Firefox 74 will not load in Sandboxie

Discussion in 'sandboxing & virtualization' started by chattycathy, Mar 12, 2020.

  1. chattycathy

    chattycathy Registered Member

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    You're not alone. I updated Firefox yesterday and this same problem started again after I had repaired it last month. I did the same things I did last month but it's still not working completely. I decided if this is what is going to happen with every update, I will start using another browser. Like you, I tried Opera and it is working fine! If you find a fix for it, feel free to let us know. In the meantime, I will continue to use Opera but thanks for letting me know it's not just my system.
     
  2. Ander3322

    Ander3322 Registered Member

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    I just wanted to thank you! I was going crazy trying to figure this out. I still don't know what it was about my Default box's settings that suddenly prevented FF from running, but your suggestion worked.
     
  3. bo elam

    bo elam Registered Member

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    You are welcome, Anders3322. testing using a new sandbox with default settings is one of the things you should always try when you start experiencing an issue.

    Bo
     
  4. Prole

    Prole Registered Member

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    There's a Chrome extension for that...Windows Defender Browser Protection
     
  5. Azure Phoenix

    Azure Phoenix Registered Member

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    There are many extensions for that.
     
  6. Brummelchen

    Brummelchen Registered Member

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    i connect phishing with emails, not browser - therefore i use MailWasher (Pro), but free MailCheck v2 with regular spam lists (spamcop, spamhouse ..) will do similar.
    http://www.d-jan.de/features.shtml

    for unknown uri i use ublock - part of my filters is a tld lock beside some general blocked uri

    wth - http://www.hosts-file.net/ is down!?
    https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/pull/3236
    https://www.reddit.com/r/pihole/comments/fsg11e/hostsfilenet/
    had plenty of lists to insert in any ad-blocker.
     
  7. guest

    guest Guest

  8. Brummelchen

    Brummelchen Registered Member

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    @mood
    sorry, i do not read all threads here. is a there an alternative service beyond http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm ?
    i had a view into malwarebytes extensions and its content is crypted (as usual)
    hphosts file is smaller than that but they will be merged here to 1.8megs in total.

    btw can you separate this diskussion? thx
     
  9. deugniet

    deugniet Registered Member

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    Hostsman?

    http://www.abelhadigital.com/hostsman/
     
  10. Brummelchen

    Brummelchen Registered Member

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    its not about software, its about lists. the lists shown here are not acceptable
    http://www.abelhadigital.com/images/hm_002.png
    Dan, Pete and other are not used, neither as HOSTS nor in ublock, too small and redundant. (except "Malware Domains" in ublock only).
     
  11. Steve Nash

    Steve Nash Registered Member

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    @chattycathy I get the same problem from time to time depending on the Firefox update version. Sometimes it fixes itself in future releases or it doesn't.

    I found a workaround that works on my end for now.

    1. Start Firefox in a fresh sandbox. (I presume the browser will not load any pages and just hang as I have experienced)
    2. Select 'Restart with Add-ons disabled'.
    3. Select 'Start in safe-mode'.
    4. At this point, Firefox went back to being normal for me, but without my add-on and various other features disabled in safe mode.
    5. Selecting 'Restart with Add-ons enabled' brought them back and allowed Firefox to function normally.

    Note: This will not fix the problem, and the process will need to be repeated when you want to run Firefox sandboxed again.

    Not sure really why this worked, but I'm wondering if this process can be repeated on other systems until a solution is found.


    Cheers,

    Steve N.
     
  12. bo elam

    bo elam Registered Member

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    Hello Steve. I think is obvious that you are using an extension that messing things up. I would if I was you:

    Delete contents of the sandbox where you run Firefox.

    If this doesnt work, create a new sandbox and with default settings, run Firefox.

    If this doesnt fix the problem, then you should create a new Firefox profile, and before adding any extenion, run Firefox in the new sandbox.

    If it runs well, time after time, before adding any extension, then now you know that it is indeed one of your extensions that's conflicting with Firefox under SBIE. When you start adding extensions back, do one at a time, and try to figure out which one is the one that causes the issue. Getting to know this is important, otherwise you ll end up back with the issue.

    Bo
     
  13. Steve Nash

    Steve Nash Registered Member

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    Thank you for the reply, Bo. Tried all of the above and did not solve the problem. If it was an add-on related problem, then why does the sandbox work when I restart Firefox with the add-ons?

    Anyhow, I was playing around in Sandboxie and I seem to have found a possible solution as the sandboxed browser now works normally.

    Sandbox DefaultBox > Run Sandboxed > Run Web Browser
     
  14. bo elam

    bo elam Registered Member

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    Well, is not really the same. For Firefox to start with extensions, you have to first click to restart with Add-ons disabled, in safe-mode, and then, do a restart with Add-ons enabled.

    You shouldn't have to go thru all that.

    If Firefox runs with your extensions when you click to run it unsandboxed, then is likely the issue in the sandbox is caused by an extension or an addon.

    If a new profile doesn't help, then try a clean install of Firefox (make sure to delete the two Mozilla folders in AppData after uninstalling Firefox).

    Bo
     
  15. Moreudomoreuget

    Moreudomoreuget Registered Member

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    Posts:
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    Hi Bo,

    I am having the same issue as Cathy (it started a couple weeks ago) and I found this thread when searching on Google.

