When you open Firefox it may show an error below the navigation toolbar with a message’ The bookmarks and history system will not be functional because one of Firefox’s files is in use by another application. Some security software can cause this problem’.
This can happen if you’ve not closed Firefox properly in the last session (power failure and sudden computer shutdown also can cause that to happen when the browser is open) and damaged places.sqlite file, which stores bookmarks and browsing history also could be a reason. This can be fixed in two ways.
Fixing Firefox’s ‘The bookmarks and history system will not be functional ..’ Error
I. Exit Firefox, restart your computer and open Firefox again, this error may not be shown this time.
II. If restarting your computer hasn’t helped and error is still showing, then places.sqlite file could’ve been damaged. The fix involves creating new places database which isn’t a difficult task, here is how that can be done.
1. Open Firefox Profile folder and quit Firefox, find places.sqlite file and rename it to places.sqlite.old, do same for other places.sqlite* files (if exist) too.
2. When you open Firefox next time, it will create new places database and Firefox automatically restores your bookmarks from the most recent backup file (but your browsing history will be lost).
If Mozilla’s browser hasn’t done that, you can by opening Bookmarks manager>Import and backup>Restore select most recent backup date.
If the above ways are not helpful, then try the below one.
As a last resort,
1. Visit about:profiles in Firefox address bar
2. Create a new profile, name it and set it as default, restart Firefox browser.
Now you won’t see that message and alll your bookmarks will be available.
Firefox 63: about:profiles ‘Launch Profile in new browser’ now works on Windows
Thanks. It worked !
Glad to know that it worked for you. You’re welcome Supriyo.
Unfortunately that didn’t work for my user. I even went to the extent of uninstalling Firefox, running a registry cleaner, rebooting, then reinstalling Firefox.
When Firefox first opened to the Firefox Startup Page it was fine. As soon as I went to Google.com the error appeared and did so every time I opened Firefox after that.
Any ideas?
Andrew
I am currently having the same issue and like you it didn’t work either. Were you able to find a way to fix this issue?
I am having the same problem. Have tried rheir suggestions with no success. If we don’t get help with this soon, I am abandoning Firefox again.
In my case, i tried many things and realised that my places.sqlite or any other *.sqlite was corrupted.
The best solution is to create a new profile and import bookmarks from “bookmarkbackups” folder (choose latest file) inside your firefox profile folder. Your history and saved logins will be lost but you at least have all the bookmarks back.
This problem is unacceptable. Firefox developers should be smart enough to make stuff fault tolerant with automated recovery, but are probably to green to know about such philosophy.