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Windows safe mode and shortcut changes for Firefox 4.0 Beta 10

January 21st, 2011 by rstrong

As of Firefox 4.0 Beta 10 you can hold down the shift key while launching Firefox on Windows to start in safe mode. Also, the Windows shortcut to launch Firefox in safe mode and the start menu directory have been removed. For those wondering why these changes have been made, Alex Faaborg provides several good reasons to remove the safe mode shortcut in Bug 542122 comment 1. Now that there is only one Firefox shortcut in the start menu we decided to remove the directory and instead have a single shortcut for Firefox in the root of the start menu programs directory. Regretfully, there was a bug in the patch that caused the new shortcut to not be created automatically on update for nightly users (Bug 627848) which has been fixed for Firefox Beta 10. The simplest way to fix this with a nightly build is to just reinstall the latest nightly.

Bugs associated with these changes:
Bug 542122 [Firefox] – Add menu command to restart in safe mode [Windows]
Bug 602562 [Toolkit] – Add keyboard modifier to start in safe mode for windows [Windows]
Bug 598779 [Firefox] – Remove start menu directory and safe mode shortcut creation [Windows]
Bug 627848 [Firefox] – Start menu shortcut isn’t migrated as implemented in bug 598779 [Windows]

Posted in Mozilla    7 Comments

7 Responses to “Windows safe mode and shortcut changes for Firefox 4.0 Beta 10”

1. on 22 Jan 2011 at 3:27 am   CJ Des
   
   

   What is the new Panorama shortcut….? Ctrl+E is not working…..

2. on 22 Jan 2011 at 9:08 am   rstrong
   
   

   It was changed to Ctrl+Shift+E in Bug 624588 [Firefox] – Change Panorama shortcut to Ctrl+Shift+E (Shift-Cmd-E on Mac) [All]

3. on 24 Jan 2011 at 11:44 am   Tomer Cohen
   
   

   Why don’t we use the same keyboard modifier for starting in safe mode on other platforms? I guess that not only Windows users want to start Firefox in safe mode, and I think that making consistency between platforms should be in our vision.

   Also, in addition to adding ‘restart in safe mode’ menu entry, I’d suggest adding it as a button in about:support.

4. on 24 Jan 2011 at 11:59 am   rstrong
   
   

   There are bugs to change the existing one on Mac OS X to the shift key and another bug to add this functionality on Linux.

   I vaguely recall there already being a bug filed to add restart in safe mode to about:support but if there isn’t one please file a new one.

5. on 24 Jan 2011 at 12:44 pm   Tomer Cohen
   
   

   bug 547623 is about adding such button, but it has no activity in the last 11 months, and might be missed unless someone will give it some love.

   Also, looking in the about:support screen giving me an idea – if it is linked to about:plugins, why not to also link it to about:addons?

6. on 24 Jan 2011 at 12:57 pm   rstrong
   
   

   The best way to get anything added is to file a bug.

7. on 24 Jan 2011 at 1:03 pm   Tomer Cohen
   
   

   I’ve added a comment on bug 542122. I hope it’d get some attention. ☺