[SOLVED] Firefox opens blank pages intead of URL

Problem

When trying to open an URL with Firefox (eg. via File Manager of Mail Reader), Firefox opens a blank page or your homepage (if it's set to something other than blank) instead of the URL.

This situation has been reported and confirmed as a bug (bug #1427144 on launchpad).

Solution

It seems that the problem is in the file /usr/share/xfce4/helpers/firefox.desktop, and replacing the last line fixes it.

Fix

You can fix it manually (1) or just run the command (2) that creates a backup and automatically replaces the broken line.

  1. Manual: Open /usr/share/xfce4/helpers/firefox.desktop with your favorite text editor and root permissions (eg. sudo mousepad /usr/share/xfce4/helpers/firefox.desktop). Then replace the following line:

    X-XFCE-CommandsWithParameter=%B -remote "openURL(%s)";%B %s;

    With this one:

    X-XFCE-CommandsWithParameter=%B %s;%B %s;

  2. Automatic: Open a terminal window and run:

    cd /usr/share/xfce4/helpers/ && sudo cp firefox.desktop firefox.desktop.bak && sudo sed -i 's/-remote "openURL(%s)"/%s/' firefox.desktop

References

firefox open blank pages when called from exo-open

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 4, 2015 at 12:05 AM

    Thanks a lot ,My url desktop links quit working on both Ubuntu Studio 12.04 and Mint 17 Xfce the same day .I expect a recent update broke em .This fixed them ,Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMarch 4, 2015 at 1:30 PM

    Yet another happy XFCE user :)
    Your fix works like a charm.
    Thank you very much!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMarch 5, 2015 at 7:48 AM

    Good morning Wilson,
    it worked for me too! Thanks from Italy :)

    ReplyDelete

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