Firefox 52 no longer working on XP

[Dave-H]

I've had Firefox 52.9.1.6822 installed on the XP side of my machine for many years, as the last Firefox version which will run on XP.
I don't use it often now as I use a much more up-to-date version of Supermium.
However, I tried to run it today, and it won't run any more.

I just get a popup saying -

"The procedure entry point CreateThreadpoolWork could not be located in the dynamic link library KERNEL32.dll."

Anyone any idea why it would have stopped working?
I've not knowingly changed anything relevant since I last used it.
The Firefox files seem to be as they have always been, and no system files have been knowingly changed either.

[NotHereToPlayGames]

2 hours ago, Dave-H said:

Firefox 52.9.1.6822

Available here - https://archive.org/download/firefox52.9.1esr (x86 and x64, I only screencap'd x64 below)

Edited yesterday at 03:16 PM by NotHereToPlayGames

[NotHereToPlayGames]

2 hours ago, Dave-H said:

I've had Firefox 52.9.1.6822 installed on the XP side of my machine for many years, as the last Firefox version which will run on XP.
I don't use it often now as I use a much more up-to-date version of Supermium.
However, I tried to run it today, and it won't run any more.

I just get a popup saying -

"The procedure entry point CreateThreadpoolWork could not be located in the dynamic link library KERNEL32.dll."

Anyone any idea why it would have stopped working?
I've not knowingly changed anything relevant since I last used it.
The Firefox files seem to be as they have always been, and no system files have been knowingly changed either.

Cannot replicate.  Firefox 52.9.1.6822 is working for me in XP+POS (32-bit) with *NO* extended kernel (not a fan of them, technically not a fan of POSReady but been using it experimentally).

This is from inside a VM.  My era-correct real-hardware for an XP+POS deployment is still undergoing experimentation.

Edited yesterday at 03:31 PM by NotHereToPlayGames

[NotHereToPlayGames]

4 hours ago, Dave-H said:

and no system files have been knowingly changed either.

If I had to fathom a guess, you have used Revo to uninstall a program or two.

I used to "swear by" Revo.  Until using it to uninstall AVG/Avast (don't remember which, to be honest) forced a reformat/reinstall to get XP running properly again.

Granted, that was DECADES ago, but the bitter and sour taste is still present.  Technically, it was THAT experience that pushed me into VMs for "testing".

[Dave-H]

I do have Revo installer, if you remember I used it to give AstroSkipper a list of .NET updates in another thread.
I don't think I've ever actually used it to uninstall anything though! If I did, it would have been a very long time ago, so not related to this issue I'm sure.
I have recently uninstalled Malwarebytes 3.5.1 though, using the normal uninstallation routine in Safe Mode.
I wonder if there's any connection there?

 

[schwups]

CreateThreadpoolWork isn't supported by XP.  It came with Vista. Programs like DependencyWalker should reveal the module (probably Vista+) you are looking for by profiling. DW also shows all module versions.

[NotHereToPlayGames]

So @Dave-H, are you running an "extended kernel" ???

[NotHereToPlayGames]

1 hour ago, Dave-H said:

using the normal uninstallation routine in Safe Mode.

This is confusingly "not normal".  I've never needed to use SAFE MODE to perform a NORMAL uninstall.

I myself have never used Malwarebytes, so no clue what it/they consider to be "normal".

I tend to think of things this way, "Can My Parents Do It?"

ie, Malwarebytes would be STUPID to think somebody like my PARENTS would know how to get into SAFE MODE in order to perform an UNINSTALL.

[ED_Sln]

@Dave-H Check that the firefox.exe file has not been modified, it must have a valid digital signature and this SHA-1 hash: 800826E19BB46A4FBEB26BD8CE08C9F44D8BC401

Edited 5 hours ago by ED_Sln

[Dave-H]

Thanks everyone, and sorry for the delay in replying.
I was having terrible problems accessing the site yesterday, which i hope is now fixed.

@NotHereToPlayGames

I ended up uninstalling Malwarebytes in Safe Mode because when I tried in normal mode, when I said yes to 'do you want to uninstall' the machine immediately rebooted!
Rather than try again and probably have the same thing happen, I then tried in Safe Mode, and it immediately uninstalled, very quickly indeed.
Why the machine rebooted, I have no idea.
I doubt this has anything to do with Firefox now failing to run, but you never know!

@schwups @NotHereToPlayGames

I'm not running any form of extended kernel.

@ED_Sln

Firefox.exe looks to be OK.

Very strange.
Just to add that Firefox won't run in its own 'safe mode' either.

 

[Dave-H]

Here's what Dependency Walker says.

CreateThreadpoolWork is indeed showing an error, but so are several other functions, and they're not stopping it from running!

Incidentally, why does it say 'Not Bound'? Should that actually be 'Not Found' or is that terminology correct?
Sorry, I'm no expert on this sort of thing!

[roytam1]

43 minutes ago, Dave-H said:

Here's what Dependency Walker says.

CreateThreadpoolWork is indeed showing an error, but so are several other functions, and they're not stopping it from running!

Incidentally, why does it say 'Not Bound'? Should that actually be 'Not Found' or is that terminology correct?
Sorry, I'm no expert on this sort of thing!

you may need to collapse whole tree and expand one by one to see who uses unsupported kernel32/advapi32 APIs.

BTW here neither firefox.exe nor xul.dll import CreateThreadpoolWork and its friends here with firefox52.9esr.

Edited 2 hours ago by roytam1

[NotHereToPlayGames]

17 minutes ago, roytam1 said:

BTW here neither firefox.exe nor xul.dll import CreateThreadpoolWork and its friends here with firefox52.9esr.

I'm not seeing it imported either.

Not sure if this is even possible, but do you have an extension or plugin generating imports that Firefox itself is not importing?

Again, not even sure if this is possible (but I know it can be done in Edge [corporate environment]).

[Dave-H]

I did wonder about extensions, I haven't changed those on FF 52 for years, but they do update themselves so it's possible that an incompatibility has crept in.
It won't run in Firefox 'safe mode' either though, which I thought was supposed to not load any extensions or plugins.
I'll try with a new clean profile which should eliminate this possibility.