1884245 - every time i open firefox, the home page seems to be about:blank (nothing is shown, just a grey background), and when i change the corresponding setting it is not saved

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[ptitet73]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:123.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/123.0

Steps to reproduce:

Just open the browser

Actual results:

The welcome page is set to "page vide" in french (i think blank page in english version) in the settings, but last time i opened the browser i changed that setting to the default which is "page d'accueil de firefox" (probably firefox welcome page)

Expected results:

the setting should have been saved and the welcome page should have been firefox welcome page and not about:blank

Comment 1

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco]]

The Bugbug bot thinks this bug should belong to the 'Firefox::Messaging System' component, and is moving the bug to that component. Please correct in case you think the bot is wrong.

Comment 2

[Shane Hughes [:aminomancer]]

(In reply to ptitet73 from comment #0)

The welcome page is set to "page vide" in french (i think blank page in english version) in the settings, but last time i opened the browser i changed that setting to the default which is "page d'accueil de firefox" (probably firefox welcome page)

You can't set the welcome page in Settings. Do you mean the home page? If you're changing preferences in about:config, please share the exact names of the prefs you're modifying.

Comment 3

[ptitet73]

yes i meant the home page, what is displayed when you launch the browser (NOT for the first time)

Comment 4

[Shane Hughes [:aminomancer]]

(In reply to ptitet73 from comment #3)

yes i meant the home page, what is displayed when you launch the browser (NOT for the first time)

Can you please visit about:support (type it into your address bar), use the findbar (Ctrl+F) to search for user.js, and tell me if you find anything that says you have a user.js file. If not, look for "Dossier de profil" in the first table on that page, and click the "Ouvrir le dossier correspondant" button. In your file explorer you should be in your profile folder, in AppData/Roaming. In that folder, is there a file called user.js? If so, please share its contents.

Setting that aside, there are multiple settings in Firefox that might be relevant. Can you visit about:config (type it into your address bar, there may be a warning to bypass) and type browser.startup.homepage into the text field and check the checkbox that says "Afficher uniquement les préférences modifiées". This will display multiple modified settings, please copy the names and values of all of them so we can see.

Then change the text in the text field to browser.startup.page and show me the values for that. To the right of the first entry (labeled just browser.startup.page) there should be a button which looks like a left-facing arrow. Please click that button.

Comment 5

[ptitet73]

here is the content of my user.js :

user_pref("app.normandy.api_url", "");
user_pref("app.update.checkInstallTime", false);
user_pref("app.update.disabledForTesting", true);
user_pref("browser.dom.window.dump.enabled", true);
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouter.providers.cfr", "null");
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouter.providers.cfr-fxa", "null");
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouter.providers.message-groups", "null");
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouter.providers.messaging-experiments", "null");
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouter.providers.snippets", "null");
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouter.providers.whats-new-panel", "null");
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.discoverystream.config", "[]");
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.feeds.snippets", false);
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.feeds.system.topstories", false);
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.fxaccounts.endpoint", "");
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.tippyTop.service.endpoint", "");
user_pref("browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash", false);
user_pref("browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser", false);
user_pref("browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone", "ignore");
user_pref("browser.startup.page", 0);
user_pref("browser.uitour.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.warnOnQuit", false);
user_pref("browser.webapps.checkForUpdates", 0);
user_pref("datareporting.healthreport.documentServerURI", "http://%(server)s/dummy/healthreport/");
user_pref("datareporting.healthreport.logging.consoleEnabled", false);
user_pref("datareporting.healthreport.service.enabled", false);
user_pref("datareporting.healthreport.service.firstRun", false);
user_pref("datareporting.healthreport.uploadEnabled", false);
user_pref("datareporting.policy.dataSubmissionEnabled", false);
user_pref("datareporting.policy.dataSubmissionPolicyBypassNotification", true);
user_pref("devtools.console.stdout.chrome", true);
user_pref("dom.ipc.reportProcessHangs", false);
user_pref("extensions.autoDisableScopes", 0);
user_pref("extensions.enabledScopes", 5);
user_pref("extensions.installDistroAddons", false);
user_pref("extensions.update.enabled", false);
user_pref("extensions.update.notifyUser", false);
user_pref("focusmanager.testmode", true);
user_pref("general.useragent.updates.enabled", false);
user_pref("geo.provider.testing", true);
user_pref("geo.wifi.scan", false);
user_pref("hangmonitor.timeout", 0);
user_pref("idle.lastDailyNotification", -1);
user_pref("marionette.port", 0);
user_pref("media.gmp-manager.updateEnabled", false);
user_pref("media.sanity-test.disabled", true);
user_pref("network.manage-offline-status", false);
user_pref("network.sntp.pools", "%(server)s");
user_pref("remote.log.level", "Info");
user_pref("security.certerrors.mitm.priming.enabled", false);
user_pref("services.settings.server", "data:,#remote-settings-dummy/v1");
user_pref("startup.homepage_welcome_url", "about:blank");
user_pref("startup.homepage_welcome_url.additional", "");
user_pref("toolkit.startup.max_resumed_crashes", -1);

Settings in about:config:

Setting	Value
browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID	20240213221259
browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone	ignore
browser.startup.page	0

browser.startup.page has been reset to 0 by the little left-facing arrow.

Comment 6

[Shane Hughes [:aminomancer]]

1. browser.startup.page being set to 0 changes your home page to about:blank. So it seems very likely that's your issue. There isn't a bug, you're just directly replacing the home page with a blank page with your user.js file.

   That pref should not reset to 0 (about:blank), it should reset to 1 (Firefox Home). I think your user.js file might be changing the default value, since it should be 0. If you remove that line from your user.js and restart Firefox, that should do it — but double check in about:config that it's now 1. If it still says 0, click the arrow button. Without that line in user.js, the arrow button should now set it to 1 rather than 0.

