Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Updating Nightly reverts to regular, non-Nightly Firefox

  • 15 cavab
  • 5 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by John99

more options

I've been forced to switch to Firefox Nightly because latest updates automatically disable some addons that I need and can't replace. Fair enough. Today, when my Nightly 48.0 updated to 48.3 I was prompted that the "partial update" didn't work and it'd go for the full download. That one installs flawlessly; and when I restart Firefox, to my surprise I see that the Firefox icon is red again and I'm told that "some addons are unsigned and have been disabled".

Of course, this means I'm going to install my 48.0 Nightly again and temporarily disable automatic updates until we find out what the fox is happening here and how to solve this problem. I'm not knowledgeable enough of Firefox's insides to do this by myself.

EDIT: It isn't Nightly, it's Unbranded 48.0 (got them mixed up because Unbranded calls herself Nightly)

I've been forced to switch to Firefox Nightly because latest updates automatically disable some addons that I need and can't replace. Fair enough. Today, when my Nightly 48.0 updated to 48.3 I was prompted that the "partial update" didn't work and it'd go for the full download. That one installs flawlessly; and when I restart Firefox, to my surprise I see that the Firefox icon is red again and I'm told that "some addons are unsigned and have been disabled". Of course, this means I'm going to install my 48.0 Nightly again and temporarily disable automatic updates until we find out what the fox is happening here and how to solve this problem. I'm not knowledgeable enough of Firefox's insides to do this by myself. EDIT: It isn't Nightly, it's Unbranded 48.0 (got them mixed up because Unbranded calls herself Nightly)

Modified by Megamoya

Chosen solution

If you try the latest version of the unbranded Release does that work ok & not update to a Banded Firefox Release

Johan bug 1290548#c37 Re the above: Just found the updated build here: https://archive.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/tinderbox-builds/mozilla-release-win32-add-on-devel/1472654901/ Seems your definition of "Latest build" is quite off, given that https://wiki.mozilla.org/Add-ons/Extension_Signing#Latest_Builds still points to the 48.0.0 version. Yet another reason to give us proper auto-updating, I mean if you can't even keep the "latest builds" page for manual updating up-to-date...

I have not tried that myself, and may not have understood fully that bug.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (15)

more options

try updating your plugings or refreshing your firefox

update your plugins. https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/

Then try to Reset Firefox. Reset Firefox – easily fix most problems

more options

For refreshing your firefox try this link https://malwaretips.com/blogs/reset-firefox-settings/

more options

rahulparakh678 said

try updating your plugings or refreshing your firefox update your plugins. https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/ Then try to Reset Firefox. Reset Firefox – easily fix most problems

If I understand correctly, you're suggesting that I reset my profile, try to update and then reinstall my addons again, right?

more options

The "unbranded" version of Firefox 48.0 may have the generic Nightly branding, but it's not really a nightly alpha 1 development version. Plus if was really a "nightly" it would be updated "daily" and stay a "nightly" and not act like a chameleon by changing colors with an update. (a pinch of lizard humor) I suppose Mozilla was too lazy to come up with a unique branding & icon package for it.

And yes the unbranded version will update to the Release version. After reading a few Bug reports about that, it sounds like that is intended and not a fault or a fluke that is going to be corrected. Quite honestly I feel mislead (or focked over) by Mozilla over this issue of the unbranded version not updating, something that was promised for almost a year with no mention of it not capable of being updated. Then again, maybe someone will come up with an "updater extension", that won't need to be signed (lol),

more options

So... the Mozilla team are a bunch of lying liars that lie? This is unacceptable. Time to look up for forks.

more options

Yes i am saying to reset profile, try to update and then reinstall addons again

more options

Mozilla used to be better with having names for a version branch like they used to do up till Firefox 4.0

The normal Nightly builds refers to one of the four main channels Release < Beta (b#) < Aurora (a2) (aka developers edition) < Nightly (a1)

The version 51.0 is currently on the Nightly channel. Nightly and Aurora gets checking almost everyday so it gets updates each of those days. Sometimes this can cause issues until fixed, finished, or reverted.

Modified by James

more options

Seçilmiş Həll

If you try the latest version of the unbranded Release does that work ok & not update to a Banded Firefox Release

Johan bug 1290548#c37 Re the above: Just found the updated build here: https://archive.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/tinderbox-builds/mozilla-release-win32-add-on-devel/1472654901/ Seems your definition of "Latest build" is quite off, given that https://wiki.mozilla.org/Add-ons/Extension_Signing#Latest_Builds still points to the 48.0.0 version. Yet another reason to give us proper auto-updating, I mean if you can't even keep the "latest builds" page for manual updating up-to-date...

I have not tried that myself, and may not have understood fully that bug.

more options

John99 said

If you try the latest version of the unbranded Release does that work ok & not update to a Banded Firefox Release
Johan bug 1290548#c37 Re the above: Just found the updated build here: https://archive.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/tinderbox-builds/mozilla-release-win32-add-on-devel/1472654901/ Seems your definition of "Latest build" is quite off, given that https://wiki.mozilla.org/Add-ons/Extension_Signing#Latest_Builds still points to the 48.0.0 version. Yet another reason to give us proper auto-updating, I mean if you can't even keep the "latest builds" page for manual updating up-to-date...

