Problems Solved
Why won’t 64bit Firefox load?
I have the 64bit Firefox Portable Edition working just fine on my PC that runs 64bit Windows 7. When I double-click Firefox.exe in the prepared folder, it opens in 64bit mode with all my addons. However, if the browser is closed but I click on a web link in an email, for example, Firefox launches in 32bit mode. Moreover, my add-ons aren’t available. My question is, how can I force Firefox to always open in 64bit mode when I click on links? I’ve checked in Default Programs and there’s only one instance of Firefox. I've followed various tips and tricks that I found online but nothing seems to stop it happening. I’d welcome any advice on any settings that I can change.
Colin Culpitt-smith
Q
Before we explain what’s going on, it’s important that you (or other readers) understand that portable apps are not installed in the traditional sense of the word. So, even though you’ve copied Firefox Portable Edition into a folder on your PC’S hard drive so it’s permanently available – as opposed to truly portable, on a USB stick or other removable drive – it’s not actually ‘installed’ so far as Windows is concerned. It’s just that the program file is there to be launched manually, by you, whenever you want.
With that clear, we’re confident that this perplexing problem has a really simple explanation – which is that you also have a standard ‘desktop’ edition of Firefox installed, in the traditional sense. For whatever reason, this edition of Firefox was installed as the 32bit version. This could be because at the time your PC was running a 32bit edition of Windows, or you simply didn’t realise that you were installing the 32bit version.
But the bottom line is that it’s this installed (32bit) edition of Firefox that’s running when you click links, because
A
it is registered in Windows as the default browser. You don’t see two entries for Firefox in your Default Programs screen (or ‘Default apps’ in Windows 10) because Firefox Portable Edition has not been (and has never been) registered as the default browser. It doesn’t do this by default, precisely because it’s designed as a portable app.
Doing that, though, is the route to fixing your problem. The easiest way to apply this change is from within Firefox Portable Edition, so begin by launching that from your prepared folder.
Next, click to open the Firefox menu (three horizontal lines, top right) then choose Options (see screenshot 1 ). Then, in the right-hand pane, under General, next to ‘Firefox is not your default browser’, click the Make Default button 2 .
Windows 7’s Default Programs (‘Default apps’ in Windows 10) panel will now appear. Click ‘Default apps’ on the left and you should see two entries for Firefox. Those using Windows 10 should click ‘Web browser’. Either way, two Firefox entries will be listed because, annoyingly, there’s no distinction between the installed and portable editions. In Windows 7 click ‘Set this program as default’ (Windows 10 users just need to click one or other Firefox entry 3 ). If clicking links still open the installed version of Firefox, then simply repeat this last bit, selecting the other Firefox entry – and that’s that.