Firefox keeps disappearing after installation in Big Sur... brand new Mac mini

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Firefox keeps disappearing after installation in Big Sur... brand new Mac mini

I install Firefox, everything works great until I re-start.

The Firefox icon on my doc has the dreaded question mark, and the application itself disappears from my app folder and everywhere else on my hd.

The only remnant I can even find is a Mozilla folder in my library that has nothing in it.

Anyone have any ideas?

My only guess is that you can never, ever force quit Firefox... because force quitting every app and re-launching finder is a habit every time I shutdown or re-start....

However, when I force quit an app like Spotify and re-start, there are zero issues.

Only seems to happen with Firefox.

New user to Mac OS after being on an iPhone forever, so please be gentle if the solution is obvious :)

Thank you!

Posted on Sep 8, 2021 12:32 AM

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Answer 1

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dialabrain

Level 10

122,885 points

Sep 8, 2021 2:52 AM in response to DorothyMacha

No, that's not the correct way to install Firefox. When you see this window, you want to drag the Firefox icon on top of the Applications folder alias. That copies Firefox to the Application folder on your Mac. Then you can run it from there.

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Answer 2

dialabrain

Level 10

122,885 points

Sep 8, 2021 3:07 AM in response to DorothyMacha

DorothyMacha wrote:

I want to ensure that nothing auto-starts again, and I want to ensure that when I open the programs in the future, they don't automatically take me back to wherever I was when I had last opened it.

If you don't want apps to reopen, uncheck "Reopen windows…"

If you don't want apps to take you back to where you were, check "Close windows when quitting an app" in System Preferences > General.

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Answer 3

dialabrain

Level 10

122,885 points

Sep 8, 2021 2:06 AM in response to DorothyMacha

DorothyMacha wrote:

My only guess is that you can never, ever force quit Firefox... because force quitting every app and re-launching finder is a habit every time I shutdown or re-start....

First, why are you habitually force quitting apps? Force Quit is only used if an app cannot quit normally.

Second, did you actually install Firefox or are you running it from the .dmg file?

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Answer 4

DorothyMacha Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 8, 2021 2:43 AM in response to dialabrain

When I go to the Firefox page the only thing I see for Mac is to download the dmg file.

It appears in my download folder. I open that folder and it runs in a process which I think is an installation -- (same on screen prompts I see when I installed every other app so far that was not from the App Store).

A new screen opens in my downloads folder that looks like a Firefox browser that shows the Firefox icon and the app folder graphics, and I click on that and a new Firefox browser opens and appears in my dock.

I am also enabling it to be set as my default browser.

I right click the Firefox icon in my dock and choose keep in dock.

I am literally 3 days new to Mac OS so maybe this is not the correct way to do it?

However, I believe I've done the exact same process for the rest of my apps and they work fine.

Thank you so much for helping!

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Answer 5

DorothyMacha Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 8, 2021 2:46 AM in response to dialabrain

Oh, and I am force quitting all my apps before shutdown/restart probably because I have some level of PTSD of using windows products since the early 90's... I want to ensure that nothing auto-starts again, and I want to ensure that when I open the programs in the future, they don't automatically take me back to wherever I was when I had last opened it.

If the default behavior in Big Sur is what I am describing above without quitting apps first, then I will of course stop doing that lol

Thanks again!

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Answer 6

dialabrain

Level 10

122,885 points

Sep 8, 2021 2:07 AM in response to DorothyMacha

Also, why are you re-launching the Finder?

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Firefox keeps disappearing after installation in Big Sur... brand new Mac mini

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