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

Firefox Beta channel does not update to next Beta build, why?

  • 5 replies
  • 5 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by W.D.

more options

On both the Nightly and Aurora channels, when a new build is available if you 'check for update' the update is Downloaded and applied. On the Beta channel this does not happen. Is there some config setting I need to change for updates to be found?

It is not that a Partial Mar file is not generated (Ex: the update for Firefox 5.0b3 to 5.0b4 can be found here http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.or.../en-US/ firefox-5.0b3-5.0b4.partial.mar).

Side note:

 If I manually download the Partial Mar, for the Beta update channel, the procedure described on Mozilla Wiki (here: Manually Installing a MAR file ) has not been working for a while. And, needs to be updated for Firefox 4.x and above.
On both the Nightly and Aurora channels, when a new build is available if you 'check for update' the update is Downloaded and applied. On the Beta channel this does not happen. Is there some config setting I need to change for updates to be found? It is not that a Partial Mar file is not generated (Ex: the update for Firefox 5.0b3 to 5.0b4 can be found here [http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/5.0b4-candidates/build1/update/win32/en-US/] firefox-5.0b3-5.0b4.partial.mar). Side note: If I manually download the Partial Mar, for the Beta update channel, the procedure described on Mozilla Wiki (here: [https://wiki.mozilla.or/Software_Update:Manually_Installing_a_MAR_file Manually Installing a MAR file] ) has not been working for a while. And, needs to be updated for Firefox 4.x and above.

Modified by W.D.

All Replies (5)

more options

Try using one of the links here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/channel/

more options

I do end up downloading the Complete executable (example from here: Firefox Setup 5.0b4.exe ), and then reinstall the latest Beta channel build.

But, this would not be needed if the 'About Firefox->Check for Update' worked. That is my question, why is the 'Check for Update' not working on the Beta channel, like it is for the Aurora and Nightly channels?

Is it something as simple as changing a preference in 'about:config'?

Or, should I be filing a Bug on Bugzilla instead of asking the question here?

Modified by W.D.

more options

One of the mods with the nickname the-edmeister is an expert in this field I believe, so hang on until he arrives. I'm sure he'll be able to help you.

Modified by Xircal

more options

That version is not a release yet, but a release candidate build. Once it has become a release then you can update.


You need these three files to make updating via a MAR archive work.

update.status: pending (with a linefeed;0x0A)(you can open this data URI in Firefox and save the file: data:text/plain,pending%0A) 
update.version: 5.0 (version to update to, e.g. 5.0)
update.mar

Modified by cor-el

more options

With the latest Beta I finally received an automatic update. They must have had them disabled before.

Firefox/5.0 ID:20110614174314 (this matches the Firefox 5.0b7 build ID).