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Can only install on Windows 7 in Administrator Mode, then doesn't receive links clicked in other programmes

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by dancapp

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I had Firefox installed on my Windows 7 system fine, but the automatic update never worked ("The partial update could not be completed...") until I manually started firefox in administrator mode. The solution I found (on this forum) was to simply reinstall firefox.

So I downloaded the latest stub file and uninstalled my existing firefox install. Then I click the stub exe and literally nothing happens - no error message, just nothing. The solution I find to this is to download the full non-stub exe, turn off my anti-virus and try installing that. I click the non-stub exe, get asked to confirm 'Run', then it unpackages and... does nothing. Again. No error, the process just disappears and I'm left back at square one.

I know from experience with problems installing other programmes that I can usually solve it by running the install exe in administrator mode, but I wanted to avoid this for the reason I'm about to explain:

I installed firefox in administrator mode and it worked just fine. Problem is, when I use firefox now it seems to automatically be an 'elevated', 'administrator' version of the program and does not communicate properly with the rest of my system. For example, if I click a link in an email (in Thunderbird), even though firefox is my default browser, nothing happens - the link doesn't get sent to firefox. I have to manually copy and paste it into the browser. This is exactly what would happen on my last installation of firefox when I would sometimes start the program in administrator mode in order to let the auto update work properly.

I've not had any firefox updates since this latest install but I suspect I may have the very same problem that caused me to do all this in the first place - auto updates failing every time. Even if not there's still a big problem here.

Any suggestions?

PS: My account is an admin account, on Windows 7, and I've googled for hours and found similar issues reported but no cast iron solution.

I had Firefox installed on my Windows 7 system fine, but the automatic update never worked ("The partial update could not be completed...") until I manually started firefox in administrator mode. The solution I found (on this forum) was to simply reinstall firefox. So I downloaded the latest stub file and uninstalled my existing firefox install. Then I click the stub exe and literally nothing happens - no error message, just nothing. The solution I find to this is to download the full non-stub exe, turn off my anti-virus and try installing that. I click the non-stub exe, get asked to confirm 'Run', then it unpackages and... does nothing. Again. No error, the process just disappears and I'm left back at square one. I know from experience with problems installing other programmes that I can usually solve it by running the install exe in administrator mode, but I wanted to avoid this for the reason I'm about to explain: I installed firefox in administrator mode and it worked just fine. Problem is, when I use firefox now it seems to automatically be an 'elevated', 'administrator' version of the program and does not communicate properly with the rest of my system. For example, if I click a link in an email (in Thunderbird), even though firefox is my default browser, nothing happens - the link doesn't get sent to firefox. I have to manually copy and paste it into the browser. This is exactly what would happen on my last installation of firefox when I would sometimes start the program in administrator mode in order to let the auto update work properly. I've not had any firefox updates since this latest install but I suspect I may have the very same problem that caused me to do all this in the first place - auto updates failing every time. Even if not there's still a big problem here. Any suggestions? PS: My account is an admin account, on Windows 7, and I've googled for hours and found similar issues reported but no cast iron solution.

All Replies (2)

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hello dancapp, since this can sometimes be caused by malware active on a system, please run a scan with different security tools like the free version of malwarebytes, adwcleaner & microsoft safety scanner.

Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware

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Thanks Philip. I tried that before installation and it didn't help. However, I can now click into Firefox from external links, but am yet to receive an auto update so not sure if the entirety of my problem is fixed yet or not.