Revision 2 as of 2010-03-12 13:35:22

Clear message

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

UNIX

  1. First, check if you have firefox/thunderbird instances running:

    ps -ef | grep <username>

    Kill these with kill <pid>

  2. Delete the following files:

    ~/.mozilla/firefox/<profile-name>/lock

    ~/.mozilla/firefox/<profile-name>/.parentlock

Windows

  1. Check with the task manager if firefox/thunderbird is running, if yes, kill it.
  2. 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").
  2. Delete the following file:

    ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/<profile-name>/.parentlock