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New blank page now has about:blank in URL field. How can I remove this?

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Hello all. I have Firefox Quantum 60.0.1 which just updated a few days ago. Ever since the update, when I open a new tab "about:blank" is already prefilled in the URL bar. I would like a blank URL bar with nothing in it, which I used to have. Until now I was able to configure this easily through Options.

This is still a blank page but with the "about:blank" in the URL, it means I now have extra steps to delete "about:blank" before I can type in or paste the URL I want to go to. I've fiddled with Options for home page, blank page, etc. but nothing gets rid of it.

How can I just have a blank URL without anything typed in it at all? Thank you.

Hello all. I have Firefox Quantum 60.0.1 which just updated a few days ago. Ever since the update, when I open a new tab "about:blank" is already prefilled in the URL bar. I would like a blank URL bar with nothing in it, which I used to have. Until now I was able to configure this easily through Options. This is still a blank page but with the "about:blank" in the URL, it means I now have extra steps to delete "about:blank" before I can type in or paste the URL I want to go to. I've fiddled with Options for home page, blank page, etc. but nothing gets rid of it. How can I just have a blank URL without anything typed in it at all? Thank you.

All Replies (9)

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Did you customize the New Tab page?

And did you customize the New Tab page in Firefox 59 or earlier; like via about:config so far as any of the browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.### preferences? The pref would show as modified if it was changed..

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Yes, I modified several of them: browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.impressionId, .migrationExpired, .enabled, .enhanced, .introShown and .storageVersion.

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Need to reverse them in about:config or start a new Profile and copy stuff over to it. You decide.

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Reverse what, exactly? Not sure what you mean by "them."

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the-edmeister said

Did you customize the New Tab page? And did you customize the New Tab page in Firefox 59 or earlier; like via about:config so far as any of the browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.### preferences? The pref would show as modified if it was changed..

Copy/Paste browser.newtabpage.activity-stream into a about:config search and look for what you modified and if it has about:blank in it. Reverse it.

As the command that did that is no longer in about:config so has to be with something else you modified.

Or can use this to change the New Tab to something useful :

Or make a New Profile (never work with original files only copies ) :

What's What in the Profile :

  • bookmarks and history: places.sqlite
  • bookmark backups: compressed .jsonlz4 JSON backups in the bookmarkbackups folder
  • cookies.sqlite for the Cookies
  • formhistory.sqlite for saved autocomplete Form Data
  • logins.json (passwords) and key4.db (58+) or key3.db (57 and older) (decryption key) for Passwords saved in the Password Manager
  • if you only have key3.db then make sure to remove an existing key4.db
  • cert9.db (58+) or cert8.db (57 and older) for (intermediate) certificates stored in the Certificate Manager
  • if you only have cert8.db then make sure to remove an existing cert9.db
  • persdict.dat for words you added to the spelling checker dictionary
  • permissions.sqlite for Permissions and possibly content-prefs.sqlite for other website specific data (Site Preferences)
  • sessionstore.jsonlz4 for open tabs and pinned tabs (see also the sessionstore-backups folder)

Okulungisiwe ngu Shadow110

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At least two of those browser.newtabpage.activity-stream,### mods that were "popular" with Fx 57 - 59 really "screw the pooch" with Firefox 60 and they need to be undone. Sorry, I haven't kept track of which prefs those are at fault now, but I am so pissed off that I have quit using Firefox 60 after wasting too much time trying to get it fixed. I have too many older versions of Firefox installed to waste my time fixing crap that I have already "fixed".

Once I calm down I am going to create a new Profile and start all over again. And that isn't a big problem, it is just something that I have come to expect from Mozilla; they rush the "new" product out the door and then spend the next half-a-dozen versions fixing what they botched the first time (and 2nd & 3rd time in some cases). I saw that with "Blue Firefox button" (Fx 4.0) and with Australis (Fx 29), so why should "we" expect better from Quantum?

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Thanks to both of you. When trying New Tab Override I was directed to this page which seems to indicate this is a known problem that Mozilla won't fix because of unspecified security reasons. (The thread drifts quite a bit but I think that's the basic gist.)

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1409675

As for what was modified in about:config, nothing had about:blank in it, so there was unfortunately nothing I could reverse.

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Hi, you will have to create a new Profile and copy things over that do not have the edited about:config info in them. Copy stuff slowly and see what works. Will try to get someone to give better info in this for you.

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Easiest is to use the default new tab page and hide all content