloaf13]

Ok, I've been a rabid FF proponent for years. I'm running Windows 7 HP x64 with all the latest updates. The STRANGEST thing happened this week. I uninstalled my installation of firefox. I'm using a profile I've perpetuated for 3-4 years. I wanted to start clean and have a fresh slate.

Well, now, whenever I try to install firefox (8, 9, or 10-nightlies), after installation firefox will not start up. I click the icon, you can see it starting up, and then it disappears. No crash reporter, no crash reports in %appdata%. It won't start up in Safe Mode (-safe-mode, or -safemode, or -safe). None of this applies that I can tell: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Fi ... t&r=0&as=s http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_crashes I have tried all combinations of clean installing, rebooting, running from windows safe mode, scanning for viruses/malware (Windows MSE, MalwareBytes, SuperAntiSpyware), and deleting every bit of data left over in */appdata/ I can find for FireFox.

I CAN get Firefox to start up with the "-profile manager" tag at the end (not -p OR -profilemanager, note the space...I believe this forces it to run that profile, even though it doesn't exist), however, it does not load up the Profile Manager, and when I try to visit a site, it crashes, and as far as I can tell, no crash reports are created. It does not create a profile or anything on my hard-drive. In fact, it doesn't look like it's getting far enough to recreate any of the directories I deleted before clean installing.

It is interesting to note, FirefoxPortable runs just fine, I am even running my previous profile with a simple copy/paste of my old profile folder. It runs just fine, except I think it's marginally slower. I'm fairly adept at troubleshooting. I've scanned the web for hours looking for a solution that works. Perhaps I've some registry corruption, but I'm not THAT savvy or knowledgeable on where to look for corruption. If this is the case, CCleaner's reg-cleaner did not fix the problem.

ANY ideas are welcome. I'd be very sad (and humbled) if I had to ditch FF b/c of this. I've been battling off Chrome-bois for years now =] Besides, I love using FF and my gamut of extensions.

Thanks!

P.S. I have a hunch this might be a Windows permissions issue...the problem with this hypothesis, is that I'm running with UAC turned off.

[patrickjdempsey]

You might try running the Firefox uninstaller (no NOT select erase all personal data, this will whipe your profile data) and then doing a fresh install. Secondly, find your profile (a search for places.sqlite in Win should lead you there) and change the name of the profile folder (nothing crazy, just add 2 to the end). That should force Firefox to create a fresh profile when it boots up.

[Meetloaf13]

I have updated the OP to be more relevant to my findings. I just tried to do another install and after installation it starts the startup wizard and then continues to load the browser and nothing happens. The ONLY way I can get it to start is like I mentioned prior, to add a tag like the following "-XXXX XXXX" with a space in it.

I did try the above and nothing.

Thanks

[patrickjdempsey]

Find your appdata folder with your Firefox profiles in it. Try completely renaming the entire Firefox folder, not just your old profile. This should force Firefox to rebuild a whole new set of profile data on start.

[Meetloaf13]

That's the problem, before installation, I completely deleted the Mozilla folder here: \AppData\Roaming\Mozilla

After installation and startup of Firefox, the "Profile" directory is never created.

When I start it up with the the following command:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -profile DEATH

It creates a profile of sorts here:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\DEATH

But if I understand correctly, this is wrong.

[patrickjdempsey]

To my knowledge you cannot *create* a new profile using the profile flag. Remove all of the flags and just let Firefox run and it should generate a new *default* profile which you can copy your data into.

[Meetloaf13]

I have, and it does not create a directory.

If I "just let Firefox run" it won't start, I can see the process run for a few seconds and then disappear.

[patrickjdempsey]

Have you run through the checklist here?
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_:_Iss ... 7t_Startup

It sounds almost like you have either an AV program that is locking you out of your profile, or a problem with the registry that is causing the browser to crash out before it can start.

[Meetloaf13]

Yeah, I'm using Windows Security Essentials. I doubt it is that, since I was running just fine, uninstalled, immediately re-installed and the problem arose.

I cannot get the link to work in multiple browsers, nor this link: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser_will_not_start_up

Thanks for your help by the way.

OK, the link started working. None of that applies and/or I have tried the remedies there.

[Alice]

To my knowledge you cannot *create* a new profile using the profile flag.

I tried running just firefox.exe -profile whatever in Win7, and Firefox launches with a new profile and checking in Help ->Troubleshooting Information -> Open Containing folder, the new profile folder is here : C:\Users\wymette\whatever ("wymette" is my current Windows username).
If I run firefox.exe -profile C:\MyFirefox\profile then a new C:\MyFirefox folder is created with a "profile" folder inside.
Ref: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Bypassing_the_Profile_Manager

[Meetloaf13]

Yeah, really odd, mine is being created here:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\

[Alice]

It's quirky. If I run "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -profile C:\MyFox\whatnot it works and creates a C:\MyFox\whatnot folder for the profile... but, if I run "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -profile whatnot I get a "Profile missing" error.

[Meetloaf13]

If I run "firefox.exe" -profile TEST, it creates a profile here:
C:\Users\MyUser\TEST

I digress, this still doesn't help me out, regardless of where the profile is created, Firefox is borked. Crashes on pages like made with zero plugins. And, since those profiles aren't logged in profile manager, it doesn't even matter.

[patrickjdempsey]

If your default profile is being re-routed to the program installation folder, then you must have a problem with your registry. Check the link I posted, there's an article there on resetting your registry entry.

[Alice]

You can try creating a new default profile. See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Creating_a_new_default_profile