1158389 - Firefox 37.0.2 update drops all set preferences every time the browser is refreshed in favor of default settings

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: Untriaged, defect)

Description

[[e-mail]]

Attachment: Mozilla survey error message.pdf

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; rv:37.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/37.0
Build ID: 20150415140819

Steps to reproduce:

All I must do is close the program and reopen. All preset preferences revert to vanilla defaults (i.e. instead of opening my google search start screen as my home page, which is my preference, the mozilla start page commences and checking in options, the former selection is now gone).

I: confirmed I am virus / malware free using Hitman Pro and use Windows Defender continuously. Afterward I ran Auslogics Boostspeed to be certain any permissions, fragments, etc. were corrected. I uninstalled FireFox. I did a clean reinstall of Firefox, I imported my bookmarks from Chrome. I set my preferences and began browsing. I closed the browser and tried another session.  All preferences reverted to the default. Also, every session has that annoying telemetry message at the bottom of the screen (when I'd already selected my options).

None of these things happened prior to the 37.0.2 update.

I got an email from you guys saying you'd like to hear from me and gave me a link to follow to take a "survey" http://qsurvey.mozilla.com/s3/fb6d51/i-100556113-382435/ I went to that link and surprise, it also does not work. I made a screenshot of the message I received, went back to my email from Mozilla and attempted to respond with the screenshot attached. Of course, I received a delivery failure notice.

I don't know what you guys did with this most recent update but in my very most humble opinion, it blows and I very quickly went from a Firefox cheerleader to being very close to a non user of Firefox.



Actual results:

Abject failure at  every turn.


Expected results:

I should be able to establish preferences and be able to have them work as selected every session, without having to reset them every single session.

I should be able to communicate these things with Mozilla by the method Mozilla selected and advised me of, without having it end in the virtual equivalent of bashing one's noggin against the proverbial brick wall.

In reading similar notices on your bug wall I notice that other "bug reports" that are similar seem to have been unceremoniously relegated to "unconfirmed" or "invalid" status. I can attest to you that this is, in fact, a problem and it's not unconfirmed nor is it "invalid"

Comment 1

[[e-mail]]

I am running Windows 8.1
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3520M CPU @ 2.90GHz, 8GB RAM
64-bit operating system x64 based processor

Comment 2

[Andre Klapper]

Thanks for taking the time to report this!
Does the problem still happen if you start Firefox in Safe Mode? (Safe Mode disables extensions and themes, hardware acceleration and some JavaScript stuff in order to exclude some possible reasons for problems. It does not disable plugins which are add-ons.) See http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Safe+Mode 

And does this also happen with a new and empty profile? See http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Basic%20Troubleshooting#w_8-make-a-new-profile and http://support.mozilla.org/kb/Managing%20profiles

Comment 3

[[e-mail]]

I thought I was clear about progression, but since I completely uninstalled Firefox... and reinstalled it... with no change in the problem, I would guess that the answer to your question with regard to a "new and empty profile" would be yes, it still happens to a "new and empty profile".

With regard to your suggestion whether this occurs in safe mode, it's hard to say. A) the problem initially forced opening in safe mode. Since operating in safe mode really isn't a solution, I hadn't considered continuing in safe mode. As it stands now, I've ceased using Firefox as my browser since it's entirely too much of a hassle to continually futz with. The problem occurred immediately after the update 37.0.02, nothing else on my machine has changed. My other browsers are working flawlessly so as a result I've changed my default browser to a competitor browser. Incidentally I have a friend who runs a computer network management company and he spouted off about the recent upgrades on Firefox (about a month ago) causing the browser to run so slowly and becoming so unstable that he announced to the world he was no longer going to use Firefox. I ignored his comments because I hadn't had that experience... until... I accepted your latest update. Now my opinion is like his... I prefer to use a browser that works. Thanks for your response. Let me know if you guys ever figure out what went wrong in your update and fix it.

Comment 4

[Andre Klapper]

(In reply to [e-mail] from comment #3)
> I thought I was clear about progression, but since I completely uninstalled
> Firefox... and reinstalled it... with no change in the problem, I would
> guess that the answer to your question with regard to a "new and empty
> profile" would be yes, it still happens to a "new and empty profile".

Reinstalling basically never fixes problems, because your profile data normally does not get deleted. :)
Please try with a new and empty profile.

Comment 5

[[e-mail]]

I have once again uninstalled Firefox and cleared out all firefox under the user profiles, appdata, etc.

I reinstalled the windows version of firefox. It still will not hold preferences, it still continually prompts me to select telemetry in the lower margin, no matter what I choose it always asks. I choose to only have google as my start page, this cannot be accomplished. It always reverts after every session to mozilla offering to sign up for their android **** (I'm running windows 8.1). I'm getting the impression that you guys don't actually do any troubleshooting or perhaps when you drive your car you like having to reset all windows, seat adjustments, reset the tire pressure, check the oil and if you happen to stop at the store, you love doing this all over again right from scratch. That's what your interface is like right now.

I thought I'd give it one more shot because eliminating the user profile made sense to me. Unfortunately, that was a non-sequitur for the problem as well. I give up. without the manufacturers expertise, I can't fix this and since you're unwilling to fix it... it seems like my original plan on going with Chrome is the best shot.

Blows.

Comment 6

[Emma Humphries ☕️🎸🧞‍♀️✨ (she/they) [:emceeaich] (Pacific Time) use needinfo]

(In reply to [e-mail] from comment #5)
> I have once again uninstalled Firefox and cleared out all firefox under the
> user profiles, appdata, etc.

Andre asked if you tested with a new profile following the steps in https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles, and noted that the steps that you took did not have the result you expected.

If you'd like to continue to pursue this bug, may I ask that you try replicating this following the steps in the link above? 

Thank you.

Comment 7

[Justin [:JW_SoftvisionQA]]

Closing this issue due to lack of response from the reporter.