Opera

This guide provides some steps that may help to troubleshoot an Opera freeze or crash, and some points about asking for our help to resolve the problem.

Even if the steps in this guide help you, if you can provide steps on what you were doing when Opera froze and provide some specific files, we can reproduce it and then fix the freeze completely. This way we can help others that may experience the same problem.

Reproduce the freeze and create a freeze log.

Backup profile

Make a copy of your profile folder and save it to a safe location.

To find the profile folder in your original installation:

1. Start Opera.
2. Type "opera:about" in the address field (without quote marks).
3. In About Opera, under Paths > Opera Directory, the profile folder is listed. A common example is C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Opera\profile\. The path might also be in two locations (especially for Windows Vista). If so, copy all the contents of the profile folders in to one single folder called "Profile".

After you have backed up your profile:

1. Locate the VPS folder in your profile folder and rename it to VPS1.
2. If you use Opera Mail, run Opera with "-nomail" paramaters. Right-click the Opera icon, select Properties from the menu and edit the file name in the Target field to exactly "Opera.exe -nomail" (including a space after exe; without quote marks).
3. Find the Operaprefs.ini file, rename it to Operaprefs.bak and restart Opera. If this resolves the freeze, please follow the steps below to download a clean install and locate possible problem files to help us fix the issue completely.

Download a clean install

Before you report a bug for an Opera freeze, please try to download a clean install of Opera (Note: For Vista, you need to be an administrator to complete these steps):

1. Go to www.opera.com/download.
2. Click Show other versions.
3. Click Windows.
4. Click on the newest version, for example: All languages (Opera 9.51).
5. Select Classic Installer.
6. Click Download Opera.
7. Install Opera in a new folder name, such as C:\Program Files\OperaClean.
8. In the installer select Use the same profile for all users on this computer. The profile folder is now in C:\Program Files\OperaClean\Profile.

Next steps

If Opera freezes after the clean install, report a bug.

If Opera does not freeze after the clean install:

1. Copy over the entire profile folder from your orignal installation to the clean install. See Backup profile above for file locations.
2. If Opera then freezes, delete private data using Tools > Delete Private Data.
3. If deleting private data resolves the freeze, copy the profile folder back and try to find the exact file that causes the freeze.
4. If Opera still freezes after deleting private data, delete files in the profile folder one by one to see if you can find the exact file that causes the freeze. A deleted file that is needed by Opera is generated when Opera starts up with clean settings; you do not have to delete it again.
5. Compress the profile folder using .zip, .rar, or 7zip.
6. Report a bug. If you find the file that makes Opera freeze, specify this in the bug report.
7. Send the profile folder to the bug's e-mail address.

Important note: Be assured that we will only use the files you send to reproduce the freeze. You may choose to remove files that contain sensitive data to protect your privacy, however, if removing these files resolves the freeze, we will not be able to reproduce it and fix the problem. For more information, see our privacy policy. Files with sensitve data include:

For more file descriptions, please go to Opera Help, Backing up Opera.