You would have to set the home page to the Google website instead of using about:home to achieve this because now always the default search engine will be used.

This is one option, yes. But it's also rather clumsy - I think that the biggest advantage of about:home is that it's local content and loads instantly. Google website would have to be downloaded from the Internet every time.

Also, what you are saying is not quite correct. I want about:home to always use the default search engine. But currently, it uses selected search engine instead.

Maybe I am missing something but what is the logic behind this change anyway? Having two input fields on the screen that use the same search engine. It seems rather ... redundant.

EDIT: My apologies, I wanted to reply to cor-el's answer. But instead I replied to the main thread and now I can't remove my post. If someone can fix this, I'd be grateful.

It would be fine if the search engine for the about:home page could be set separately from the search engine on the Navigation Toolbar.

If you want to change the search engine on the Navigation Toolbar temporarily for a search then future Firefox versions will reload the about:home page automatically to reflect this change.
I would personally always use a (one letter) keyword search on the location bar, so that bar shouldn't be a problem (keyword.enabled is still supported to disable searching via the location bar).

I have the same problem. This new feature is pretty annoying.

There is anything in about:config we can change to prevent the default engine to switch every time I change the selected engine?

Thanks

A

This option perhaps works for some people, but it shoud be optional (configurable if the user want this or not)

If my last search engine was CNET and then I want to search "kittens" on Google (because I've chosen that one as my default search engine) with the Address Bar, it goes to CNET search "kittens". To achieve what it took me:

1. click the address bar
2. type the text I'm serching in address bar
3. hit [enter]

Now it takes two more steps and is even more annoying if you've many search engines.

1. click the search bar
2. search google in the search bar (it is 1st but is an extra step)
3. click the google search
4. type the text I'm searching (on the address or search bar)
5. hit [enter]

Hope this can help you understand why this should not be a default feature and at least can be turned off...

I know i can type "google kitten" in the Address Bar and it will go to Google search, but you're making the user type "google" each time, what for?

Got it,

You've to download the Keyword Search extension and choose the search engine you'll like to always use in the address bar.

I found the solution because another person reported this crazy behavior over here

The user philipp explained that "the reasoning behind the change (i also disagree with it) was that many adware programs did overwrite the keyword preference and there was no obvious way for users to recover from that."

I don't know if this is a programming problem, but the real solution should be a configurable search in the address bar, to be or not linked to the search bar.

I agree on this, I for one am so annoyed by this behavior that I am considering a browser change. This should be optional, stop messing around with users preferences without letting them know!

You *really* should let users know when behavior changes, perhaps show a "whats new" when Firefox is upgraded so we know when to revert to an old version.

Please, fix so we can have separate search engines in the search bar and start page.

I don't see why we are stuck with this non-feature because users are not able to defend themselves from adwares. Make this opt-out at least.

It's as if Microsoft removed internet from Windows so people are less likely to get viruses…

I just wanted to also say this feature is highly annoying. Please provide an option to turn it off.

Yes, SUPER annoying and very difficult to fix. Keyword Search addon does NOT fix it for me 100% and this is a very bad reason to start using yet another addon!

On Keyword Search, for some reason the about:home Search Engine does not work with Google properly for me, Google is actually YouTube on the about:home page. This is the most frustrating issue with Firefox ever. I want to separate the quick search bar and the "Mozilla Firefox Start Page" search engines!

I found a workaround for my problem: do "Add to Firefox" for the "Google (SSL)" search engine. Then select that Google (SSL) as the Keyword Search "about:home Search Engine". Then the correct engine is used on the Mozilla Firefox Start Page.

This is Google (SSL): https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/google-ssl-243978/?src=search (I don't know why it's so extremely difficult to search for search engines by name on that site).

So this is a workaround if you have a problem with the "Google" search engine (not correctly showing up on the about:home page).