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Firefox not set as default, but asks every time I start Firefox although "Perform this check" permanently deselected and about:config settings correctly saved

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  • Last reply by lesamoore

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My startup options already have "Always check if Firefox is your default browser" deselected (yes, it remembers this setting). My about:config settings are: browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser;false browser.shell.skipDefaultBrowserCheck;true (yes, it remembers these settings). Yet, every time I start Firefox, I get the message (see attached screen shot if it actually uploaded) that says "Firefox is not set as default browser ... Always perform this check ... " and there is a ticked tick-box next to it. I was hoping the upgrade to V 50.1.0 would have fixed this bug. My settings appear to be saved correctly but I still get the message on every startup. Driving me nuts! And, no, I will not set it as my default browser just to fix the problem.

My startup options already have "Always check if Firefox is your default browser" deselected (yes, it remembers this setting). My about:config settings are: browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser;false browser.shell.skipDefaultBrowserCheck;true (yes, it remembers these settings). Yet, every time I start Firefox, I get the message (see attached screen shot if it actually uploaded) that says "Firefox is not set as default browser ... Always perform this check ... " and there is a ticked tick-box next to it. I was hoping the upgrade to V 50.1.0 would have fixed this bug. My settings appear to be saved correctly but I still get the message on every startup. Driving me nuts! And, no, I will not set it as my default browser just to fix the problem.

All Replies (3)

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This is not a reply, but I found I can post the images here. See below startup message, config setting and options settings. I'm convinced this is a bug and nothing that I can fix by changing settings. Please help.

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That is what happens if you open that page. When you access the about:preferences#general page then the script that runs on the page check the current setting. If you do not click the Make Default button then nothing will happen.

This is similar to when you access "Help > about Firefox" that will trigger an update download when one is available. Once you open a window that includes a script that checks for updates then a check is done and possibly downloaded and applied. The prefs on about:config only specify what happens on startup as you can see by the label of that section and possibly when a timer expires.


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My point is, I keep getting the message about making Firefox the default browser every time I open Firefox. I don't want to make it my default browser. How do I make it stop putting up the message?