Naki Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 PROBLEM: Using Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit Host OS+VMware Workstation 11.1.2. Intel Core i7 CPU, lots of RAM, ASUS mobo. Guest OSes - Mac OS X 10.7+10.10. Firefox for Mac OS X worked fine for me, up to versions 38.0.x. Now after Firefox updated from 38 to 39, it no longer works - Firefox just shows a white screen, sometimes with small slanted lines on it. Any fix or workaround? I am using latest VMware Tools, but it does not help any. Is this a known issue? Are any of you guys getting the same issues with Firefox 39 too? EDIT: As of end of August 2015, this is now working in Firefox 40.x. So, if you get issues with VMware+Mac OS X+Firefox 39, just install latest Firefox 40.x, and it should work fine again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donk Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Sounds like they have gone to accelerated rendering via QE/CI. This isn't supported on VMware and I also see there are reports it is broken on VirtualBox as well. Maybe there is a way to make the Firefox render without accelerated graphics. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donk Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Try toggling layers.offmainthreadcomposition.force-basic from about:config on or off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naki Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 Try toggling layers.offmainthreadcomposition.force-basic from about:config on or off. Thanks, but how do I access about:config with a non-working Firefox? Sounds like they have gone to accelerated rendering via QE/CI. This isn't supported on VMware and I also see there are reports it is broken on VirtualBox as well. Maybe there is a way to make the Firefox render without accelerated graphics. Yes, seems like 2D/3D acceleration attempts by Firefox may be causing this - thanks! Maybe I need to downgrade Firefox and disable auto-update? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donk Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Thanks, but how do I access about:config with a non-working Firefox? Yes, seems like 2D/3D acceleration attempts by Firefox may be causing this - thanks! Maybe I need to downgrade Firefox and disable auto-update? Find your profile in ~/Library/Application\ Support/Firefox/Profiles and edit prefs.js and add line: user_pref("layers.offmainthreadcomposition.force-basic", true); Best do this when firefox is nor running. No idea if it will work but was suggested on Mozilla bug tracker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donk Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 Find your profile in ~/Library/Application\ Support/Firefox/Profiles and edit prefs.js and add line: user_pref("layers.offmainthreadcomposition.force-basic", true); Best do this when firefox is nor running. No idea if it will work but was suggested on Mozilla bug tracker. OK I have tried this and unfortunately does not work. If I take 38 and switch this setting to true it show the same issue as 39. If I add it manually to 39 via editing prefs.js and set to false it is always removed. Best bet is 38esr version for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naki Posted July 21, 2015 Author Share Posted July 21, 2015 Any luck with a fix yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donk Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Any luck with a fix yet? Just found the Mozilla bug https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1180688, and looks like the fix is at the end of the issue and should be fixed in nightlies. Find your profile in ~/Library/Application\ Support/Firefox/Profiles and edit prefs.js and add/edit lines: layers.offmainthreadcomposition.enabled = false layers.acceleration.disabled = true Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naki Posted August 23, 2015 Author Share Posted August 23, 2015 OK, solved!Firefox 40 fixes this. So, just install latest Firefox for Mac, and it should be fine again. You will need a 2nd browser to do this, such as Safari, Chrome, or Opera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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