Uninstall Firefox from your computer

Revision Information
  • Revision id: 658
  • Created:
  • Creator: Underpass
  • Comment: fix link to getfirefox
  • Reviewed: Yes
  • Reviewed:
  • Reviewed by: underpass
  • Is approved? Yes
  • Is current revision? No
  • Ready for localization: Yes
  • Readied for localization:
  • Readied for localization by: underpass
Revision Source
Revision Content

This article describes how to uninstall Firefox for supported operating systems. If you are planning to uninstall and reinstall Firefox to fix problems you may be having, you should first read Basic troubleshooting.

If you are uninstalling Firefox in preparation for a clean reinstall you should also follow the instructions for removing your user data and settings.

Uninstall Firefox

To uninstall Firefox on Windows, follow these steps:

  1. Exit Firefox. From the menu at the top of the Firefox window, select File and then select the Exit menu item.
  2. From the Start Menu in the Windows taskbar, select Control Panel. The Control Panel opens.

    controlPanel-resized.png
  3. Open the Windows program listing.
    • (Windows Vista) Click Uninstall a program.
    • (Windows 2000/XP) Double-click Add or Remove Programs.
  1. From the list of currently installed programs, select Mozilla Firefox

    removeProgramsList-resized.png
  2. To begin the uninstall:
    • (Windows Vista) Click Uninstall.
    • (Windows 2000/XP) Click Remove.
+
If the Uninstall Wizard does not run, you can start it manually, by running C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\uninstall\helper.exe.
  1. In the Mozilla Firefox Uninstall Wizard that opens, click Next.
  2. 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.
  1. Click Finish.
  2. To remove added plugins or other files and folders that may not be removed by the uninstall you must manually delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located here by default: C:\Program files\Mozilla Firefox
  1. Open the Applications folder.
  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. To do a clean uninstall, you should also remove these files.

  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 to find your profile for the location.



Based on information from Uninstalling Firefox (mozillaZine KB)