Allow only one instance of Firefox?

[winterforge]

I have a keyboard with a "My Home" button on it that I press to open Firefox and go to my homepage. In the old versions of FF I could press that again even after it was open and it would just open a new tab with my homepage again. In the latest 0.10.1 versions when I press that button it is now opening a whole new window with an entirely new instance of FF. Is there a way to allow only one instance of Firefox at a time so if I were to press that button or double click the Firefox.exe it would open a new tab again and not open a totally new instance? Thanks much.

[My Yute]

Try setting the preference in advanced->options that all new windows open in a new tab?

[winterforge]

Tried it, doesn't work. I even have the Single Window extension installed and it still doesn't work. Even in Gmail when I click a link in an e-mail there it ALWAYS opens a new window, never just a new tab. Pretty frustrating...

I have the Tabbrowser Preferences extension
I have the Single Window extension
I have my settings in the Firefox options to always open a new tab instead of a new window

Yet with all this, Firefox still opens new windows quite a bit

[Roy Slade]

I have the same problem. When I hit one of the shortcut keys it brings up the existing browser. Is there a parameter I can enter to bring up a new browser or tab?

[winterforge]

Heck, I wish mine would even bring up the same browser...mine opens up a new instance all together. Looks like we want what each other has lol. How could ours be so different, are you using 0.10.1?

[The PC Nerd]

I think we just need _blank and other target overrides here.

THat would be really useful.

[Roy Slade]

I'm using 0.10.1 and the button that should start a new browser just brings up the one that's open if it's minimized. It minimizes it if it's the current screen.

[guiro_boy]

I'm using the latest MOOX branch build (20041014), and clicking on my either my desktop or quicklaunch icons always opens up a new instance/window of Firefox. The fact that I have my tab browsing options set to only use a single window does not seem to have any effect on this.

Are there no settings that can be tweaked to have Firefox only allow one instance of itself under any circumstances? I think ideally it'd be nice to have it bring the window to the foreground (if minimized), or open a new tab (if already maximized).

[winterforge]

I'm using the latest MOOX branch build (20041014), and clicking on my either my desktop or quicklaunch icons always opens up a new instance/window of Firefox. The fact that I have my tab browsing options set to only use a single window does not seem to have any effect on this.

Are there no settings that can be tweaked to have Firefox only allow one instance of itself under any circumstances? I think ideally it'd be nice to have it bring the window to the foreground (if minimized), or open a new tab (if already maximized).

THAT would be an AWESOME feature. I couldn't agree more.

[jne_]

FF set as default browser
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; rv:1.7.3) Gecko/20041001 Firefox/0.10.1
single window 1.4 with enable sw mode, open ext. links.. and open links with invalid.. selected

when i quicklaunch, use dt s.cut a new tab is created.
links clicked on outlook do open a new window.

[tonymec]

You all make me wonder: what did I do right ?

Even when I click on a link in OE, it opens a new tab in FF (Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; rv:1.7.3) Gecko/20041001 Firefox/0.10.1)

Ah, there it is.

Tools -> Extensions -> Tabbrowser Preferences -> Options -> Links

[...]
_External_
Load links in: [ New Tab |v]
[...]

(N.B. a roll-down list)

[My Left Hand]

I'm using the latest MOOX branch build (20041014), and clicking on my either my desktop or quicklaunch icons always opens up a new instance/window of Firefox. The fact that I have my tab browsing options set to only use a single window does not seem to have any effect on this.

Are there no settings that can be tweaked to have Firefox only allow one instance of itself under any circumstances? I think ideally it'd be nice to have it bring the window to the foreground (if minimized), or open a new tab (if already maximized).

THAT would be an AWESOME feature. I couldn't agree more.

i agree, it's a feature i'd love as well.
as it is now, the "my home" button on my logitech keyboard launches a new firefox window.
at least it's not a new instance

[marinette-et-riton]

Hi,
This post is quite old but since still referenced on the search engines, I hope my answer will help anyway.

So, I finally got rid of the unwanted second session with its whole lot of annoyances:

I created a batch file, which path\name is called by the Firefox icon instead of Firefox.exe.
Its contents are (at least this worked for Windows 7):

@echo off
tasklist | findstr "firefox.exe"
cls
echo.
if %errorlevel% equ 0 goto running
if %errorlevel% equ 1 start " " "D:\My_Portable_Progs\!_applications_!\!Internet\Firefox\firefox.exe"
echo OK, I gonna do that !
echo.
@pause
exit

:running
echo "! ! ! FIREFOX is Already Running ! ! !""
echo.
@pause

I'm not sure that "exit" is needed after the first "pause" instruction. I'm too lazy to search about

Enjoy.

[LIMPET235]

Hi,
I really, really doubt that anyone is still interested in this very old thread...but thanks anyway.

H$&@....it's 12 years old.

Locking.