Close Firefox / Firefox is already running but not responding
Link to section 'Problem' of 'Close Firefox / Firefox is already running but not responding' Problem
You receive the following message after trying to launch Firefox browser inside your graphics desktop:
Close Firefox
Firefox is already running, but not responding. To open a new window,
you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system.
Link to section 'Solution' of 'Close Firefox / Firefox is already running but not responding' Solution
When Firefox runs, it creates several lock files in the Firefox profile directory (inside ~/.mozilla/firefox/ folder in your home directory). If a newly-started Firefox instance detects the presence of these lock files, it complains.
This error can happen due to multiple reasons:
- Reason: You had a single Firefox process running, but it terminated abruptly without a chance to clean its lock files (e.g. the job got terminated, session ended, node crashed or rebooted, etc).
- Solution: If you are certain you do not have any other Firefox processes running elsewhere, please use the following command in a terminal window to detect and remove the lock files:
$ unlock-firefox
- Solution: If you are certain you do not have any other Firefox processes running elsewhere, please use the following command in a terminal window to detect and remove the lock files:
- Reason: You may indeed have another Firefox process (in another Thinlinc or Gateway session on this or other cluster, another front-end or compute node). With many clusters sharing common home directory, a running Firefox instance on one can affect another.
- Solution: Try finding and closing running Firefox process(es) on other nodes and clusters.
- Solution: If you must have multiple Firefoxes running simultaneously, you may be able to create separate Firefox profiles and select which one to use for each instance.