How to keep Thunderbird from updating itself?
I have Thunderbird v. 102.15.1 installed. I do not want to update to v. 115.16.2. I have set HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Thunderbird\DisableAppUpdate = 1. This worked for several months. However yesterday when I turned my computer on, I found that Thunderbird had updated to v. 115.16.2. After a great deal of fruitless attempts to downdate it again, I finally restored all of my C: drive from a backup I'd fortunately made just the day before. That worked and brought back v. 102.
However when I turned my computer on this morning, I found that once again Thunderbird had updated to v. 115. When I go to Menu > Help > About Thunderbird, it shows a window saying "Updates disabled by your system administrator". Yet "disabled" or not, Thunderbird updates itself! (I don't know what "system administrator" means - it's my computer and I'm the "administrator".)
How can I keep Thunderbird from updating without my permission?
Chosen solution
Thanks for your helpful response. I think I've finally got Thunderbird to stop updating itself. I have:
(1) [Folder in which Thunderbird is located]\ distribution\"policies.json" containing: {
"policies": {
"DisableAppUpdate": true,
"DisableFeedbackCommands": true,
"DisableSystemAddonUpdate": true,
"DisableTelemetry": true,
"ExtensionUpdate": false,
"ManualAppUpdateOnly": true,
"AppAutoUpdate": false,
"AppUpdateURL": "https://yoursiteisnothere.com"
}
} (The first four settings are from other suggestions people or chatbots made; the last three are yours.) Unfortunately going to Settings>General > Updates does not say “Failed to check for updates” , but only the usual "Updates disabled by your system administrator", so I can't verify.
In addition I have:
(2) HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Mozilla\Thunderbird: DisableAppUpdate = 1.
(3) C:\ProgramData\Mozilla\updates\308...39CB\update-config.json, which contains HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Thunderbird\DisableAppUpdate = 1
(4) [Thunderbird Profile folder]\prefs.js, which contains: user_pref("app.update.auto", false); user_pref("app.update.auto.migrated", true);
(5) C:\ProgramData\Mozilla\updates\308046B0AF4A39CB\update-config.json, which contains: {"app.update.auto":false}
I find it disturbing that stopping Thunderbird automatic updates requires so many different steps, and missing any one of them could cause the process to fail.
Again, thanks for the help!
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Chosen Solution
Thanks for your helpful response. I think I've finally got Thunderbird to stop updating itself. I have:
(1) [Folder in which Thunderbird is located]\ distribution\"policies.json" containing: {
"policies": {
"DisableAppUpdate": true,
"DisableFeedbackCommands": true,
"DisableSystemAddonUpdate": true,
"DisableTelemetry": true,
"ExtensionUpdate": false,
"ManualAppUpdateOnly": true,
"AppAutoUpdate": false,
"AppUpdateURL": "https://yoursiteisnothere.com"
}
} (The first four settings are from other suggestions people or chatbots made; the last three are yours.) Unfortunately going to Settings>General > Updates does not say “Failed to check for updates” , but only the usual "Updates disabled by your system administrator", so I can't verify.
In addition I have:
(2) HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Mozilla\Thunderbird: DisableAppUpdate = 1.
(3) C:\ProgramData\Mozilla\updates\308...39CB\update-config.json, which contains HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Thunderbird\DisableAppUpdate = 1
(4) [Thunderbird Profile folder]\prefs.js, which contains: user_pref("app.update.auto", false); user_pref("app.update.auto.migrated", true);
(5) C:\ProgramData\Mozilla\updates\308046B0AF4A39CB\update-config.json, which contains: {"app.update.auto":false}
I find it disturbing that stopping Thunderbird automatic updates requires so many different steps, and missing any one of them could cause the process to fail.
Again, thanks for the help!
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