diff --git a/app/scripts/background.js b/app/scripts/background.js
index c75f514d5209..110852779547 100644
--- a/app/scripts/background.js
+++ b/app/scripts/background.js
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ const {
 const firstTimeState = Object.assign({}, rawFirstTimeState, global.METAMASK_TEST_CONFIG)
 
 const STORAGE_KEY = 'metamask-config'
+const METAMASK_DEBUG = process.env.METAMASK_DEBUG
 
 log.setDefaultLevel(process.env.METAMASK_DEBUG ? 'debug' : 'warn')
 
@@ -472,3 +473,10 @@ function openPopup () {
     }
   )
 }
+
+// On first install, open a new tab with MetaMask
+extension.runtime.onInstalled.addListener(({reason}) => {
+  if ((reason === 'install') && (!METAMASK_DEBUG)) {
+    platform.openExtensionInBrowser()
+  }
+})
diff --git a/test/e2e/beta/from-import-beta-ui.spec.js b/test/e2e/beta/from-import-beta-ui.spec.js
index 2b2e3361d503..a180689e5c61 100644
--- a/test/e2e/beta/from-import-beta-ui.spec.js
+++ b/test/e2e/beta/from-import-beta-ui.spec.js
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ const {
 } = require('../func')
 const {
   checkBrowserForConsoleErrors,
+  closeAllWindowHandlesExcept,
   verboseReportOnFailure,
   findElement,
   findElements,
@@ -32,13 +33,14 @@ describe('Using MetaMask with an existing account', function () {
   this.bail(true)
 
   before(async function () {
+    let extensionUrl
     switch (process.env.SELENIUM_BROWSER) {
       case 'chrome': {
         const extensionPath = path.resolve('dist/chrome')
         driver = buildChromeWebDriver(extensionPath)
         extensionId = await getExtensionIdChrome(driver)
-        await driver.get(`chrome-extension://${extensionId}/home.html`)
         await delay(regularDelayMs)
+        extensionUrl = `chrome-extension://${extensionId}/home.html`
         break
       }
       case 'firefox': {
@@ -47,11 +49,17 @@ describe('Using MetaMask with an existing account', function () {
         await installWebExt(driver, extensionPath)
         await delay(regularDelayMs)
         extensionId = await getExtensionIdFirefox(driver)
-        await driver.get(`moz-extension://${extensionId}/home.html`)
-        await delay(regularDelayMs)
+        extensionUrl = `moz-extension://${extensionId}/home.html`
         break
       }
     }
+    // Depending on the state of the application built into the above directory (extPath) and the value of
+    // METAMASK_DEBUG we will see different post-install behaviour and possibly some extra windows. Here we
+    // are closing any extraneous windows to reset us to a single window before continuing.
+    const [tab1] = await driver.getAllWindowHandles()
+    await closeAllWindowHandlesExcept(driver, [tab1])
+    await driver.switchTo().window(tab1)
+    await driver.get(extensionUrl)
   })
 
   afterEach(async function () {
diff --git a/test/e2e/beta/helpers.js b/test/e2e/beta/helpers.js
index 5e3f45b2b6a5..b6fc35e08572 100644
--- a/test/e2e/beta/helpers.js
+++ b/test/e2e/beta/helpers.js
@@ -120,6 +120,13 @@ async function switchToWindowWithTitle (driver, title, windowHandles) {
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Closes all windows except those in the given list of exceptions
+ * @param {object} driver the WebDriver instance
+ * @param {string|Array<string>} exceptions the list of window handle exceptions
+ * @param {Array?} windowHandles the full list of window handles
+ * @returns {Promise<void>}
+ */
 async function closeAllWindowHandlesExcept (driver, exceptions, windowHandles) {
   exceptions = typeof exceptions === 'string' ? [ exceptions ] : exceptions
   windowHandles = windowHandles || await driver.getAllWindowHandles()
diff --git a/test/e2e/beta/metamask-beta-responsive-ui.spec.js b/test/e2e/beta/metamask-beta-responsive-ui.spec.js
index 107f9aa6c052..8b34f90279ea 100644
--- a/test/e2e/beta/metamask-beta-responsive-ui.spec.js
+++ b/test/e2e/beta/metamask-beta-responsive-ui.spec.js
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ const {
 } = require('../func')
 const {
   checkBrowserForConsoleErrors,
+  closeAllWindowHandlesExcept,
   findElement,
   findElements,
   loadExtension,
@@ -31,23 +32,33 @@ describe('MetaMask', function () {
   this.bail(true)
 