2. If the above doesn't help, there are a couple other things we can check. You might also have an enterprise policy StartPage that's overriding this. If nothing I told you above works, then let me know, I'll ask an enterprise policy expert to advise on how to remove policies.

3. Are you using autoconfig? If you don't know, go to C:\Program Files\Firefox Nightly (or wherever firefox.exe is installed) and see if there's a folder called defaults. If there is, go inside it, see if there's a folder inside it called pref. If there is, go inside that, and check the files inside there. These files (if they exist) will be similar to the user.js file. Tell me their contents. If one of them has general.config.filename inside it, then this may get a bit complicated.

   If anyone is curious why I suspect autoconfig, the browser.startup.page value on the default branch should be 1 according to firefox.js, so hitting the arrow button in about:config should reset it to 1. That it resets to 0 instead indicates that something is setting the value on the default branch, potentially implicating autoconfig. Though maybe user.js is capable of doing that somehow. For me, it only sets values on the user branch, as you'd expect from the name user.js.

4. It sounds like your complaint is about the home page, not the welcome page, but just so you're aware, this pref (from your user.js) is eliminating the welcome page:

   user_pref("startup.homepage_welcome_url", "about:blank");
   

5. Also FYI, you're setting browser.webapps.checkForUpdates in there and I don't think that pref does anything.

Comment 7

[ptitet73]

I deleted the line user_pref("browser.startup.page", 0); in user.js, now everything is good, thank you.

I wonder how was this line set in this file ? I never touched it before, and never even heard of it before. I used some python programs a few weeks ago which used Selenium to perform actions in the browser, maybe the modification in user.js comes from here ?

And also, why changing the setting for the home page in the browser settings (the "basic" ones) does not override user.js ? Because if you change the "basic settings" for the home page, the value is set back to what is in user.js when you restart the browser, with absolutely no clue about why the home page setting is not saved.

Comment 8

[Shane Hughes [:aminomancer]]

(In reply to ptitet73 from comment #7)

I deleted the line user_pref("browser.startup.page", 0); in user.js, now everything is good, thank you.

Great. No problem.

I wonder how was this line set in this file ? I never touched it before, and never even heard of it before. I used some python programs a few weeks ago which used Selenium to perform actions in the browser, maybe the modification in user.js comes from here ?

Without seeing the specific programs you're referring to, I can't say definitively. Seems plausible. Judging by the prefs in the file, it's also possible you followed some online guide on how to disable telemetry and messaging in Firefox, which required you to download a user.js file and place it in your profile folder. I've seen some guides online that recommend this kind of thing. But it's definitely not recommended to have a user.js file unless you know what you're doing.

And also, why changing the setting for the home page in the browser settings (the "basic" ones) does not override user.js ? Because if you change the "basic settings" for the home page, the value is set back to what is in user.js when you restart the browser, with absolutely no clue about why the home page setting is not saved.

That's the point of the user.js file, and one of the reasons we don't recommend using it if you don't know what you're doing. The user.js file, if it exists, is run at startup. The main reason it's used, from what I've seen, is to insulate the prefs from Firefox updates that might change preferences. Your actual prefs are stored in prefs.js, but those can be changed by Firefox, not just by you. So I guess the idea is that, if Firefox changed a pref, it would get changed in your prefs.js file, but then the prefs in user.js would overwrite it. So, some users might see it as a more "permanent" way of setting a pref, to prevent anything from unexpectedly meddling with it.

Another reason it might be used is so that pref files can be shared from user to user. If someone wanted to share a small set of prefs with you, he can't give you a prefs.js file, as that would overwrite all your other prefs too. To modify a single pref is easy, but a list of prefs is more tedious. But he could send you a user.js file and then you could easily add it to your profile without losing your existing prefs. So those are a couple reasons why power users find the file useful. But for most users, it's just going to be a source of confusion, as they don't expect the prefs they set in about:config to get overwritten every time they start Firefox. The vast majority of users don't have a user.js file. It's something you need to go out of your way to add.

Comment 9

[ptitet73]

So do you think i can safely remove it ? If it has been installed by the python programs, no problem because i don't use it anymore (by the way here it is if you want to check something : https://github.com/FujiwaraChoki/MoneyPrinterV2).
But if it is not that, i really don't know where it comes from. I have not tried to disable telemetry or messaging, and I never saw this file before you told me

Comment 10

[Shane Hughes [:aminomancer]]

(In reply to ptitet73 from comment #9)

So do you think i can safely remove it ? If it has been installed by the python programs, no problem because i don't use it anymore

Yes it is safe to remove. If you don't know where the user.js file came from, I would definitely recommend just removing the entire user.js file. I checked over all the prefs and they are safe to remove. Most of them just disable telemetry, messaging, notifications, and features that some see as fingerprinting surfaces. If there are any you think you want, copy them into your prefs.js file while Firefox is not running. (or better yet, just copy them into a text file, delete user.js, restart Firefox, then manually input the ones you want in about:config).

(by the way here it is if you want to check something : https://github.com/FujiwaraChoki/MoneyPrinterV2).

Judging by this, that probably is what created the user.js file. You probably input your real Firefox profile into the tool, rather than creating a dedicated profile specifically for this purpose. Anyway, deleting user.js should not cause any issues. If you did use that tool again, it would just recreate the user.js file.

Comment 11

[ptitet73]

Ok, thank you very much for taking time for me :)

Comment 12

[Negritas Sergiu, Desktop QA]

Hello! As per the last comments this issue seems to be resolved. I will mark it as RESOLVED->WORKSFORME.

If this issue occurs again please feel free to reopen it or file another bug.

Have a nice day!