Firefox Fixes an 8-Year-Old Windows Bug That Broke Virtual Desktop Use

Mozilla has finally fixed a long-standing issue with Virtual desktops on Windows. This bug has been frustrating users for more than eight years.

The issue, first reported back when Firefox 58 was the current version, caused new links to open in a Firefox window on a completely different virtual desktop. This would pull you out of your current work and interrupt what you were doing.

Here’s how it worked: imagine you’re working on one virtual desktop and you click a web link from another app. Instead of opening on the desktop you’re on, Windows would switch you to another one entirely. For years, this made Firefox feel annoying to anyone who used Windows’ built-in virtual desktop feature.

Users have been asking Mozilla to fix this since 2017. People left comments over the years, with one frustrated user writing just months ago that links “always open in whatever the most recent Firefox window is, even if it is on a different virtual desktop.”

Mozilla engineers said this was a difficult problem. That’s because Windows intentionally gives programs very limited control over virtual desktops. Microsoft’s idea is that users, not apps, should manage them. So Firefox had to find a clever way to fix the bug without breaking Windows’ rules.

Firefox 144 Fixes Virtual Desktop Bug on Windows

Now, the fix is here. Starting with version 144, Firefox will only open links in a window on your current virtual desktop, or create a new one if no window is there. You won’t be yanked into another workspace just because you clicked a link.

The new behavior can be summed up in this statement:

“On Windows, when opening a link from another application, Firefox will only use a window on the current virtual desktop, or open a new window if needed.”

For virtual desktop fans on Windows, this might seem like a small change, but it’s a big improvement. It’s also a big deal that a problem open for eight years has finally been resolved. It shows Mozilla is still focused on the small details that make the browser experience better.

Virtual desktops are an increasingly important way for Windows users to organize their work and multitask. By fixing this bug, Firefox now works the way users expect it to.

That’s not all. Firefox will no longer auto-delete downloads, especially PDFs, in private browsing. Mozilla is also adding Google Lens integration into Firefox for image searches. Additionally, Firefox may no longer vanish after a Windows 11 upgrade.