I have not tried that myself, and may not have understood fully that bug.

Thank you, that allowed me to sidestep the problem for now. I'll mark this issue as "Solved", although it won't have a *real* solution until Mozilla gets a reality check and creates a release channel for the Unbranded builds.

more options

By all means look for "forks". IMO, Firefox without its extensibility is a poor excuse for a web browser and would have never gained the desktop 25%+ market penetration that it had back in 2010; and then pissed away with what became Firefox 4.0 (delayed well over a year from the original release schedule) to end up at < 8% in recent months. How long before pie charts categorize Firefox in the "other" "slice of the pie"? So low that is doesn't even get an "honorable mention" and just gets lumped in with all the "wanna-be's" or "also ran's".

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2893514/an-incredibly-shrinking-firefox-faces-endangered-species-status.html


I "hear" what John99 is saying and I'm gonna give the Add-on Developer / unbranded / "Nightly" version another chance with 48.0.3 and see what happens when Firefox 49 is released on Sept 13 - will it update "correctly" to 49 or will it switch to the Release channel, as I think it will. I feel strongly enough that it is worth my time to wait a bit before "pulling the plug".


Overall, for my daily activities I intend to use SeaMonkey more and not update Firefox at all, until the "Add-ons" situation turns to hell when all XUL based extensions just don't work any longer and we are stuck with WebExtensions that have much more limited capabilities.

And currently my most used version (& Profile) is the Firefox 38.8.0 ESR version. And I have Firefox 47.0.1 for general surfing, with a few Profiles.

more options

This just happened to me. Frustrating. What a bunch of assholes. No, really. Not that I'm some uneducated moron from some far corner of the web who doesn't understand "the Bigger Picture". I get it. But Ff devs or whoever's behind this "strategy" - they're assholes. Just think the whole chain of events through an you'll understand what I mean. Think it through. Free, open and whatever - they're as evil as Microsoft, Google or any other big business. None of their promises are worth a thing.

more options

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1118840#answer-910187

How many times are you going to complain about this issue?


Please see the Forum Rules and Guidelines page before posting again.

more options

Ok, we finally have some info that I had to pick around at huge time waste and get working for me, looks like... Here is what I have found/done. Let me know if any is wrong...

If you want a Firefox that honors the about:config setting xpinstall.signatures.required with false, and allows unsigned plugins, then go to https://wiki.mozilla.org/Add-ons/Extension_Signing#Unbranded_Builds and install from the Latest Release Builds section to get the UNBRANDED (Nightly branding). I used the Windows 32-bit installer link. Note the name in that link (it has the release numbers in it), and download/save from the link, so you can tell next time when you try it again, and if it says duplicate, you know the link is not updated yet, and you will have saved your previous download for future backout, etc. I do see that the page/link was updated later in the day on 09/20/16 when 49 came out, so it looks to be being updated.  :-)

I did this the day before 49 came out, and got 48.0.2, just as I wanted. I Installed over 47.0.1 (or .2, I forget, but whatever). All of my settings and config info was retained, as far as I can tell, I did have a cloud.7 norton insight quarantine a dll file that stopped nightly from starting - after I later rebooted - and I restored it. Nightly is installed in a different program folder, so I was able to use 47.0.1 when 48.0.2 would not start, to google the problem, etc. Norton might not like that location, and name nightly for a browser, is all I could figure out, so I restored/excluded that dll file.

When I then clicked on the download and installed, it installed as Mozilla Developer Preview, but the browser is named Nightly, by the way.

Everything looked good, except Nightly is a dark blue ball, and desktop icons that had firefox or ie as browser shortcut, all turned dark, but hey - ok!

Today, I got a notice that Firefox 49 is available, so Nightly does let us know when an update is available, and it also showed up in Help/About, but I didn't fall for it. The page I mentioned above was not updated yet, but now it is.

So looks like we have notification (be sure to turn off auto update, but notify works - my options carried over), but need to wait until the page/link is updated (and maybe a few days), and download/save from there.

In fact, the download is over 40 meg so it is the full install (? I guess), so doing the updates this way looks to keep a trail and fallback that I didn't previously have, so this could be an improvement - wow!


edit - typos N.B. there should be an edit button to the right of the post

Modified by John99

more options

I don't see how to edit - this ain't Amazon I guess. nubers = numbers dary = dark And I had meant to specifically say not to let it update. Manually get the update from the page each time, as they make the update available.

After all that trouble/research, looks like this works ok. Too bad a little more info was not provided by the "designers" of this process.

It also seems good that the unbranded (Nightly branded) does not update itself , but monitors the true release availability for us. That way we know if we get behind on the unbranded availability, etc.

Modified September 20, 2016 at 4:15:20 PM PDT by moz101mo

more options

Sounds like one small part of the workaround is improving then.