    I have a Windows 7
    Firefox 75.0 (64-bit)
    I uninstalled and re-installed Sandboxie today, and also did the same with Firefox too (did not import add-ons and I also removed both folders in AppData afterwards).
    I have Ad Guard and disabled that.

    I was wondering if I may ask for more information on how to create the new profile via Sandboxie?

    You mention using the path ( "C:\Program Files\Sandboxie\Start.exe" /box: "C:\Program Files \Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -no-remote -P "NewProfile") to create a shortcut, but I am unsure how to do that.
    I tried to Google for more info and did not have much luck.

    Any help would be appreciated, thank you!

    EDIT:

    I was able to create a new Firefox profile (test profile) and Sandboxie does work with it. This indicates that an add-on of some sort is interacting as you were saying.

    The really confusing part is that I closed this Firefox test profile, then deleted my Sandbox contents... then opened up the Firefox browser in Sandbox again but this time I used my regular profile (with add-ons included), and it worked normally...

    So it seems I am now able to delete my Sandbox and open everything up just fine... I don't see how the test profile fixed a completely separate profile that includes add-ons... So weird.

    Anyways I just wanted to update you

    SECOND EDIT UPDATE:

    So I found that as long as I have the box unchecked for asking which profile I want to use, the Firefox sandbox will open correctly; however, if I check the box to make a profile choice "permanent", suddenly the Sandbox does not work with Firefox.

    I do not see how this extra step (picking your profile) has anything to do with add-on functionality or interaction with Sandbox and the browser. Very odd.
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2020
  16. Moreudomoreuget

    Moreudomoreuget Registered Member

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    Hi Steve, I just tried this and what you described worked for me.
    I can close the Sandboxed Firefox browser, double click the desktop shortcut and it opens up fine without having to do the Sandbox DefaultBox > Run Sandboxed > Run Web Browser steps.

    However, when deleting my Sandbox (clearing contents), opening the desktop shortcut leads to the same problem.

    Another little detail is I am not able to press the X at the top of the browser to close it. I can only right click - Close from the taskbar icon at the bottom of my screen.

    I will try to do more work using Bo's instructions to get this to be a permanent solution.

    For now, thank you for posting the process, I will use your method until a permanent solution can be found!

    EDIT with new info:

    I was able to create a new Firefox profile (test profile) and Sandboxie does work with it. This indicates that an add-on of some sort is interacting.

    The really confusing part is that I closed this Firefox test profile, then deleted my Sandbox contents... then opened up the Firefox browser in Sandbox again but this time I used my regular profile (with add-ons included), and it worked normally...

    So it seems I am now able to delete my Sandbox and open everything up just fine... I don't see how the test profile fixed a completely separate profile that includes add-ons... So weird.

    Anyways I just wanted to update you and Bo.

    SECOND EDIT UPDATE:


    So I found that as long as I have the box unchecked for asking which profile I want to use, the Firefox sandbox will open correctly; however, if I check the box to make a profile choice "permanent", suddenly the Sandbox does not work with Firefox.

    I do not see how this extra step (picking your profile) has anything to do with add-on functionality or interaction with Sandbox and the browser. Very odd.
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2020
  17. bo elam

    bo elam Registered Member

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    Hi Moreudomoreuget. The test certainly doesn't have anything to do with the fix of your regular profile. Perhaps, you had not deleted contents of the sandbox before. Sometimes deleting contents (if its not set to be done automatically) fixes issues. Anyway, I am glad you are good now. Sometimes things dont make sense. But whats important is that your issue is gone.
    Regarding opening the Firefox profile manager sandboxed, to create a new profile, and run Firefox, all done sandboxed, in the path below, you just have to add the name of the sandbox where you want the Firefox profile manager to run, after box:

    "C:\Program Files\Sandboxie\Start.exe" /box: "C:\Program Files \Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -no-remote -P "NewProfile"

    That above is for 64 bits Firefox. I have the 32 bits version of Firefox installed, if I want to run the Profile manager in a sandbox named Test2, this is what the path I use for that looks like.

    "C:\Program Files\Sandboxie\Start.exe" /box:Test2 "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -no-remote -P "NewProfile"

    Your first step is to right click the Desktop>New>Create shortcut. Then copy and paste the correct path in the Window that opens up, like this.

    1.jpg

    After the shortcut is created, you ll find an Start shortcut. Looks like this one.

    2.jpg

    By double clicking the Start shortcut, the Firefox profiles manager opens up sandboxed. Just click Create profile and follow thru.When all is done, you click Start Firefox, and Firefox will run using a new profile in the sandbox you stipulated in the path.

    3.jpg


    4.jpg

    I do this all the time. It takes seconds. For testing things and changes in Firefox is great.

    Bo
     
  18. bo elam

    bo elam Registered Member

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    I would delete one. Since your old profile is working OK again (lets hope it remains that way), then delete the new one. And test. If for some reason, the old profile doesn't work good anymore after deleting the test profile, then perhaps create a new one again, and after you test that it works, delete the old one.

    Personally, I dont save nothing out of old profiles other than bookmarks, so make sure to save your bookmarks (I save them using Firefox own bookmark manager as json.

    Bo
     
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