Windows shutdown blocked when "Ask before closing multiple tabs" is enabled #3056

LibreWolf Version

151.0-1

Operating System

Windows 11

Installation Source / Package

Windows Installer (.exe)

Description

Hi,
I found an issue on Windows 11 with LibreWolf.
If the option "Ask before closing multiple tabs" is enabled, Windows cannot shut down properly while LibreWolf is running. Instead, Windows shows the message:

"This app is preventing shutdown"

and waits for user interaction.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open LibreWolf on Windows 11
2. Enable "Ask before closing multiple tabs"
3. Open multiple tabs
4. Try to shut down Windows

Expected behavior

Windows should shut down normally without being blocked by the browser.

Actual behavior

LibreWolf shows the multiple tabs confirmation dialog during system shutdown, causing Windows to display:

"This app is preventing shutdown"

Thanks.

Logs / Screenshots

No response

Checklist

• I have read the FAQ and confirmed my problem isn't addressed there.
• I have searched existing issues to ensure this hasn't been reported yet.
• I have made sure there is no existing issue about this for Firefox, e.g. on Firefox Support or the Firefox Community Forum.

Can you reproduce this on Firefox too?

Wow, indeed: cannot reproduce with Firefox 151.0.1, but LibreWolf does exhibit this behavior.

What's more, if you cancel the shutdown, LW will show multiple instances of the "Close X tabs?" dialog and they don't actually close the window anymore. Only when closing all those and clicking the close button, the new "Close X tabs?" dialog responds properly again.

image

We found the cause of the issue. If you want to already fix it manually, you'll have to:

1. Remove the line
   pref("toolkit.winRegisterApplicationRestart", false); // disable automatic start and session restore after reboot
   from the file librewolf.cfg in C:\Program Files\LibreWolf (requires administrator permissions).
2. Open about:config in LibreWolf, search for toolkit.winRegisterApplicationRestart and set it to true.

@ltguillaume wrote in #3056 (comment):

We found the cause of the issue. If you want to already fix it manually, you'll have to:

1. Remove the line
 `pref("toolkit.winRegisterApplicationRestart", false); // disable automatic start and session restore after reboot`
 from the file `librewolf.cfg` in `C:\Program Files\LibreWolf` (requires administrator permissions).
2. Open `about:config` in LibreWolf, search for `toolkit.winRegisterApplicationRestart` and set it to true.

Thank you for the quick reply!
I can confirm after this changes it is working as expected :)

The preference toolkit.winRegisterApplicationRestart will be cleared automatically by v151.0.3-1.