I would look at our enterprise policy:

https://mozilla.github.io/policy-templates/

It should allow you to do what you need.

It's just a JSON file you can put on the machines, so it should be easy to do.

Thanks Mike,

I tumbled over this page before, but didn't find scripting examples that really looked like templates. Therefore I didn't bookmark it. "Easy" is always relative. It seems to be quite a lot of reading and trial and error in front of me. I'm going to try it... As I wrote, we are amateurs - including myself. I'm uncertain whether I should mark it as "solved". Helpful? Of course.

The issue with a user.js file is that it can set starting values (overriding previous session preference changes) but it cannot lock values against changes or push extension installations. So Enterprise Policy definitely will be more useful.

Do you have a list of what you need to set? That would make it easier to discuss specific policy details.

uBlock Origin is included in the example ExtensionSettings policy, but also a few others (each separated by commas): https://mozilla.github.io/policy-templates/#extensionsettings

I'm more than happy to help you and help create the files you need.

If you can tell me exactly what you need to do, I can help you.

What I could do is giving you the listing of a pretty new profile containing the preferred settings as listed in the prefs.js. Unfortunately it looks quite comprehensive. A shorter version below.

Some examples, that Mozilla possibly doesn't like too much in some cases:

• We don't want any sponsor content now the news on FF's starting page.
• The preferred search should be done either via Startpage or Ecosia.
• No 3rd-party cookies, tracking, known or assumed fingerprinters, but allowing FF to avoid problems with known pages
• Telling web sites not to sell personal data (even if this doesn't help)
• No saved Passwords (probably possible when protected with an Admin-PW?)
• No saved payment methods
• No history saving (delete when leaving)
• No feedback nor telemetry (data acquisition by FF/Mozilla
• Blocking dangerous content / web sites

Addons: "uBlock Origin" and "I still don't care about cookies" (Guus)

That's it. Having the right template, I could probably help myself.

Actually, you've offered your hand and I took your arm... Sorry

That's what I'm here for. I'm out for the next week, but I'll get you something when I get back.

This is all pretty straightforward

Hello Mike,

I'm still hoping for your help. Thanks in advance.

{

   "policies": {
       "AutofillAddressEnabled": false,
       "AutofillCreditCardEnabled": false,
       "DisableTelemetry": true,
       "EnableTrackingProtection": {
         "Category": "strict"
       },
       "ExtensionSettings": {
         "uBlock0@raymondhill.net": {
           "installation_mode": "force_installed",
           "install_url": "https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/downloads/latest/ublock-origin/latest.xpi"
         },
         "idcac-pub@guus.ninja": {
           "installation_mode": "force_installed",
           "install_url": "https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/downloads/latest/istilldontcareaboutcookies/latest.xpi"
         }
       },
       "FirefoxHome": {
           "SponsoredStories": false,
           "SponsoredTiles": false
       },
       "OfferToSaveLogins": false,
       "PasswordManagerEnabled": false,
       "SanitizeOnShutdown": {
           "Cache": true,
           "Cookies": true,
           "FormData": true,
           "History": true,
           "Sessions": true,
           "SiteSettings": true,
           "Locked": true
       },
       "SearchEngines": {
           "Default": "Ecosia"
       }
   }

}

I think this should cover what you need. You create a directory called "distribution" where Firefox is installed and put this there as "policies.json"

Now that you have the basics, you can go through

https://mozilla.github.io/policy-templates/

and tweak things that you want.

Thanks Mike, that looks great and even not overwhelming as far as complexity is concerned. I'll try it first as it is - but...

Of course I got questions when reading the code:

• What happens when I would try replacing "Ecosia" by "Startpage" or "Qwant"? Both search engines are not in FF's default list, but are following a strict privacy policy.

I found a nice add-on ("Query AMO Addon ID") on GitHub that was helpful when asking for .xpi URLs, but failed when trying to find entries in about:config leading to any web search that had been installed by right clicking the related active URL (e.g. https://startpage.com). I'm not looking for an installed search engine.

The only variable I identified was part of this string: https://addons.mozilla.org/%LOCALE%/firefox/search-engines/ but returned all and everything.

You can use the SearchEngines Add policy here:

https://mozilla.github.io/policy-templates/#searchengines--add

You really only need three things, the name, an icon, and a search URL.

The icon is pretty much always https://websitename/favicon.ico

And you can get the search URL by just doing a search on the site. On Qwant it's easy:

https://www.qwant.com/?q={searchTerms}&t=web

For Startpage it's

https://www.startpage.com/sp/search?query={searchTerms}