Can Firefox be made the active window? If you hold the Alt key and press and release the Tab key, does a Firefox icon appear? If so, press the Tab key until it is selected and then release Alt to bring that window to the front. Any improvement?

If not, I wonder whether the window is positioned off screen so you can't see it. To test that theory, try this:

Press Alt+Spacebar and then x to maximize the window. If that comes into view, you could try this test page to reposition the window:

http://dev.jeffersonscher.com/jstest.html

Alternately, you could click the Windows "orb" on the Task bar, and in the search box, paste that URL and press Enter. It should open the page in the upper left corner of the monitor and hopefully Firefox will remember that.

Any luck?

Sorry I may not understand. I tried 1st 3 paragraphs. Then went to the Windows search and copied the url : http://dev.jeffersonscher.com/jstest.html. Is that the URL you meant. Please tell me which URL to try in the search box.

Yes, try that one.

I see a page of Java script browser tests. What do I do with that?

Sorry. Nothing helps from that Java Script Browser page. I tried copying and inserting those Navigator lines and no pages opened.

You see a Firefox window! That's all I was going for. Hopefully Firefox will remember this window position and let you browse normally now.

If you close the browser using

orange Firefox button or File menu > Exit

Does Firefox remember that window position on the next startup? If so, I think you're cured.

If not, you might need to delete a corrupted settings file. (More info to follow if needed.)

All I get is this little 2" window above the firefox icon on the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. It will open several different pages, after the home page, but always in the tiny window. Can you try the last line of the previous answer: >>If not, you might need to delete a corrupted settings file. (More info to follow if needed.)

Although this article refers to toolbars resetting, messed up window sizes is a symptom of the same problem: Toolbar keeps resetting | Troubleshooting | Firefox Help.

For safety, I recommend backing up your Firefox settings first in case something goes wrong. See Backing up your information. (You can copy your entire Firefox profile folder somewhere outside of the Mozilla folder.)

Any luck?

Sorry. I guess I am not expert enough to solve this. I do not have a Firefox homepage to make the changes you suggest. Firefox only shows a small icon on the bottom taskbar. I cannot open a full page to deal with options you suggest in your latest message.

You can track down your profile folder, and start safe mode, manually, without using the inaccessible features.

In Windows 7, your profile folder usually is on a path similar to this:

C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

This article has more information on that: Profiles | How to | Firefox Help. Usually your profile folder has "default" in the name. Make a copy of that folder somewhere safe.

To start Firefox in Safe Mode, close all Firefox windows, then hold down the Shift key and restart Firefox. (I got that from an article but haven't actually tested it!) Then you should be able to check the box for "Reset toolbars and controls."

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Alternately, did you get the menus and toolbars when you launched this page from the search box?

http://dev.jeffersonscher.com/jstest.html

If so, you could do that again and then launch safe mode from there.

below is what I get with the dev.jeffersonscher.com etc. url. But what do I do with this information? I can launch safe mode, but I still get only the 2" icon/window of Firefox.

JavaScript Browser Tests

navigator object properties

navigator.userAgent = Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; Trident/5.0; SLCC2; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30729; Media Center PC 6.0; .NET4.0C) navigator.appName = Microsoft Internet Explorer navigator.appCodeName = Mozilla navigator.appVersion = 5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; Trident/5.0; SLCC2; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30729; Media Center PC 6.0; .NET4.0C) navigator.platform = Win32

DOM methods/collections

if(document.getElementById) = true if(document.layers) = false if(document.all) = true

window properties

if(top.window.moveTo) = true if(top.window.moveTo(0,0)) =

The following data is reported by a server running Microsoft IIS server and ASP:

View selected http headers at <a href="svrvars.asp">svrvars.asp</a>

When I try launching one of those Navigator addresses, all I get is "server not found."

First, were you able to locate your Firefox profile folder and make a backup?

The purpose of opening the jstest page is purely to display a viewable Firefox window so you can access the menus. Please ignore the content of that page. (Some day I'll create a less confusing page, but I'm trying to help you in real time here.)

When you start Safe Mode (Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled), you should get a dialog with a checkbox giving you the option to reset toolbars. Does that appear? Does it help?

Well, I'm had a glass of wine, dinner, a piece of chocolate and coffee; and I am still no further ahead. I cannot open Firefox in safe mode because all I can obtain is a small 2" icon above the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. I cannot fine a profile folder either, having searched C: drive. Forget about the profile; it's replaceable. Sorry you have spent so much time on this seemingly unsolvable problem. Has no one else encountered this?

 I think we have spent far too much time on this. Thanks for your effort. Unless you have a really new idea, I shall have to resort to IE.

I updated the resizer page, maybe this one will work better:

http://dev.jeffersonscher.com/resize.html

I'm not sure what you mean by "forget about the profile"? It's still a good idea to create a new profile when diagnosing problems with Firefox. It only takes a minute.

Just paste this in your Windows search box and press Enter after all Firefox windows are closed:

firefox.exe /profilemanager

The problem is solved. Firefox is now working full screen. Your earlier suggestion to start in Safe Mode (once I figured out how to do that) was the answer. I quote:

"To start Firefox in Safe Mode, close all Firefox windows, then hold down the Shift key and restart Firefox. (I got that from an article but haven't actually tested it!) Then you should be able to check the box for "Reset toolbars and controls." I referred to the Help section to complete this. So far all is working. If others have this problem, perhaps this is the solution.