failed Firefox updates
Dear Firefox Community
I’m a Mac user. I’ve been a happy Firefox user for about eight years or more, with few problems. The only main one has been the refusal of Firefox to update automatically, even though I’ve ticked the box in preferences for this to happen so I always have to update by restarting Firefox manually and downloading it again.
I’m currently using Firefox 78.8.0esr. It needs updating, and I’ve tried about six or seven times over the last 6 weeks (most recently to Firefox 90.0.2dmg). Every time I do this, however, Firefox loses memory of me - and all my bookmarks (you’ll understand that after eight years there are a few hundred of these) disappear. I’ve copied them in in various ways (most recently by importing my Firefox bookmarks from 78.8.0 into Safari and then into Firefox 90 - and it works for about 12 hours or so, but then on the second or third time I open it reverts to the bookmarkless screen as if I’m a completely new user (with a really irritating picture of Soraya who is a Firefox fan and presumably is exempt the kind of problems I’m having).
Can you explain what is happening please, and how I can overcome this?
Thanks,
Steve Charters
edited email from public and search/spam bots view as this is a public community forum. Also moved this thread from iOS section (for iPhones/iPad) to desktop Firefox section as you are using a Mac.
Athraithe ag James ar
All Replies (6)
Let’s do a full clean re-install;
Note: Firefox comes in three or more folders on all computers. They are;
Maintenance: (Programs Folder) <Windows Only> Firefox itself: (Programs Folder) And two folders in the profile of each user on the computer for each Firefox profile for that user.
If you remove the Firefox folder, the user profiles would not be affected.
Download Firefox For All languages And Systems {web link}
Firefox ESR; Extended Support Release {web link}
Beta, Developer, Nightly versions https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/channel/desktop/
Install Older Version Of Firefox {web link}
Save the file. Then Close Firefox.
Using your file browser, open the Programs Folder on your computer.
Windows: C:\Program Files C:\Program Files (x86) Note: Check Both Folders
Mac: Open the "Applications" folder. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-download-and-install-firefox-mac
Linux: Check your user manual. If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it. See Install Firefox on Linux; https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/install-firefox-linux
If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder Firefox in your home directory. http://www.mozilla.org/firefox#desktop ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Look for, and remove any Mozilla or Firefox program folders. Do not remove the Mozilla Thunderbird folder if there is one.
Do Not remove any profile folders.
After rebooting the computer, run a registry scanner if you have one. Then run the installer. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ If there is a problem, start your Computer in safe mode and try again.
How to Start all Computers in Safe Mode; {web link} Free Online Encyclopedia
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-run-firefox-when-profile-missing-inaccessible
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox#Navigating_to_the_profile_folder
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles
Type about:profiles<enter> in the address bar.
How many profiles are listed?
How many should be there?
Also, open the profile folder in your file explorer.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recover-user-data-missing-after-firefox-update
I'm really sorry, but I don't understand any of this after the first two sentences! I'm a complete IT neanderthal. You give me a whole series of websites but I'm not sure what to do with them. Also, I don't have Firefox in my Applications on my Mac.
Sorry,
Isn't the problem with Firefox itself? It hasn't been like this previously,
Steve
Try to follow carefully this article How to download and install Firefox on Mac.
Thanks TyDraniu
I've been following this advice (a number of times). Maybe I do something wrong, but I think not, and it has never worked. I always lose my bookmarks from the updated version. Do you think I'm making some simple mistake?
Steve
I'm not very familiar with Mac, but did you drop the Firefox icon to the Applications folder?