Firefox display issues on Windows 10 21H1
I'm confused by this issue as Firefox worked fine until recently but an older version doesn't fix the problem. At first I only had issues with LibreOffice and Firefox. LO would only open in safe mode, Firefox opened but did not working correctly. The fix for LO was to disable skia so I suspect that is the cause of the Firefox issues, but it could also be a driver issue. Weird thing, Google Chrome also uses skia and although I had an issue with Chrome suddenly not loading, an uninstall/reinstall fixed it. I am aware skia is a Google project so it may be that Chrome and Firefox use different versions of skia.
Issues: Firefox opens and I have my extensions etc across the top but the main window is blank. No websites display. Switching tabs doesn't work. If I open a "More troubleshooting information" tab for example, I can only access/view that tab by closing the first tab. A few menu options work (help menu - Troubleshoot Mode and More troubleshooting information both work fine) but Settings doesn't work. I tried Firefox in safe mode but it makes no difference. I tried refreshing Firefox but it makes no difference. I tried clearing the startup cache but it makes no difference.
This is on a dual boot with Windows 10 and Ubuntu Studio 21.04. I also have Firefox v93.0 (64-bit) installed on the Linux partition and it works fine.
Chosen solution
If you run Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit, a recent update (version 415) may be causing symptoms similar to the VC Runtime problem. If you have MBAE, it should have a setting to exempt Firefox. You could test whether that makes any difference.
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Anything has been uninstalled recently?
- Enter this link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2977003/the-latest-supported-visual-c-downloads
- From the section Visual Studio 2015, 2017 and 2019 download the following executable file: vc_redist.x64.exe
- Install this file
- Restart the computer and run Firefox
Thanks but that doesn't resolve the issue.
I haven't uninstalled anything before having this problem. I uninstalled and reinstalled LibreOffice (first installed earlier version, disabled skia, then updated to latest stable version), then I had problems with Chrome not loading so I uninstalled and reinstalled it but that was AFTER noticing the problem with Firefox.
I ran Visual Studio (2019) and did updates for that. It made a slight difference, I could switch tabs! but everything else was the same. Although I already had the latest version of vc redist I tried reinstalling it but it made no difference except now I can't switch tabs again and Troubleshooting Information page is empty. I also uninstalled a couple of old vc redist updates (x64 & x32 versions of same update), which I probably shouldn't have done, but that is AFTER reinstalling the latest version.
Chosen Solution
If you run Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit, a recent update (version 415) may be causing symptoms similar to the VC Runtime problem. If you have MBAE, it should have a setting to exempt Firefox. You could test whether that makes any difference.
Thanks jscher2000 That fixed it!
After reading the issue thread on https://forums.malwarebytes.com/, the suggestion from a malwarebytes staff member is to disable "Detect penetration testing attacks" in MBAE settings. This does work aswell but it's not great having to choose between deactivating the shield for FF or disabling pen testing attack detection for all. At least malwarebytes know there is an issue and hopefully they will be able to fix it soon!