Unable to open Zotero

dlehmangolfer
I just installed Zotero - first time and on a fairly new computer running windows 11. When I try to open Zotero, I get the attached error message. From other discussions I don't understand this at all - Zotero 4.0 for Firefox seems to be an older program and not what I want - and I can't seem to find a download site for that anyway. Use default doesn't work and Choose New Data Directory has no obvious place for me to select. Please help.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u13843645/neg4xv9vyyvqyo0pmmg3.png
  • dlehmangolfer
    When I try to open Zotero, I get the attached error message. I have not used Zotero for more than 10 years - and that was on a different computer, so all of the references to old installations should not apply here.
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u13843645/3be8uchtnucdx9zhn5qs.png
  • dstillman
    You would get this if you still had files from an ancient version of Zotero on this computer.

    If you don't care about that data, you should just delete the Zotero data directory from your home folder if there is one. If there isn't one, and Use Default isn't working, look for a 'zotero' folder in your Firefox profile directory and delete that.
  • dlehmangolfer
    Thank you - someone provided that advice and it worked. Just to clarify one thing - I never had Zotero on this computer. Never. So, the data directory got installed when I installed Zotero, even though it was incompatible with the installation. Once I deleted it, Zotero then created a new one and everything was fine. But, I repeat, Zotero was never ever on this computer before.
  • dstillman
    You’re misunderstanding. It’s about Zotero files, not Zotero itself, and specifically files from an ancient Zotero for Firefox installation. It’s obviously not just a coincidence that you used Zotero more than 10 years ago and are getting a message about Zotero files from a >10-year-old version of Zotero. Either you transferred your Firefox profile from your old computer or Firefox itself synced those files through its sync system.
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