Firefox: screwed up profile, now Firefox won't load, despite reinstall

Malneb · 05 Dec 2022

about:profiles in the address bar and see which profile you are running it should also tell you what profiles are available and also allow you to select a profile to switch to, it will also offer some granularity into the problem as it allows you to see in more detail what is happening you can also delete profiles from here, its the same thing as going to the dir manually but alas from here you can manage everything in one place.

What ever it can see is what ever it has access to and like others are saying you probably didn't delete the right folder regardless use this to look further at what is going on.

failing all that then refreshing the browser in about:support will set it back to factory settings that ship with the distribution

x509 · 07 Dec 2022

Ghot said:

@x509

I just had another thought.
When REVO scans for leftovers, it removes a ton of Registry entries.

You might have to reboot for all those removals to be applied?

I used the Forced Uninstall feature in Revo Pro, which used the install logs. I had four such logs and I could use only one log at a time. Each scan found leftover cruft. Rebooting necessary.

Then to be really, really sure, I used Ultrasearch to find all Mozilla and Firefox files and folders. All (except Winsxs) got zapped.

Then, since I'm a belts and suspenders (belts and braces on the other side of The Pond), I scanned the registry for Mozilla and firefox entries. Amazing just how many such entries were not removed by Revo. I deleted most of those entries.

After a reboot, I installed Firefox, and this time, it was a clean, fresh install, and I'm now back to using Firefox.

All is well again.

Ghot · 07 Dec 2022

x509 said:

I used the Forced Uninstall feature in Revo Pro, which used the install logs. I had four such logs and I could use only one log at a time. Each scan found leftover cruft. Rebooting necessary.

Then to be really, really sure, I used Ultrasearch to find all Mozilla and Firefox files and folders. All (except Winsxs) got zapped.

Then, since I'm a belts and suspenders (belts and braces on the other side of The Pond), I scanned the registry for Mozilla and firefox entries. Amazing just how many such entries were not removed by Revo. I deleted most of those entries.

After a reboot, I installed Firefox, and this time, it was a clean, fresh install, and I'm now back to using Firefox.

All is well again.

Good job. Now, next time you need to do it... it'll be fast.
If you ever have to do it with Chrome, there'll be 2 or 3 times the junk left over.

x509 · 08 Dec 2022

Ghot said:

Good job. Now, next time you need to do it... it'll be fast.
If you ever have to do it with Chrome, there'll be 2 or 3 times the junk left over.

Well, I hope there isn't a "next time." I am not going to mess with the user profile. Easier just to recreate the profile from my deskop than go through this experience again. Despite being willing to "try things out," (which is probably all of us in this forum), some things are better left undisturbed.