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

I get continuous "Restart to update Firefox" messages.

  • 6 replies
  • 6 have this problem
  • 4 views
  • Last reply by admiral10

more options

I get a "Restart to update Firefox" message under the "Firefox Updates" section of "General Options." I click on that button and Firefox restarts, but the "Restart to update Firefox" button is still there. This occurs continuously. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I get a "Restart to update Firefox" message under the "Firefox Updates" section of "General Options." I click on that button and Firefox restarts, but the "Restart to update Firefox" button is still there. This occurs continuously. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

All Replies (6)

more options

Well, that's frustrating. I wonder whether the update files are incomplete? You could try deleting the updates folder and wait until Firefox downloads it again and see whether that works better. Here's how:

First, copy the following path and paste it into the Windows system search box (for example on the Taskbar or Start menu). Windows should show that it will open the path in File Explorer. When you see that confirmation, either press Enter or click the relevant part of the Start menu:

C:\ProgramData\Mozilla\updates

Most people will have one folder here, named with a mix of letters and numbers. For example, 64-bit Firefox for Windows in U.S. English has this number on mine:

308046B0AF4A39CB

However, your number might vary. Doesn't matter. Double-click into the folder. Then double-click into the updates subfolder.

There are a couple of log files here about what happened with the last attempted update. However, I don't know that we could learn a lot from those. You could view them in Notepad or another text editor and see whether they sound helpful.

If you find one or more numbered folders, I suggest deleting those folders. Either they are empty, or Firefox is not able to use their contents.

You probably need to exit Firefox and start it back up again before it checks that folder for changes.

Any improvement?

more options

Did you try to reboot the computer ?

more options

cor-el Yeah, I've rebooted several times. Same results.

more options

jscher2000: Thanks for your reply. No joy there. I should have mentioned that I recently migrated from Win7 to Win10 via Laplink. The pertinent log entry appears to be : NS_main: callback app file in use, failed to exclusively open executable file: C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe The file looks normal, not read only.

more options

Boot the computer in Windows Safe mode with network support to see if that has effect in case security software is causing problems.

more options

Hi- Starting Windows 10 in safe mode is, of course, more involved than it should be. When I did it, though, the system came up with Firefox saying that it was up to date. Restarting normally, it now still shows that Firefox is up to date. So should I just wait to see what happens at the next update?