This issue comes up everytime I restart my computer. I have Firefox set as my default browser but when I open a link from mail it opens Safari - EVEN though it is not set as the default. So I go to system prefs > general and the default browser setting is *blank* - empty, plus the menu selection only shows a check mark, no browser list.
I tried changing the default to chrome and back but still safari opens...
iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)
How to set a default web browser
If you're using OS X Yosemite or later:
- From the Apple () menu, choose System Preferences, then click General.
- Choose your web browser from the ”Default web browser” pop-up menu.
If you're using OS X Mavericks or earlier:
- Open Safari.
- From the Safari menu, choose Preferences, then click General.
- Choose your web browser from the ”Default web browser” pop-up menu.
I have finally cracked this issue:
When Firefox updates is when it occurs (on restart)
Firefox is down as the default browser but Chrome opens instead.
In Sys prefs/general there is nothing in the default browser list (it's blank)
Chrome says it isn't the default browser. Firefox says it is.
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I tried changing the default to Chrome, with the thought to change it back (both changes from WITHIN the browser) - the browsers recognised the change and so did sysprefs/general *however I had to close sysprefs and reopen for it to see the change at each step.
THIS DID NOT solve the problem
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I then did the same thing - i.e. changed the default to Chrome, but then changed it to Firefox (because now it's showing) in system prefs/general.
THAT WORKS -
-- Other observation when I was changing from within Chromw it said dod you want to change to CHrome or keep "Org.mozilla.firefox" (not just "firefox"), maybe that's the problem.
Might be a corrupt .plist.
Do a backup, preferably 2 backups on 2 separate drives.
Quit System Preferences.
Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J. When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder. Select Library. Then go to Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist. Move the .plist to your desktop.
Restart the computer, open the application, and test. If it works okay, delete the plist from the desktop.
If the application is the same, return the .plist to where you got it from, overwriting the newer one.
Thanks to leonie for some information contained in this.
Hey thanks for your replies - as I'd mentioned this happens when I restart, then I was wondering how it got fixed before - I'd try all manner of things, give up and forget about it the next day and it would have gone away. This time I was more watchful and something odd occurred: I review music and consequently get lots of click-through links in my email. It was links to bandcamp that were wrongly opening Safari, then after I posted this issue I forgot about it and forgetting the problem clicked on a soundcloud link which did open up in my correct default browser (Firefox), so I tested another link and that worked. So I looked in the sys - prefs/general and the default browser area was no longer blank and now contained Firefox and the other options in the pull down menu as it should...
Furthermore I went back to the earlier bandcamp click-throughs and they opened correctly
Could one of the click-throughs somehow cause the correction?
It's working fine for now - but I wonder what is actually going on.
Perhaps after a restart, System Preferences loaded the .plist correctly. Why it didn't before is unknown.
Further frustration ensued on the next FF release - I didn't show in System Prefs [General] browser menu even after I changed it to Chrome (Safari showed). Had to Restart FF for it to show
El Capitan: Mail links open in non-default browser
