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The "Getting Started with Mozilla Firefox" page keeps loading at startup, regardless of the settings in the options menu (side by side by the homepage I select, if any)

  • 10 replies
  • 25 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

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This page keeps being shown at startup. When I chose another home page or blank page at the options menu it comes sided by side with them. Nothing about it is mentioned in the options/ home page or startup section

This page keeps being shown at startup. When I chose another home page or blank page at the options menu it comes sided by side with them. Nothing about it is mentioned in the options/ home page or startup section

Chosen solution

You can remove all user_pref lines from that file except the default browser if you need that setting.

  • user_pref("browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser", false);

All others are set by Firefox automatically and shouldn't be in user.js

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (10)

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.....

Modified by Jack

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I looked there,. Standard settings from the menu are not the problem.

I tried opening the prefs.js and the user.js. The user.js has not been updated since a few weeks ago (possibly installation time).

I did not know what to fix in them. I suspect user_pref("browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID", "20110318052756"); user_pref("browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone", "rv:2.0");

in user.js, and something similar in prefs.js

advice?

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Such browser.startup lines shouldn't be in user.js and you need to remove them.
User.js is read at every start of Firefox and sets the prefs listed in it accordingly.

Did you create user.js yourself?

Can you post the full content of that file?

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Never touched the user.js

can I delete it with no damage?

here it is

# Mozilla User Preferences

/* Do not edit this file.
 *
 * If you make changes to this file while the application is running,
 * the changes will be overwritten when the application exits.
 *
 * To make a manual change to preferences, you can visit the URL about:config
 * For more information, see http://www.mozilla.org/unix/customizing.html#prefs
 */

user_pref("app.update.lastUpdateTime.addon-background-update-timer", 1301226685);
user_pref("app.update.lastUpdateTime.background-update-timer", 1301226685);
user_pref("app.update.lastUpdateTime.blocklist-background-update-timer", 1301226685);
user_pref("app.update.lastUpdateTime.microsummary-generator-update-timer", 1301226685);
user_pref("app.update.lastUpdateTime.search-engine-update-timer", 1301226685);
user_pref("browser.bookmarks.restore_default_bookmarks", false);
user_pref("browser.cache.disk.capacity", 1048576);
user_pref("browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run", false);
user_pref("browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value", 819200);
user_pref("browser.migration.version", 5);
user_pref("browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion", 2);
user_pref("browser.rights.3.shown", true);
user_pref("browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser", false);
user_pref("browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID", "20110318052756");
user_pref("browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone", "rv:2.0");
user_pref("browser.taskbar.lastgroupid", "Mozilla.Firefox.4.0");
user_pref("extensions.blocklist.pingCountVersion", 0);
user_pref("extensions.bootstrappedAddons", "{}");
user_pref("extensions.databaseSchema", 3);
user_pref("extensions.enabledAddons", "{972ce4c6-7e08-4474-a285-3208198ce6fd}:4.0");
user_pref("extensions.installCache", "[{\"name\":\"app-global\",\"addons\":{\"{972ce4c6-7e08-4474-a285-3208198ce6fd}\":{\"descriptor\":\"d:\\\\Program Files\\\\Mozilla Firefox\\\\extensions\\\\{972ce4c6-7e08-4474-a285-3208198ce6fd}\",\"mtime\":1301226529591}}},{\"name\":\"winreg-app-user\",\"addons\":{\"{d5bc46d8-67c7-11dc-8c1d-0097498c2b7a}\":{\"descriptor\":\"C:\\\\Users\\\\Reuven\\\\Program Files\\\\DNA\",\"mtime\":1301223946848}}}]");
user_pref("extensions.lastAppVersion", "4.0");
user_pref("extensions.pendingOperations", false);
user_pref("intl.charsetmenu.browser.cache", "windows-1255, UTF-8");
user_pref("network.cookie.prefsMigrated", true);
user_pref("places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages", 31936);
user_pref("privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs", true);
user_pref("urlclassifier.keyupdatetime.https://sb-ssl.google.com/safebrowsing/newkey", 1303818610);
user_pref("xpinstall.whitelist.add", "");
user_pref("xpinstall.whitelist.add.36", "");

Modified by cor-el

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i now see i have several user.js in a few places the one i open from the profile directory i am sent to from the "about" menu states ff ver 2.0 the about:config says rv:8 in the browserstartup etc. override milestone....

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Chosen Solution

You can remove all user_pref lines from that file except the default browser if you need that setting.

  • user_pref("browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser", false);

All others are set by Firefox automatically and shouldn't be in user.js

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as long as you're comfortable working with configuration files, I just renamed user.js – made it "user.js.Obsolete" – then stopped and restarted Firefox. It came up clean (no "Getting Started..." page), seemed to start up faster than I recalled, and preserved my toolbar settings (never liked that "Tabs on Top" business), bookmarks, etc. I even restarted XP, just to be sure it wasn't a fluke – previously, the "Getting Started..." page wouldn't come up when I opened a second browser window in the same WinXP session.

Modified by PSchamel

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None of you give a detailed answer that makes any sense. First off where is profile directory? Second where is user.js. You could have put this in order that it needs to be done for people that are not computer savvy, but willing to learn. A step by step instructions would have been nice. This makes no sense to the normal user.

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You can use this button to go to the Firefox profile folder:

  • Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Open Containing Folder

See these articles for some suggestions: