Firefox sidebar re-appears on every window when Firefox is loaded

[bbugh]

Describe the Bug

Every time I re-open Firefox and it restores my previous session, the Bitwarden sidebar reappears on every window. I don't want it to open ever, and closing it has no effect.

I looked in the options and there does not appear to be a "use sidebar" option.

Steps To Reproduce

1. Open Firefox that has multiple window sessions
2. Bitwarden sidebar appears on every window

Expected Result

Bitwarden sidebar does not open unless requested, and if it is closed, it doesn't keep reopeining

Actual Result

It opens every time on every window 😳

Screenshots or Videos

Environment

• Operating system: MacOS 11.5.1 Big Sur
• Browser: Firefox 90.0.2
• Build Version: 1.26.5

Additional Context

[tgreer-bw]

Hmm - seems this would be a Firefox issue, right? You're correct, we don't specifically 'support' the sidebar - Firefox just has a sidebar mode for any/all extensions.

Based on my experience, you have the option to select:

• show/hide the sidebar
• what is shown in the sidebar (bookmarks, history, tabs, Bitwarden, other extensions)

[bbugh]

Hmm - seems this would be a Firefox issue, right?

I mean, it could be, anything is possible! But it didn't happen before installing Bitwarden. I never use the sidebar for anything, it's an annoying space hog, and have never opened it. No other extension I have installed opens the sidebar. Finally, Bitwarden is the one that is creating the sidebar:

There have been other complaints about this that are unaddressed:

• A year-old reddit post complaining about the same thing https://old.reddit.com/r/Bitwarden/comments/gtediq/firefox_sidebar/
• The sidebar automatically opens on vault lock: https://github.com/bitwarden/browser/issues/900

[bbugh]

Some more related complaints:

• Recent question asking on the forums: https://community.bitwarden.com/t/how-to-disable-bw-with-firefox-sidebar/16425/4
• Recent subreddit question where the "solution" is to start a new Firefox profile (this is not feasible) https://old.reddit.com/r/Bitwarden/comments/l1kvwe/firefox_sidebar_still_a_problem/
• Older issue that results in it continually re-opening https://old.reddit.com/r/Bitwarden/comments/brxh2d/firefox_sidebar_keeps_opening/

[pcjentsch]

This is now happening to me also, and it kind of makes the extension unusable for my purposes. Anyone have a fix?

[JonathanLindsey]

I have not been having this issue for a while. I think this is how I worked around the issue it but confirmation it works for others would be great.

On the sidebar, click the Bitwarden drop-down in the far upper left and select either History or Bookmarks. Then close the sidebar. Do this on all open windows. It might be necessary to cleanly shutdown the browser and reopen it. Hopefully you don't see the issue again.

Note: In FireFox at least, if you have it set to reopen the your windows and tabs on startup, and you don't want to close windows one by one, you should be able to cleanly shutdown FireFox by using Ctrl + Shift + Q on Windows or Ctrl + Q on Linux.

[pcjentsch]

Ok, that worked thank you!

The key was I had to disable custom CSS, disable the sidebar as you said, and the re-enable custom CSS.

[andrew-mi]

In my case, disabling the Bitwarden extension then restarting Firefox, then re-enabling the Bitwarden extension fixed this issue.

[Etyre]

In my case, disabling the Bitwarden extension then restarting Firefox, then re-enabling the Bitwarden extension fixed this issue.

This didn't work for me. When I re-enabled the bitwarden extension, it reopened the sidebar in all windows!

[Etyre]

On the sidebar, click the Bitwarden drop-down in the far upper left and select either History or Bookmarks. Then close the sidebar. Do this on all open windows. It might be necessary to cleanly shutdown the browser and reopen it. Hopefully you don't see the issue again.

This appears to have worked for me!

[belliez]

I have just moved from LassPass to Bitwarden and this keeps happening for me. I don't want the side bar as it takes up space! Latest version of Firefox and BW.

[dwbit]

@belliez please let us know if any of the steps above solve the issue for you.

[Etyre]

It worked for me to just switch from the "bitwarden" tab to the "history" tab, and then close the pane, for all of my open windows. It didn't reopen on new windows.

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[OndroMih]

In my case, disabling the Bitwarden extension then restarting Firefox, then re-enabling the Bitwarden extension fixed this issue. Interesting, this has worked for me.

If I only disabled the extension and then enabled it, the sidebar with Bitwarden opened immediately after I enabled it, and then it kept opening for each new open window.

After I disabled the extension, restarted Firefox, when I enabled the extension again, the sidebar didn't open and it's not opened when a new window is opened anymore.

[gekkoe]

None of the suggested fixes here worked for me. But I was able to resolve the issue by deleting the xulstore.json from my firefox profile folder and restarting firefox.

Got the idea from here.

A quick cat of the file revealed that it had a reference to the sidebar in it which seems to have caused the problem. A new xulstore.json was created on restart without the offending sidebar reference and all is well.

[codevogel]

None of the suggested fixes here worked for me. But I was able to resolve the issue by deleting the xulstore.json from my firefox profile folder and restarting firefox.

Got the idea from here.

A quick cat of the file revealed that it had a reference to the sidebar in it which seems to have caused the problem. A new xulstore.json was created on restart without the offending sidebar reference and all is well.

My firefox (127.0.2) just recreates the file on browser restart. None of the other solutions work for me either.

I think it's because, when I close my browser, it wants me to reauthenticate to Bitwarden when I open it again, and that causes the login menu to popup.

I would just like to authenticate myself when I actually need some login information from Bitwarden.

[jgottlander]

None of the suggested fixes here worked for me. But I was able to resolve the issue by deleting the xulstore.json from my firefox profile folder and restarting firefox.

Got the idea from here.

A quick cat of the file revealed that it had a reference to the sidebar in it which seems to have caused the problem. A new xulstore.json was created on restart without the offending sidebar reference and all is well.

This worked for me, but I had to shutdown all firefoxs background processes first with killall firefox.

[Nakamerica]

Removing xulstore.json and restarting firefox a couple of times seems to have fixed it for me. Very annoying issue.

[joshkho]

Thank you for finally finding a solution. This was bothering me a lot. removing xulstore.json worked for me, although it didn't work right away.

I don't know what exactly fixed it, but I'll try to list what I did exactly:

1. First I changed all the Bitwarden sidebar panels into History panels using the dropdown at the top of the sidebar.
2. Then I closed all firefox windows by pressing CTRL SHIFT Q
3. Delete the xulstore.json file. For me, it's located at C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default-release
4. It's safe to delete the xulstore.json file. It doesn't affect which windows/tabs you have open. Rename the file instead of deleting it if you want to be safe.
5. Open firefox.
6. All windows will likely open with History sidebars. Close all the History sidebars.
7. Close firefox again by pressing CTRL SHIFT Q
8. Delete the xulstore.json file again
9. Open firefox.
10. Hopefully it's fixed now and bitwarden doesn't open in the sidebar when firefox starts.

It's important to delete the xulstore.json file AFTER you close firefox. Don't delete it while firefox is open. It doesn't do anything.

[xometa]

This has been a recurring annoyance for me. Every time I open my browser or a new window, the Bitwarden sidebar pops up, and I find myself having to close it repeatedly for each one. So far, nothing I've tried has resolved the issue.

[Nakamerica]

I would suggest deleting the aforementioned file until it works, that is what seems to have fixed the issue for a few people. The issue has thankfully not reappeared for me.