712162 - Windows error starting Firefox via html launch when Firefox update ready to install

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[matt thul]

Firefox causes a windows error when (a) Firefox is not running, but has downloaded an update and (b) Firefox is indirectly started by "running" an .html file.

Steps to reproduce:
1.  run Firefox, wait until "about" shows that an update has been downloaded and is ready to be applied.
2.  terminate Firefox and make sure there is no longer an active process
3.  double-click an .html file on a local disk.

The result of doing so is that Windows displays an error dialog box containing "There was a problem sending the command to the program".  Some seconds after this is displayed, Firefox displays the selected .html file.

In addition to the result of double-clicking an .html file, it has been observed that a vb.net program initiating an .html file via System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("somefile.html") will receive the following exception before Firefox displays the file:
  System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception was unhandled
  ErrorCode=-2147467259
  Message=An error occurred in sending the command to the application
  NativeErrorCode=1156
  Source=System

This occurs on both the x86 and x86_64 hardware platforms.  It has been observed on multiple versions of Nightly, including the update to 11.0a1 (2011-12-19)

Comment 1

[matt thul]

This no longer occurs in Nightly 15.  I don't know which specific update eliminated the problem, but Firefox now handles this situation without an error being raised.