Windows 10 will reach EOS (end of support) on October 14, 2025. For more information, see this article.

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.exe located in appdata\local\mozilla firefox - why?

  • 2 replies
  • 4 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

more options

I do malware remediation for a company. In some recent investigations, I've found a few computers using firefox, and it is running from this location: c:\users\username\appdata\local\mozilla firefox\firefox.exe. (This location exists in versions 15.0.1, 16.0.2, and 19.0.2, and probably others) Most computers run from program files\moz.FF\ - I don't believe that these users have changed the default install location. I have noticed that some of them had evidence of an update file running. All these users should be running as a local admin., and running Win7 Pro. Working in vulnerability management, we notice anything that is "out of place." I ran several searches about this, and found nothing. If this is a legitimate file location and setup, FF should document it. A VirusTotal search for the file in this location shows no hits, but user votes show 4 out of 9 believing it is malicious (anonymous votes, so who knows if these people know anything or their motives). Any help as to why this location is used would be helpful...

I do malware remediation for a company. In some recent investigations, I've found a few computers using firefox, and it is running from this location: c:\users\username\appdata\local\mozilla firefox\firefox.exe. (This location exists in versions 15.0.1, 16.0.2, and 19.0.2, and probably others) Most computers run from program files\moz.FF\ - I don't believe that these users have changed the default install location. I have noticed that some of them had evidence of an update file running. All these users should be running as a local admin., and running Win7 Pro. Working in vulnerability management, we notice anything that is "out of place." I ran several searches about this, and found nothing. If this is a legitimate file location and setup, FF should document it. A VirusTotal search for the file in this location shows no hits, but user votes show 4 out of 9 believing it is malicious (anonymous votes, so who knows if these people know anything or their motives). Any help as to why this location is used would be helpful...

All Replies (2)

more options

That is weird. The appdata directory is where the profile should be, is it not? When I was using Windows, I installed Firefox where I wanted it, not on drive C: at all, and it was not a problem.

more options

This is the update location that is used when the background maintenance service is used to download and temporarily store the files before applying the update.
You will probably see an updates.xml file and an updates folder in each of the Mozilla Firefox folders with a log file.