   before(async function () {
+    let extensionUrl
     switch (process.env.SELENIUM_BROWSER) {
       case 'chrome': {
         const extPath = path.resolve('dist/chrome')
         driver = buildChromeWebDriver(extPath, { responsive: true })
         extensionId = await getExtensionIdChrome(driver)
-        await driver.get(`chrome-extension://${extensionId}/home.html`)
+        await delay(largeDelayMs)
+        extensionUrl = `chrome-extension://${extensionId}/home.html`
         break
       }
       case 'firefox': {
         const extPath = path.resolve('dist/firefox')
         driver = buildFirefoxWebdriver({ responsive: true })
         await installWebExt(driver, extPath)
-        await delay(700)
+        await delay(largeDelayMs)
         extensionId = await getExtensionIdFirefox(driver)
-        await driver.get(`moz-extension://${extensionId}/home.html`)
+        extensionUrl = `moz-extension://${extensionId}/home.html`
+        break
       }
     }
+    // Depending on the state of the application built into the above directory (extPath) and the value of
+    // METAMASK_DEBUG we will see different post-install behaviour and possibly some extra windows. Here we
+    // are closing any extraneous windows to reset us to a single window before continuing.
+    const [tab1] = await driver.getAllWindowHandles()
+    await closeAllWindowHandlesExcept(driver, [tab1])
+    await driver.switchTo().window(tab1)
+    await driver.get(extensionUrl)
   })
 
   afterEach(async function () {
diff --git a/test/e2e/beta/metamask-beta-ui.spec.js b/test/e2e/beta/metamask-beta-ui.spec.js
index 9e96ceee625a..e91af5303b30 100644
--- a/test/e2e/beta/metamask-beta-ui.spec.js
+++ b/test/e2e/beta/metamask-beta-ui.spec.js
@@ -37,23 +37,33 @@ describe('MetaMask', function () {
   this.bail(true)
 
   before(async function () {
+    let extensionUrl
     switch (process.env.SELENIUM_BROWSER) {
       case 'chrome': {
         const extPath = path.resolve('dist/chrome')
         driver = buildChromeWebDriver(extPath)
         extensionId = await getExtensionIdChrome(driver)
-        await driver.get(`chrome-extension://${extensionId}/home.html`)
+        await delay(largeDelayMs)
+        extensionUrl = `chrome-extension://${extensionId}/home.html`
         break
       }
       case 'firefox': {
         const extPath = path.resolve('dist/firefox')
         driver = buildFirefoxWebdriver()
         await installWebExt(driver, extPath)
-        await delay(700)
+        await delay(largeDelayMs)
         extensionId = await getExtensionIdFirefox(driver)
-        await driver.get(`moz-extension://${extensionId}/home.html`)
+        extensionUrl = `moz-extension://${extensionId}/home.html`
+        break
       }
     }
+    // Depending on the state of the application built into the above directory (extPath) and the value of
+    // METAMASK_DEBUG we will see different post-install behaviour and possibly some extra windows. Here we
+    // are closing any extraneous windows to reset us to a single window before continuing.
+    const [tab1] = await driver.getAllWindowHandles()
+    await closeAllWindowHandlesExcept(driver, [tab1])
+    await driver.switchTo().window(tab1)
+    await driver.get(extensionUrl)
   })
 
   afterEach(async function () {