Tried to rename profile, now can't start FF because it says it is already running
So I wanted to rename my laptop profile. I went into the profile menu (of the laptop not of Firefox) and ended up unchecking and rechecking the "read only' box. After that, Firefox would give an error saying it couldn't access the security files on start up. I searched the Mozilla page and followed directions to rename profiles with no luck, restarts (multiple) no luck, deleted profile and built new one, no luck, deleted secmod and cert files with no luck. Uninstalled FF 8.01 completely and installed 3.6.3 (i think) and now it won't start because it says it is already running. I am also getting a flag from Internet Eplorer telling me that another program has tried to change my search provider.
Any help would be appreciated.
Chosen solution
Oops, something went wrong in that post. You shouldn't rename a profile folder on disk, if that is what you did to get the "already running" error.
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Upgrade your browser to Firefox 8 and check
Sorry but that did not resolve it. I still get the following message:
Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system.
Any further help would be greatly appreciated....
I was able to resolve the problem but created a new one. Now Firefox will not open at all and gives me an error message saying that my Firefox profile is missing or inaccessible. I have tried to create a new profile but i can't even get to the profile manager. I tried to access it through the run script but it just pops up the same error stating the profile is missing etc.
Any help....
You shouldn't rename a profile folder on disk. If you do that then Firefox won't be able to find the profile as listed in profiles.ini.
You can use the profile manager if you want to see a different name there, but is is better not to rename a profile on disk to avoid problems.
- https://support.mozilla.com/kb/Firefox+is+already+running+but+is+not+responding
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_in_use
(edited: should -> shouldn't -c)
Modified by cor-el
cor-el, thanks for the response but I must admit that I am not sure what you mean by your instructions. Do you mind explaining in very simple and detailed terms exactly what I need to create and where to create it? I cannot access the profile manager at all. Every time I try to access the manager, it gives me the error that my profile cannot be found.
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Oops, something went wrong in that post. You shouldn't rename a profile folder on disk, if that is what you did to get the "already running" error.
On infrequent occasions, I've had the same problem. For some reason, the Firefox application starts, but just doesn't open a browser window. The work-around is to simply open the Task Manager, look under the "Processes" for firefox.exe, then simply cancel that process (ignoring the dire warnings about the dangers of closing a running process). After that, you should be able to start Firefox again, normally.
If you have the same problem EVERY time you try to use Firefox (or even more frequently than "every now and then"), then there's something else going on that you'll need to get additional help for.
To back out previous fixes, you also might want to try completely uninstalling Firefox, then reinstalling it.
Modified by wbblakemore
@wbblakemore
Make sure to use Firefox/File > Exit to close Firefox if you experience such hanging issues and need to use the Task Manager to kill the Firefox process.
See "Hang at exit":
See "Firefox hangs when you quit it":