286589 - Document safe mode

Status: VERIFIED WORKSFORME

(support.mozilla.org :: Knowledge Base Articles, task)

Description

[Will Budreau]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050225 Firefox/1.0.1
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050225 Firefox/1.0.1

"Safe Mode" is not mentioned anywhere in the firefox online help or in the
bug-writing guidelines.

"Safe Mode is a Firefox startup mode where all the extensions you have installed
are disabled and the default theme is used. This is useful for debugging and
seeing which extension might be causing a problem, especially since extensions
are known to act up. Safe Mode is always a handy option to revert to if things
begin to go wrong (for example, Firefox opens with no theme and everything is
white). To launch Firefox in Safe Mode on Windows, you can use the shortcut in
the Mozilla Firefox folder on the Start Menu."



Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:



Expected Results:  
I would have used Safe Mode to validate many of the bugs I've created if I had
known about it or been referenced to it earlier.

Comment 1

[Jeff Walden (gone starting June 8)]

This is worth considering as an addition to the themes/extensions sections
(well, one addition, assuming we can arrange the content such that one reference
will cover both).  Targeting for 1.1...

Comment 2

[Jeff Walden (gone starting June 8)]

I think we can safely (although not eagerly) suggest command-line commands for
Linux users.  The same /might/ be true for Mac users (let me know if I'm wrong).
 However, the possibility's right out on Windows.  The start menu entry's
optional, so we have no way to consistently tell a Windows user how to start
Firefox in Safe Mode.

We might later choose to ignore this possibility and target the default install
path, but I don't want to make that choice on a spur-of-the-moment decision. 
Choosing now would be by necessity a spur-of-the-moment decision, so this bug's
getting punted.

Comment 3

[Steffen Wilberg]

Bug 304403 added UI for safe mode.

Comment 4

[Steffen Wilberg]

The commandline switch is -safe-mode.

Comment 5

[John Meuser]

The -safe-mode option should also be documented in the usage output when giving the -help option.  This way the option is easily discoverable when you have a broken browser.

Comment 6

[Steffen Wilberg]

I already did that in bug 326909.

Comment 7

[Steffen Wilberg]

Moving over to sumo...

Comment 8

[Steffen Wilberg]

... where there is http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Safe+Mode already.