268552 - Firefox startup *loops* if installed on read-only NTFS for user

Status: RESOLVED EXPIRED

(Toolkit :: Startup and Profile System, defect)

Description

[Marc Bauer]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0

if you install firefox for a normal user and the filesystem is read-only for
this user the user cannot start firefox. i saw firefox.exe in taskmanager
looping and looping. it changes every few seconds it's pid, cpu is at ~75% and
never stops!

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
0. first of all - C: drive is read-only for normal users
1. install firefox as Admin in default windows location (c:\program
files\mozilla firefox)
2. start firefox once as admin 
3. logoff
4. login as normal user
5. start firefox. import dialog comes up. (choose whatever you like)
6. mouse displays "loading", review taskmanager - firefox.exe is loaded, exited,
loaded and so on. frontend never comes up!!! *try* to close the process over
taskmanager (very difficult to catch the process, while it changes every few
seconds)
7. logoff and logon as admin
8. give the c:\program files\mozilla firefox - Change Right to all users.
9. login back as normal user and start firefox.
10. start up normaly

Actual Results:  
firefox process is looping and gui frontend never comes up

Expected Results:  
firefox frontend comes up and works read-only on c: drive. firefox is able to
read/write to the Apllication/Mozilla directory and have change permissions
there, but not on c: drive!

Comment 1

[rpehrson]

I confirm this. Windows XP by default has normal unprivileged users restricted 
in rights on sensitive directories such as program files. They can't write by 
default to \Program Files\* or \System32 for example. And they shouldn't so 
don't change the permissions.

And the browser should run under normal user privileges - makes things much 
safer.

Just try installing firefox as an admin (of course) and then run as a normal 
unprivileged user.

To resolve write all files and settings to a place a normal user would have 
access to, preferably somewhere in their own profile.

Comment 2

[Marc Bauer]

> Just try installing firefox as an admin (of course) and then run as a normal 
> unprivileged user.
>
> To resolve write all files and settings to a place a normal user would have 
> access to, preferably somewhere in their own profile.

default install location is "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox" and the
Application folder is located in "C:\Document
Settings\username\Application*\Firefox". The Aplication dir is writable and this
is the correct behaviour. therefor Firefox must be fixed to work readonly in
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox".

i have installed as admin and started Firefox once as admin, but this hasn't
helped. if a user starts Firefox it loops and GUI never comes up
 

Comment 3

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This is an automated message, with ID "auto-resolve01".

This bug has had no comments for a long time. Statistically, we have found that
bug reports that have not been confirmed by a second user after three months are
highly unlikely to be the source of a fix to the code.

While your input is very important to us, our resources are limited and so we
are asking for your help in focussing our efforts. If you can still reproduce
this problem in the latest version of the product (see below for how to obtain a
copy) or, for feature requests, if it's not present in the latest version and
you still believe we should implement it, please visit the URL of this bug
(given at the top of this mail) and add a comment to that effect, giving more
reproduction information if you have it.

If it is not a problem any longer, you need take no action. If this bug is not
changed in any way in the next two weeks, it will be automatically resolved.
Thank you for your help in this matter.

The latest beta releases can be obtained from:
Firefox:     http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/
Thunderbird: http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/releases/1.5beta1.html
Seamonkey:   http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/

Comment 4

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This bug has been automatically resolved after a period of inactivity (see above
comment). If anyone thinks this is incorrect, they should feel free to reopen it.