The bookmarks and history system will not be functional

Your Firefox bookmarks and history are stored in a file called places.sqlite in your Firefox profile folder. If Firefox is unable to access that file to edit bookmarks, add bookmarks, add items to your browsing history, etc., Firefox will notify you with a message saying:

Browser Startup Error The bookmarks and history system will not be functional because one of Firefox's files is in use by another application. Some security software can cause this problem.

If you are having these problems, try the solutions listed below.

Table Of Contents

• Exit other programs
• Exit Firefox completely
• Check for incompatible extensions
• If Norton 360 is installed
• Update Norton 360
• Remove the Norton 360 component from Firefox
• Profile files permissions
• Places database

Exit other programs

The most common cause of this error is if another program is accessing your places.sqlite file, thus locking it. Exit Firefox and any other programs you are running that you suspect are interfering with your web browsing (or restart the computer) and then reopen Firefox.

Windows:

Exit Firefox completely

1. Click the File menu in Firefox and select Exit.
2. Right-click on an empty spot in the Windows task bar and select Task Manager (or press Ctrl+Shift+Esc).
   
   
   
   
3. Select the Processes tab.
4. Select the firefox.exe entry in the processes list, click End Process and click Yes in the "Task Manager Warning" dialog that appears. (If there is no "firefox.exe" entry, skip this step.)
   
   
   
   Repeat this step for each "firefox.exe" process listed, if multiple entries are found.
5. Start Firefox normally.

Note: The above "workaround" will allow you to reopen Firefox so that it works correctly if there was a problem closing the previous session until a better solution can be found.

Check for incompatible extensions

1. From the menu at the top of the Firefox window, click Tools and then select Add-Ons. The Add-Ons window appears.
2. In the Add-Ons window, select the Extensions panel to see your installed extensions.
3. Look for these extensions known to cause this problem:
   • Freecorder
   • Piclens
   • Skype extension
   • Any toolbar extension based on the Conduit toolbar platform
   • Google Toolbar
   • FoxyTunes
4. Disable each extension you have from the list above.
   1. Click the name of the extension you wish to disable.
   2. To disable the extension, click Disable.
   3. Repeat these steps for each extension you have that is on the list.
5. After the extensions are disabled, Exit Firefox completely and end any remaining firefox.exe processes, as explained above.
6. Start Firefox normally.
7. Close Firefox again; click the File menu and select Exit.
8. Start Firefox again to see if the issue is resolved.

For more information on troubleshooting extensions, see Troubleshooting extensions and themes.

If Norton 360 is installed

A component installed with Norton 360 can cause problems with bookmarks and history after installing or updating Firefox. These symptoms are caused by Firefox not completely exiting with the Norton 360 component enabled. If you are experiencing these problems, first update Norton 360 to see if that resolves the issue:

Update Norton 360

Symantec recently released a patch for Norton 360 that should address this issue for some users. Run Norton LiveUpdate (read How to run LiveUpdate from your Norton product for instructions) until you see the message there are no more updates available. You may need to restart your computer to complete certain updates.
If bookmarks and toolbar buttons are working normally, you are finished. If you are still experiencing these symptoms, check for and disable incompatible extensions (see above). Alternatively, follow the instructions below to remove the Norton component from Firefox.

Remove the Norton 360 component from Firefox

If disabling extensions did not work, or if you need to use extensions that are not compatible with Norton 360, you will need to remove the component from your system.

1. Exit Firefox completely and end any remaining firefox.exe processes, as explained above.
2. Open My Computer or Windows Explorer.
3. Browse to the folder: C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\Components
4. Delete the file coFFPlgn.dll from this folder.
   • If the file will not delete, you may not have ended the "firefox.exe" process properly in steps 2-4.
5. Open Firefox and verify that bookmarks and toolbar buttons are working properly.
   • Note that Norton can sometimes replace this file when you restart your computer so you may need to do this step after each reboot. Alternatively, disable Phishing Protection in Norton's settings.

If these steps do not fix the problem, try following the procedures listed on the Configuring Norton 360 article.

Linux:

Profile files permissions

Running Firefox as a different user (e.g. root) could cause a change of ownership for several profile files and make them read-only for your standard user. Go to your profile folder and correct the permissions of this directory and the included files, setting your standard user as owner. For the default profile locations see the Profiles article.

Places database

You can also fix this by forcing Firefox to rebuild the Places database, as follows:

1. (Optional) Export your bookmarks to an HTML file named bookmarks.html (see Exporting bookmarks to an HTML file for detailed instructions) and place the bookmarks.html file in the Firefox profile folder. If a bookmarks.html file already exists, allow the exported file to replace it.
2. Open your profile folder:
   • (Firefox 3.0 and 3.5): See How to find your profile
   1. (Firefox 3.6): At the top of the Firefox windowOn the menu bar, click on the Help menu and select Troubleshooting Information.... The Troubleshooting Information tab will open.
   2. Under Application Basics, click on Open Containing FolderShow in Finder.
3. From the menu at the top of the Firefox windowbar, select FileFirefox and then select the ExitQuit FirefoxQuit menu item.
4. In the Firefox profile folder, delete (or rename) the places.sqlite file and, if it exists, places.sqlite-journal.
5. (Optional) If you want Firefox to automatically import your bookmarks from an existing bookmarks.html file in the profile folder, instead of from a JSON backup, open the bookmarkbackups folder and move all bookmarks-(date).json files to another location.
6. (Optional) Also delete (or rename) the localstore.rdf to remove the references to the old Places file but you will need to add back any toolbar customizations.

When you reopen Firefox, it will create a new places.sqlite file. Your browsing history will be gone but Firefox will automatically import the most recent bookmark backup file. If no JSON bookmark backup is found, Firefox will automatically import your bookmarks from the profile folder bookmarks.html file, if it exists.