#rev 2020-09-14 gfreudig

= Why is Firefox/ Thunderbird telling me "already running", "profile in use" or "No running window found"? =

== Linux ==
 1. Change into your Mozilla profile directory:
 {{{
cd ~/.mozilla/firefox/<profile-name>.default/

# For Example ~/.mozilla/firefox/torktynj.default/
}}}
 1. Check the lock file.
 {{{
ls -l lock
lrwxrwxrwx 1 username stud 19 2013-03-20 16:02 lock -> 129.132.3.132:+6060

# In this example the firefox instance is running on
# 129.132.3.6 which is tardis-a01.ee.ethz.ch
}}}
 1. Login to the given machine and kill any firefox process:
 {{{
ssh 129.132.3.6
ps -ef | grep firefox
kill -9 <pid>

# Example:
# ps -ef | grep firefox
# username  6060     1  0 Mar20 ?        00:01:23 firefox
# kill -9 6060
}}}
 1. Remove any non deleted lockfile.
 {{{
rm ~/.mozilla/firefox/<profile-name>.default/lock
rm ~/.mozilla/firefox/<profile-name>.default/.parentlock
}}}

== Windows ==
 1. Check with the task manager if firefox/thunderbird is running, if yes, kill it.
 1. Delete the following file:
 `W:\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile-name>\parent.lock`

== Mac OS X ==
 1. Check with the Activity Monitor if you have any dead firefox processes still lingering around. If so, kill them (Button labeled "Quit Process").
 1. Delete the following file:
 `~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/<profile-name>/.parentlock`
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