Firefox Community Forum

I have just started a new job and installed the Firefox browser on my PC (W11) as part of setting up my new workstation. The application works fine until I get a message that Firefox needs to install an update, 'please close it or it will close automatically in one hour'. After the update I get a message that the update is complete and you can restart the application, but the application no longer works; the icon on the application list no longer works 'The item firefox.exe that this shortcut refers to has been changed or moved'. After re-installing Firefox it works OK again, but the process repeats. Although I have managed to succesfully update a new installation on two occasions, after a few days the process repeats and I need to re-install again.

Is it safe to clear the Firefox(Android version) app data and caches from the device settings? I do clear both really often to free up space(some times even multiple times in a day), but i don't know if it can give problems... I don't care about my history and logins being lost since its expected, but i don't want the app to glitch, not updating or maybe lose security features or ending up with corrupted files or anything like that. Also, with the new update (142.0.1) a new look for the menu was added, i updated the app but i saw no difference, in the past when doing the clearing a new Firefox menu showed up, changes between clears(also, Firefox is my default browser, if it can help; also, could rebooting my phone after clearing data and caches give some problems?), i hope its not because of my frequent clears. Thanks to anyone who can help me figure this out, if any more info are needed i will be happy to tell you more about it. I don't know if im being paranoid or anything but better safe than sorry.

(Win11Pro) If I allow Firefox to update itself from 123.14.0 ESR to 140.3.0 ESR (now apparently 140.3.1 ESR), the update apparently corrupts something in the browser so that it does not respond to the entry of ANY URL. I have to restore a backup of my C: drive, losing some recent data every time. As it stands, I cannot update Firefox beyond ESR 128.14.0, which is what I'm using now. What should I do? Do I have to switch to another browser? Thank you for your help with this. --AnneF

Firefox Win7 I had disabled updates, now i want background updates to work. I have disabled all the hacks I did, but no joy. Reinstalled maintenanceservice, still none.

At some time in the past I used some feature of Firefox to create a policy that disables the update feature of Firefox. The active policy is "DisableAppUpdate" which is set to True. No matter what I do to correct this it keeps showing up. I have tried several different procedures to remove it but none have worked. I have tried using "about:config", doesn't work, deleting Firefox entirely and then empty trash and downloading a fresh copy of Firefox and re-installing, doesn't work, using an empty policies.json file in the distribution folder, doesn't work, I have even tried using terminal and entering: "grep -rwl ~/Library/Application\ Support/Firefox -e policies.json" and that doesn't work! I am at a loss of ideas on how to get rid of this and being able to update through the update feature of Firefox instead of having to go to the Mozilla website and check if there is a new version and manually installing it. I would be very grateful if someone could help! P.S. I forgot to mention when I click on the link of "your browser is being managed by...." in settings it opens a new tab showing "about:policies" and the tab title says "Enterprise Policies".

Hi,

I have updated to version 139 and now the latest (142) manually. When I go to About > Firefox, I got error: Firefox is being updated by another instance

I am the only user logged in. There isn't any other instance. There are no other profiles.

Any ideas or is this a bug? Thanks.

apply patch failed message. version 143.0.1 September 19 2025 update. Yet states "updated" Details saying message apply patch failed is found via firefox browser settings-firefox update history-details. I noticed that on that exact day of the update Audible books will not play as they did previously on the same day prior to update. They play on every other browser but firefox.

As the subject says Firefox wont auto update, I have to download the Firefox Installer to update.

Setting says :- Firefox is being updated by another instance

But what interface? How can I fix this? I did have Firefox portable but got rid of that and installed the full package.

Any help welcome

thank you,

Bob

After easy semi-automatic updates for many years, the last two updates (143.0.3 and 143.0.4 on Windows 10 64bit) have stuck showing "Downloading update -- 0 bytes" for hours. The first time I eventually gave up and used the installer from the Firefox site to re-install. This seemed to get me to 143.0.3 without losing any important data in my profile but was certainly the hard way!

Now the same thing is happening during the update to 143.0.4. What's going on? Are other users having this problem? -- jclarkw

P.S. -- How can you manually stop and update during the download process? -- jclarkw

I had renewed my subscription for MS365 on Tuesday the 30th when I got a popup inviting me to update Firefox to the latest release. I agreed and the download appeared to have worked. However, I soon found I could not access any of the MS365 apps. I restarted and found Firefox had also disappeared. The icons are present in the list of apps but clicking on them gets no response.

I have deleted and reinstalled Firefox and downloaded a new MS365 with no change.

I have Norton online antivirus and the MS365 comes with continuous Defender using Malwarebytes. (I am running down the remaining Norton subscription). I have also used both to do a sweep on each but no problems were found.

I have Outlook which has not been affected.

I am coming to the conclusion that I may need to do a full deletion of both. Can anyone suggest any other way to deal with this?

After your most recent update my bookmarks disappeared and I cannot make any new bookmarks. Your updates are always intrusive and disruptive given that you shut down my computer while I am working, but until now you have not damaged anything. If I cannot rely upon you I will need to look for another search engine that is more reliable.

All I have is an older windows 7 dell laptop and firefox was working ok but then it said firefox must be updated by march 14 so i clicked on the update but it has been over 24 hours and the little circle is still going around with 0 results why

A new issue with Firefox. I download updates myself, not automatically. This morning after updating, I clicked to restart Firefox, and it restarts, but still shows that it needs to restart. Even after multiple attempts. How to resolve? Thanks

Hallo zusammen,

ich kann meinen Firefox nicht mehr aufrufen, weil er wohl nicht kompatibel mit 133 ist. Es wird empfohlen zu deinstallieren und neu zu installieren. Aber dann sind meine Favoriten, Lesezeichen und Passwörter weg. Ich kann sie nicht sichern, weil ich keinen Zugriff auf die alte Version habe. Wie löse ich das Problem?

Viele Grüße Annette

Hello everyone,

I can no longer access my Firefox because it is probably not compatible with 133 (see screenshot). It is recommended to uninstall and reinstall. But then my favorites, bookmarks and passwords are gone. I can't save them because I don't have access to the old version. How do I solve the problem?

Best regards Annette