[porrid]

Just installed Converter extension to Firefox.
Rebooting Firefox after installation brought up a Frozen Menu without any windows, and nothing is obtainable from any of the Menu's

A google of the scenario returned this help info

"(Mac) .parentlock
You need to use a free utility like Onyx or Maintain to turn on visibility for invisible files to show .parentlock. This file contains no information, and deleting it will unlock the profile."

So I installed Onyx but am not understanding how to proceed ?

I should perhaps add that I am a new iMac Leopard user with no nerd credentials whatsoever, and therefore the Onyx interface inhibits my comprehension and heightens my anxiety about using computers.

I can only hope that someone with more experience then I can thankfully help ?

[Hal Itosis]

Spotlight can find it (command-F).

Be sure to add the "File visibility" criteria, and set it to seek "Invisible Items".
And -- depending where .parentlock is -- possibly "System files" & "include".

[depending where the search starts from, "System files" is needed to find items in Library folders.]

Confused yet?

--

Once found, rename it so there's no leading period.
Then move it to the trash (possibly with ⌘-delete).

[if you know the parent folder from the outset, you're 97% finished already.]

[porrid]

Yes
I look at your reply
then I look at the Rebuild panel in Onyx
then look back at your reply

I'm baffled

What should I type in the empty line called path

then which option do I take

This file and all its folders
or
This folder only

My spotlight search returned me to this discussion !

thank you

[tomrock]

In Onyx, click the Parameters icon at the top and then click the Finder button that shows up under parameters. One of the choices next to Misc Options is "Show hidden files and folders".

This will make it possible to see the file you're looking for so you can delete it. Then go back into Onyx and turn off the display of hidden stuff.

[Hal Itosis]

My post was not related to your OnyX question, but rather to your desire to find and destroy a file called ".parentlock". Spotlight is a part of the Mac OS well worth getting familiar with. I don't use OnyX, and -- in this case -- making every single hidden file visible is overkill. [My guess is that OnyX probably has a user guide or help menus which explain these procedures.]

Anyway... if the command line is anything familiar to you, the same result can be achieved in Terminal.app:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool TRUE

[might need to relaunch Finder]

[porrid]

Well Hal Itsos, perhaps against my better judgement I pasted that line of code into the terminal and relaunched the Finder.
My Finder window has now made visible all of the invisible files. After I had hit return and relaunched the Finder I thought I were done so tried to start Firefox but alas its still the same.

Sorry to be a pain but I know zilch about code and/orTerminal and using either, I'm a complete novice.

So what were I meant to do after I pasted that line of code, hit enter and relaunch the Finder ?

I noticed In my Finder window a File called .DS_Store , but cant see anywhere that other file .parentlock , I did a search in Spotlight which only shows documents I am already writing and looking at on the internet.

So do I delete .DS_Store ?

and if so what are the next steps before I try to get my Firefox back ?

As an aside to this I read on another Forum that the Camino Browser is built with or on the same engine as Firefox and so therefore I am using as an alternative but I really to miss the Firefox.

Thanks to all who are trying to help me get thru this and will be delighted to get thru it.

[CharlesS]

Okay, making everything visible in the Finder is just going to be a pain in the ass with all the .DS_Store junk you're going to see all over the place. Let's turn that off:

[codex]defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool FALSE[/codex]

Now, let's find .parentlock in your Firefox directory.

[codex]cd ~
find "Library/Application Support/Firefox" -name .parentlock[/codex]

This will turn up every instance of .parentlock that is in your Firefox application support directory. On my machine, it turned up this:

[codex]Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/v72aulqc.default/.parentlock[/codex]

What we do is change to the directory containing .parentlock, and then delete it. To change the directory, just type cd, followed by a space and then everything to the left of ".parentlock" in the path above. Put the path inside quotes, to avoid problems with the space in "Application Support". In my example, it'd be:

[codex]cd "Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/v72aulqc.default/"[/codex]

Now, all you have to do is type:

[codex]rm .parentlock[/codex]

and that should do it.

[porrid]

Thank you CharlesS, I followed your instructions to a ' t ' .

So does this mean that I can now relaunch the Fox or is there something more I need to do ?

Also, since it were an add-on called Converter that caused the lock out, ought I delete that add-on ?

[CharlesS]

I don't know - the best way to find out would be to experiment.