How to Get Mozilla Firefox Out of Safe Mode

What Firefox's safe mode is and an easy tutorial on how to get out of it

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: May 26, 2022

Firefox's safe mode is a way to troubleshoot issues by disabling certain add-ons and extensions and then comparing behavior to Firefox's normal state. When you are finished locating the source of your problem, however, you will need to exit out of this mode in order to resume normal usage of your browser. You may find that your browser gets "stuck" in safe mode. You can explore the different methods outlined below if you are either simply trying to return to your browser's normal mode or you find yourself unable to exit safe mode.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Exiting Safe Mode

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This is the ☰ symbol on your Firefox window. Safe mode is a temporary state that your browser will not return to unless specified. In most cases, all you will need to do in order to exit safe mode is to restart Firefox.
" This will close you out of your Firefox session. To ensure that you are completely closed out of Firefox, restart your computer.^{[1]
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If you find that you are still in safe mode, you may be "stuck" in the state and you should continue on to another method. If Firefox crashes when you open it and then shows you the safe mode window, you may have a larger problem on your hands and you need to troubleshoot Firefox.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Reinstalling Firefox

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Download the latest version of Firefox. If you find that you are still stuck in safe mode on Firefox, one of the surefire ways to fix the issue is to just reinstall Firefox. So, go to http://www.mozilla.org and download and save Firefox to your computer.
Wait for the download to complete, which may take a few minutes. Once is has finished, close out of Firefox. If you have another browser installed on your computer, like Safari or Chrome, you can delete Firefox before downloading it again to avoid confusion. However, if you do not have another browser make sure that you have the installation file for Firefox on your desktop before deleting anything.^{[2]
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Now that you have closed out of Firefox and downloaded a new version, you can go back a delete the original one that you have installed on your hard drive. For Windows, go to "Program Files" and then "Mozilla Firefox" and for Mac, go to "Applications" and then "Firefox." Once you have located where it is stored, delete the file.
To reinstall Firefox, double-click on the installation file on your desktop and follow the installation wizard. Once it has completed installation, select "Finish."
Once the installation is complete, reopen Firefox and determine whether or not it is still in safe mode.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Turning On Safe Mode

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" This is the ☰ symbol on your Firefox window.
" Under the ☰ dropdown menu, choose "Help" and then "Restart with Add-ons Disabled."
" Once the window entitled "Firefox Safe Mode" appears, select "Start in Safe Mode." This will temporarily turn off things like add-ons, extensions, themes, etc. in order to troubleshoot Firefox and when you restart Firefox in normal mode, these things will be returned.^{[3]
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Tips

Holding the shift or option key while starting Firefox is another way that you can open it in safe mode. So, if you are getting the safe mode window, check your shift keys and shift-lock status to make sure that they are not locked on.

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