Uninstall Firefox from your computer

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  • Creator: scoobidiver
  • Comment: Win 2000 stopped in fx13
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  • Reviewed by: AliceWyman
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  • Readied for localization by: AliceWyman
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This article describes how to uninstall the Firefox application for supported operating systems. If you are planning to uninstall and reinstall Firefox to fix problems you may be having, you should first read Troubleshoot and diagnose Firefox problems.

If you also want to remove your Firefox profile (user data and settings such as bookmarks, history, passwords, etc.) you should follow the instructions for removing user data and settings.

Uninstall Firefox

To uninstall Firefox on Windows, follow these steps:

  1. Click the Firefox menu Fx89menuButton and select Exit.Click the Firefox menu at the top of the screen and select Quit Firefox.Click the Firefox menu Fx89menuButton and select Quit.
  2. From the Start Menu in the Windows taskbar, select Control Panel. The Control Panel opens.

    Open Windows 7 Control Panel
  3. Open the Windows program listing.
    • (Windows Vista/7) Click Programs and then Programs and Features.
    • (Windows 2000/XP) Double-click Add or Remove Programs.
  4. From the list of currently installed programs, select Mozilla Firefox.
  5. To begin the uninstall:
    • (Windows Vista/7) Click Uninstall at the top of the window.
    • (Windows 2000/XP) Click Remove on the right of Mozilla Firefox.
      If the Uninstall Wizard does not run, you can start it manually, by running helper.exe, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
      (32-bit Windows) C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\uninstall\helper.exe
      (64-bit Windows) C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\uninstall\helper.exe
  6. In the Mozilla Firefox Uninstall Wizard that opens, click Next.
  7. Click Uninstall.
    • If Firefox is still open, you must close Firefox to proceed with the uninstall.
    • If you want to remove your Firefox user data and settings, put a check mark in the box that says Remove my Firefox personal data. If you select this option, Firefox will not preserve your bookmarks, saved passwords, and other data if it is installed again.
    • To provide feedback on your Firefox experience to the development team, select Tell us what you thought of Firefox.
  8. Click Finish.
  9. To remove other files and folders that may not be removed by the uninstall, you must manually delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
    • (32-bit Windows) C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
    • (64-bit Windows) C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
  1. Open the Applications folder in Finder.
  2. Drag the Firefox application to the Trash.

Your uninstall of Firefox is finished.

If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux for details. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder firefox in your home directory to uninstall Firefox.

Removing user data and settings

Uninstalling Firefox with the default options does not remove your user profile, which includes personal information such as bookmarks, passwords and cookies. If you also want to remove this information, you should remove the folder that contains your Firefox profile, which is stored in a separate location from the Firefox program.

  1. If you want to preserve your bookmarks, passwords, cookies, and other user data and settings, see Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.
  2. Delete the firefox folder that contains your profile folder and the profiles.ini file Delete the Firefox folder that contains the Profiles folder and the profiles.ini file - see How do I find my profile? for the location.



Based on information from Uninstalling Firefox (mozillaZine KB)