Zotero 7: Stuck in Safe Mode

I was trying the Release 1.0.0-1 of the Zotero PDF Preview plugin: https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-pdf-preview/releases
After changing some settings of the plugin and restarting Zotero, Zotero is now opening in Safe Mode: "All add-ons have been disabled by safe mode."

I have tried removing the plugin, restarting Zotero, restarting the computer, reinstalling Zotero 6 and reinstalling Zotero 7 again... But I am still stuck in this Safe Mode now in Zotero 7.

How can I escape this Safe Mode?
Here is the Debug Output produced with "Restart with Logging Enabled..."
Debug ID D856356006
Windows 10
Zotero 7.0.0-beta.14+f1003a1d1 (64-bit)

I have tried to reproduce, and at some point I managed to escape the safe mode.
But I am not able to do it again..
  • Does it start in Safe Mode if you disable all plugins?
  • Yes, even when all plugins are disabled.
    Debug ID D833611467
  • edited June 27, 2023
    If you go to the Config Editor, does toolkit.startup.recent_crashes exist? If so, reset it.
  • Yes, it was at 27. I have deleted it.
    After restart, I am not in Safe Mode anymore.
    Thank you.
    Reloading the plugin still gets it back to Safe Mode. I will report to the developper.
  • The Safe Mode is also triggered by the Zotero Better Notes plugin (1.1.4-0) and the Zotero PDF Translate plugin (1.1.0-0).
    These 3 plugins are from the same developper, so I am not sure if there is an issue in Zotero 7 or the same mistake repeated over the 3 plugins.
  • Hi @mjthoraval, how you quit Zotero? Does this happen if you quit Zotero with the menu-app(or file on Windows)-quit?

    The pdf translate plugin beta only removes the localization files for Zotero 6 and adds support for Zotero 7 localization system. Does the stable release also trigger the safe mode?
  • edited June 27, 2023
    @hsiangyu_wong I was just using the cross at the top right of the Zotero window. I have never had any problem like this in Zotero 6.

    But I cannot even check anymore different ways to close Zotero, as I have lost the top bar (nothing in the top right of the Zotero window): screenshot.

    A single click on a tab does not do anything.
    A double click on the tab goes to the tab and also move the Zotero window to full screen (or out of full screen).
    Restarting Zotero 7 does not change anything.
    Re-installing Zotero 7 does not fix the problem.
    Re-installing Zotero 6, Zotero 6 is working properly. But re-installing Zotero 7, I still get the same problems again.

    Here is the Debug Output produced with "Restart with Logging Enabled...":
    Debug ID is D1788762758.

    Any idea of what is happening?
    All plugins are disabled.
    Did the plugin break something in Zotero?

  • @dstillman

    It's here, the phantom of the Zotero 7 for Windows...

    The window border disappers.
  • edited June 27, 2023
    Removing the top bar is actually nice, if the top right buttons could be moved to the same level as the tabs, in the same way as in Firefox.
    But the double click issue is more problematic.
  • To be clear, that's a separate, known issue, which we haven't yet reproduced. Workaround is here.

    That's unrelated to plugins and as far as we know unrelated to Safe Mode.
  • edited June 28, 2023
    @hsiangyu_wong I am trying to test further.
    I reinstalled Zotero 6, and tried to add again the plugin PDF Preview 0.3.7. But the preview in Info tab does not work anymore. I am getting this error:
    [JavaScript Error: "TypeError: iframe is null" {file: "chrome://pdfpreview/content/scripts/index.js" line: 408}]
    The preview in Preview tab is still working.
    So it seems that something from Z7 has broken the plugin in Z6.

    I have actually realized that I can now run both Z6 and Z7 without reinstalling them (not running at the same time). Also, they seem to use the same plugins. Is that how it is supposed to be?
    Considering that the plugins in Z7 are not compatible with the plugins in Z6, I was expecting that the plugins in Z7 would be completely independant, and not influence whatever was installed in Z6, so that I could go back safely to Z6...

    I have installed the 3 plugins in Z6 (26 compatible version). Then when opening in Z7, Better Notes and PDF Translate have the option to update. But it actually does not work:
    1687945157293 addons.xpi WARN Download of https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-pdf-translate/releases/latest/download/zotero-pdf-translate.xpi failed: Expected addon version 1.1.0-0 instead of 1.0.23
    So the only way to update the plugins at the moment is just to download the xpi file manually, is that correct?
  • The pdf preview for z7 is at its first beta and not that stable. A known issue.

    The update warning is actually expected. The update.json is for the latest build (the beta version), while the latest release is the last stable version. So the update fails.

    And there will be no more z6 & 7 compatible versions anymore. z7 changed the way the preference window was localized, which make previous z6 & 7 compatible versions no longer compatible with z7.
  • Some more testing in Zotero 7 beta 15:
    - The Safe Mode is triggered whenever toolkit.startup.recent_crashes reaches 4.
    - The crashes count is incremented every time I restart Zotero, even with all plugins disabled.

    Report ID: 1588344448 just after starting Zotero with all plugins disabled.
  • Can you reproduce recent_crashes getting continuously incremented with all plugins uninstalled (not just disabled)?
  • I have updated to Zotero 7.0.0-beta.17+8017b2ab1 (64-bit), completely removed all the plugins and closed all the opened tabs.
    It is still doing excatly the same as my last post above.
    But if I restart with logging enabled, it does not increment the count of toolkit.startup.recent_crashes.

    After a normal restart:
    Report ID: 1514619909
  • That suggests that something is preventing your Zotero from closing normally — this is just standard Firefox Safe Mode behavior. Do you have your data directory in the default location? Anything else unusual about this computer?
  • The data directory is the default C:\Users\mjthoraval\Zotero.

    Another observation: the crashes counter is incremented only if I use the top right cross to close Zotero. If I use File -> Exit, that deletes the counter.
    I have checked this because of the comment from @hsiangyu_wong above. Do you have any idea what is happening?
  • Oh, sorry, I can reproduce that with the X. We'll see what we can do.
  • OK, in the latest beta, we're resetting recent_crashes on every startup on Windows for now, until we can figure out how to prevent the X from incrementing it.
  • edited September 11, 2023
    I can now also observe this problem on Ubuntu 23.04, Zotero 7.0.0-beta.39+ecba25be0 (64-bit):
    Report ID: 661616927
    Debug ID from "Restart with Logging Enabled": D256411626
    Same steps to reproduce as above.
  • I can now also observe this problem on MacOS 12.6.8, Zotero 7.0.0-beta.39+ecba25be0 :
    Debug ID from "Restart with Logging Enabled": D48215742
    Same steps to reproduce as above.
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