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everytime i close firefox there is an orphaned firefox.exe process that stays in taskmanager and cannot be killed!

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  • 1 has this problem
  • 13 views
  • Last reply by veyi

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This is s serious security risk! my taskmanager gets full of firefox.exe processes eating memory. I want them gone. task manager cannot kill them!

This is s serious security risk! my taskmanager gets full of firefox.exe processes eating memory. I want them gone. task manager cannot kill them!

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Hi veyi, is Firefox 68 working normally except for this problem?

Firefox 68 introduced a new launch(er) process which better insulates the browser from unwanted DLL injections and if you normally run with administrator privileges, it starts the browser with standard user privileges (medium integrity) to reduce risk from zero day vulnerabilities.

After starting the browser, the launcher process is supposed to exit immediately. Perhaps that is not working on yours for some reason? To try to gather more information, could you start Firefox with an additional command line switch to increase logging to the Windows Event Viewer.

That would involve updating the shortcut you use to start Firefox. Either:

  • Right-click a Firefox desktop shortcut, then click Properties
  • Right-click a Firefox icon pinned to the Taskbar then right-click Mozilla Firefox, then click Properties

Windows should show the Shortcut tab and select the Target field. The Target usually is along the following lines:

  • "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"
  • "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"

You would add a space and then the new switch, either:

  • "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -log-launcher-error
  • "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -log-launcher-error

Ref. https://wiki.mozilla.org/Platform/Integration/InjectEject/Launcher_Process/#Other_Troubleshooting

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Thank you for the reply. I am indeed running as admin in my win7

i used the -log-launcher-error browsed with FF a bit and closed. check the /windows logs/Applications in event viewer and there was nothing there from firefox.

I also noticed that the new launch processes , in my system, eventually they disappear from the task manager. BUT it takes each one around 10-25 minutes after closing my browser. This is not their indented behavior.