[Tip] How to Launch Your Web Browser with All Extensions Disabled

Recently we posted a tutorial about launching Google Chrome web browser with all extensions disabled. A few readers asked me to share similar methods to start other popular web browsers with all extensions disabled. So in this tutorial, I’ll share methods to launch Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera and Internet Explorer web browsers without any extension loading in background.

Launching a web browser with all installed extensions disabled might come handy if you are facing issues in your web browser and you think that an installed extension is causing the issue. When you launch the web browser with all extensions disabled, no extension/add-on will load and your browser will start fine. After that you can find the culprit extension and uninstall/remove it from your web browser.

You can consider it as a troubleshooting mode or safe mode feature present in your web browser.

Following are methods to launch all popular web browsers with all extensions disabled:

Launch Mozilla Firefox With All Extensions Disabled:

There are 2 ways to launch Mozilla Firefox web browser with all extensions disabled. It’s officially called “Safe Mode” in Firefox browser.

METHOD 1:

If your web browser is running fine, then you can click on the Hamburger menu (main menu) present at the top-right corner of Firefox window and select Help -> Restart with Add-ons disabled option.

Firefox will ask for confirmation, click on Restart button. After restart, Firefox will show a dialog box mentioning Safe Mode. Click on “Start in Safe Mode” button.

It’ll start Firefox with all extensions disabled.

METHOD 2:

You can also use -safe-mode command-line parameter/flag to start Firefox with all extensions disabled.

1. Right-click on Mozilla Firefox shortcut and select Properties. Alternatively, you can create a new shortcut of Mozilla Firefox and open its Properties box.

2. Now add -safe-mode at the end of the string present in Target text box as shown in following screenshot:

There must be a blank space between existing string and -safe-mode.

3. Click on Apply button and now whenever you’ll launch Mozilla Firefox using this shortcut, it’ll always start in safe mode i.e. with all extensions disabled.

In future, if you want to restore default settings and want to start Firefox in normal mode with all extensions enabled using this shortcut, remove the -safe-mode parameter from Firefox shortcut properties.

PS: You can also direct launch Firefox with all extensions disabled without modifying shortcut properties. Just execute following command in RUN dialog box (WIN+R):

It’ll launch Firefox with all extensions disabled.

Launch Google Chrome With All Extensions Disabled:

We have already posted a separate tutorial about how to launch Google Chrome with all extensions disabled at following link:

[Tip] How to Launch Google Chrome with All Extensions Disabled

Check out above mentioned page to learn how to launch Chrome without loading extensions.

Launch Microsoft Edge and Opera With All Extensions Disabled:

Since Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Opera web browsers are based on Chromium project, all share similar functionality and code.

Above mentioned method to launch Google Chrome web browser with all extensions disabled also applies to Microsoft Edge and Opera browsers.

You just need to add –disable-extensions parameter to Microsoft Edge or Opera shortcut properties and you’ll be able to launch these browsers with all extensions disabled.

You can also direct launch these browsers with all extensions disabled using following commands in RUN dialog box (WIN+R):

That’s it.

Launch Internet Explorer With All Extensions Disabled:

1. Right-click on Internet Explorer’s shortcut and select Properties. Alternatively, you can create a new shortcut of Internet Explorer and open its Properties box.

2. Now add -extoff at the end of the string present in Target text box as shown in following screenshot:

There must be a blank space between existing string and -extoff.

3. Click on Apply button and now whenever you’ll launch Internet Explorer using this shortcut, it’ll always start with all extensions disabled.

Internet Explorer will show following message when you’ll launch it using above mentioned parameter:

In future, if you want to restore default settings and want to start Internet Explorer in normal mode with all extensions enabled using this shortcut, remove the -extoff parameter from Internet Explorer shortcut properties.

PS: You can also direct launch Internet Explorer with all extensions disabled without modifying shortcut properties. Just execute following command in RUN dialog box (WIN+R):

It’ll launch Internet Explorer with all extensions/add-ons disabled.

Also Check:

[Tip] Having Problems with Your Web Browser? Disable Hardware Acceleration Feature

[Tip] How to Reset / Restore Your Web Browser Settings to Default Factory State

[Tip] How to Clear Cache and Cookies in Your Web Browser

[Tip] How to Always Start Your Web Browser in Private Browsing Mode By Default