324224 - deleting "windows/application data/mozilla" causes problems

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[michael_mail01]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20051111 Firefox/1.5
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20051111 Firefox/1.5

deleting the application data will cause the browser not to work at all. furthermore you cannot uninstall firefox after. Version 1.0 didn’t do this instead prompted you to create a new profile.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.close any firefox applications
2.go to <drive>:\WINDOWS\Application Data\
3. delete the Mozilla folder and it's contence
4. try to open firefox or uninstall it

Actual Results:  
a) if you try to open firefox a message is displayed saying firefox is currently running, please close it and try again
b) the uninstall hangs and does nothing. Dosen't stall the computer but just hangs in the bg

Expected Results:  
Uninstall should have uninstalled firefox as normal
and the browser should have created another profile like in version 1.0

no theme installed
no special plugins installed
Talkback did not respond

Comment 1

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

Try shutting down your computer, wait a minute and start it up again. Then it should be possible to delete or rename the Mozilla Firefox directory.
Its not clear to me whether you want to delete Firefox or start a new profile.
Don't forget to delete the Firefox permission in your firewall (this in case you want another Firefox installation). 

Comment 2

[michael_mail01]

(In reply to comment #1)
> Try shutting down your computer, wait a minute and start it up again. Then it
> should be possible to delete or rename the Mozilla Firefox directory.
> Its not clear to me whether you want to delete Firefox or start a new profile.
> Don't forget to delete the Firefox permission in your firewall (this in case
> you want another Firefox installation). 
------------------------
The problem has nothing to do with the firefox directory (c:\program files\mozilla  firefox\) it's to do with the profiles directory (c:\windows\Application Data\mozilla). If you delete the profiles directory firefox doesn't work.
In the previous versions firefox would prompt you to create another profile.
Shutting down your computer doesn't work, running in safe mode dosn't either. All the obvious stuff dosn't work.

 The only way to get firefox to work again is to either a)restore the profiles or b)mannually delete all firefox material off the computer and re-install.

Comment 3

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

(In reply to comment #2)
>  The only way to get firefox to work again is to either a)restore the profiles
> or b)mannually delete all firefox material off the computer and re-install.
So this problem is solved and I can close the bug? 

Comment 4

[michael_mail01]

(In reply to comment #3)
> (In reply to comment #2)
> >  The only way to get firefox to work again is to either a)restore the profiles
> > or b)mannually delete all firefox material off the computer and re-install.
> So this problem is solved and I can close the bug? 
-------------------
sorry i checked solution (a)... it doesn't work. solution (b) is impractical

I guess i havn't explained my problem proberly... so here is is again.

If you delete c:\WINDOWS\Application Data\mozilla (<-- this is where the profile information is kept in firefix under windows 98)
Firefox nolonger works.

The problem does not go away if you reinstall firefox or reboot. You cannot uninstall firefox afterwards. Therefore the only way to get firefox to run again is to mannually delete all registry keys and files, then reinstall.  

Comment 5

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

What happens if you delete your profile, copy your not-working installation and paste it elsewhere (e.g. on your desktop)?

Comment 6

[Dave Townsend [:mossop]]

Nothing fixed so assuming this is WFM.