Regular Firefox (Win7 X64) wants to update to ESR
Hi.
I just checked to see if there were an update to Firefox, for my secondary laptop. But for some reason it wants to update from "Version 115.0.3 (64-bit)" to "115.1esr".
I have never used ESR in my life, so why does it want to update to ESR?
Is this expected, or is there a problem with this? It is intentional that I use my Windows 7 64-bit laptop.
All Replies (3)
See Firefox users on Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 moving to Extended Support Release
Mozilla will no longer be supporting older versions of Windows for the regular release of Firefox after FF version 115. To ensure users keep getting security updates, they're migrating users on those older operating systems to the ESR version of Firefox; as that will be supported until September 2024 on those platforms.
I don't think that Firefox 115.1.0 ESR already has been released for download (there is a release candidate), so this might be a preliminary update button to prepare for the actual release next Tuesday as current is still 115.0.3esr and the update to 115.1.0 will likely fail at this time.
Firefox 115.1.0 ESR is scheduled for Release on August 1st which is when 116.0 will also be released.
Mikkel Trebbien (DK) said
I have never used ESR in my life, so why does it want to update to ESR? It is intentional that I use my Windows 7 64-bit laptop.
Well the old EOL Windows 7, 8, 8.1 is being dropped as of Firefox 116.0 and later. macOS users are affected also as macOS 10.12, 10.13, 10.14 is being dropped starting Fx 116.0 and later also.
The good news is with Firefox 115 ESR the last planned update will be in September 2024. So you will still get security and stability fixes since. Yet Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Opera already dropped support of the old EOL Windows 7, 8, 8.1 back in January/February.
ESR is normally for Enterprise users in mind however this is not the first time Mozilla put certain OS users on the ESR channel to still get updates as the last time for Windows users was with Fx 52 ESR so WinXP/Vista users could still get Firefox updates (last was 52.9.0esr) which ended over two years after Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Opera dropped WinXP/Vista
The only way you can use Firefox 116.0 or later on your hardware will be to either update to Windows 10 or later or to use a Linux distro, which can be dual booted along side Windows 7. I suggest to use a lighter desktop like XFCE and not Gnome or KDE.
Modified by James