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Could not initialize the applications security component

From MozillaZine Knowledge Base


This article deals with the causes of the message "Could not initialize the application's security component. The most likely cause is problems with files in your application's profile directory. Please check that this directory has no read/write restrictions and your hard disk is not full or close to full. It is recommended that you exit the application and fix the problem. If you continue to use this session, you might see incorrect application behaviour when accessing security features.".

For information on other messages received when accessing secure sites, see Error loading secure sites.

Contents

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Hard drive capacity

Check your hard drive's remaining capacity. To do this on Windows machines:

  1. From the Start menu, click "Computer" (or "My Computer")
  2. Right click on Local Disk (C: drive)
  3. Choose Properties. A dialog will come up.
  4. Go to the General tab

If it reports less than 1MB free space, you'll need to make more room.

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File permissions

Check the file permissions in your profile folder. The file named cert8.db must not be read-only. To do this on Windows machines:

  1. Open your profile folder.
  2. Right click on the file named cert8.db.
  3. Choose Properties. A dialog will come up.
  4. Go to the General tab
  5. Make sure the "Read-only" checkbox is not checked.
  6. Press OK.
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Corrupted file

The file cert8.db in your profile folder may have become corrupted. Delete this file while the application (Firefox, SeaMonkey, etc) is closed. [1] To do this on Windows machines:

  1. Close the application by choosing File -> Exit.
  2. Open your profile folder.
  3. Click on the file named cert8.db.
  4. Press delete.
  5. Restart the application. cert8.db will be recreated when you do so.
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Non-Latin characters in username

Older versions have a bug with non-Latin (For example Chinese or Russian) characters in your username. (fixed 2009-10-01)

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New profile

Create a new profile. Your current profile might be corrupted due to many reasons, such as changes in your system or lack of hard drive space at one point.

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