FF 45.0.2: location bar settings not sticking

[rickety_goodman]

When I am inserting something on the location bar (address bar?), I don't want FF to offer ANYTHING!
When I go to:

Tools
Options
Privacy
Location Bar

and I UNTICK

History
Bookmarks
Open Tabs

I must leave that tab open in the background at all times if I want my choices to persist.
If I close that tab, they revert right back to being checked and I must return to that page
to untick them again if I have closed the browser.

In addition, on the 'Search' options page, even though I have UNCHECKED the
"Provide Search Suggestions" box because I don't want ANYTHING to pop up while
I'm typing in a URL, FF insists on entering (in real time) my URL into the search
engine that is highlighted on the 'Search' page even though I have told it NOT to.
I cannot prevent it from contacting the search engine with my chosen URL. I can
only choose a different search engine.

[JayhawksRock]

Maybe this will help > https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/se ... ddress-bar

[rickety_goodman]

No it did not.
It's even worse.
The "Location Bar" suggestions boxes still don't store your choices so you must leave the "Tools" tab open until you close FF.
Although your suggestion works for the first open tab, the fact that the "Tools" tab must remain open means that your
whole FF session must occur on a second and subsequent tabs.
And FF, under these conditions, makes the FF website your home page even though you have selected "about:blank" and
it reverts back to entering everything you type into a search engine request.
The ONLY reason that I choose to use FF is because it allows the use of "NoScript".
If the programmers refuse to allow FF to be set up as a blank page on which you can enter your desired URL in the address bar,
I will have to dump FF. That is the way that it has ALWAYS worked until recently.
This current system of constantly throwing things in your face as you try to work is worthless trash.

[therube]

I must leave that tab open in the background at all times if I want my choices to persist.

That should not be.

Create a new, clean Profile.
Make those setting changes.
Confirm that they persist.

[rickety_goodman]

The Location Bar and address bar settings do stick in the clean profile.
Now how do I get my plugins, addons, and bookmarks moved over to the
clean profile?
Doing it by hand is not possible:
I have thousands of legal, technical, and historical bookmarks collected,
categorized, and directory-organized over ten years.
In the past, I simply copied the old profile over the new one.
Will that still work or will the errors go with the copy?

[dfoulkes]

It could very well be that an extension is causing your problem... try restarting Firefox in safe-mode and see if that problem still exists... and if it's gone in safe-mode... then having to use a new profile may not be needed... post back with results.

Try running Firefox in safe-mode... NOTE: This is a testing procedure only ... NOT for normal browsing.
-- On the menu bar, click the Help menu and select Restart with Add-ons Disabled....
Firefox will start up with the Firefox Safe Mode dialog. Click continue in Safe Mode and don't check any items.

Note: You can also start Firefox in Safe Mode by holding down the shift key while Single/Double clicking on the icon.
* (option key while starting Firefox on Mac).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>What safe-mode does ..... Safe Mode temporarily affects the following:
* All extensions are disabled. --- * The userChrome.css and userContent.css files are ignored.
* The default theme is used, without a persona. --- * The default toolbar layout is used.
* The Just-in-time (JIT) JavaScript compiler is disabled. --- * Hardware acceleration is disabled.

-- Safe Mode has no effect on the following --
* The status of plugins is not affected.
* Custom preferences are not affected.

This is the link to the main KB article for Safe-Mode ... but, use the above info 1st...
Safe Mode - MozillaZine Knowledge Base

[rickety_goodman]

I tried both "Safe Mode" methods with the default profile: 1st restarting from the "Help" menu, and then I tried starting with the 'Shift' key.
Neither method solved the problems with the default profile:

The "Tools>Options>Privacy>Location Bar" check boxes still don't stick unless I leave their tab open.

If I do leave that tab open so that they'll stick, if I type a URL into the address bar on a new Tab or page, it still opens a bar submitting the URL data to a search engine,
even though the "Tools>Options>Search>Provide Search Suggestions" check box is unchecked.

All of this using either "Safe Mode" start option.

Is it possible to 'Export' my Bookmarks into an external file from the 'Default' profile and then re-inport that Bookmark file back into my 'Clean' profile?

All help and suggestions are appreciated.

[therube]

Transferring data to a new profile - Firefox

If all you need are bookmarks ...

Exit FF
Copy (from your old Profile folder) into the new, the file, places.sqlite, overwriting the existing in the new Profile.

Start FF & verify that your bookmarks are there.

(Backup first.)

[rickety_goodman]

The profile that I created was called 'CleanUp4-24-16'.
When I start FF, that title shows up as a profile choice to open.

When I go to:
Documents and Settings
<user name>
Application Data
Mozilla
Firefox
Profiles

I cannot find a profile with that title in it.

I even had Windows Explorer search for a file or directory name containing that title anywhere on the C: drive and came up empty.
I then had Windows Explorer search for a file CONTAINING that title anywhere on the C: drive and came up empty.

Where do I find the clean profile that I just created?
(The default one was easy to spot)
Thanks

[therube]

about:support, Profile Folder -> Show Folder

[rickety_goodman]

Thank all of you.
I eventually transferred everything important over to a new, clean profile.
I guess that it was probably coincidence that the profile corruption occurred
right after a FF update.

Topic closed.
Thank you.