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Issue getting Firefox to launch for the first time, directly to a clicked link, without start page/default browser prompt

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  • 0 have this problem
  • 10 views
  • Last reply by Mike Kaply

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We are deploying Firefox installed via the v122 binary on Ubuntu 22.04.4 Server w/ubuntu-desktop-minimal --no-install-recommends (we need to have no-user-interaction install). We are using an Ansible playbook to copy over and unarchive the tarball, then create a firefox/distribution folder in the install directory and copying a profiles.json file to said folder, links the install directory to the /usr/bin/local directory, and setting firefox.desktop as the system default browser.

Using the instructions from: https://mozilla.github.io/policy-templates/

What we are hoping to accomplish is the user who has never launched Firefox will click on a link in an application, which will launch Firefox and go directly to the requested page. As it stands right now, the first time a user clicks the link, it launches firefox and shows a start page. The user must then close this window, and click the link again. This brings up a "Use Firefox as the default browser" prompt, which the user must accept, but then does not display the link. The third time the user clicks the link, the requested page pops up, and works from this time out.

We would like to have this be a one-click experience for the user. Looking at the options in about:config after getting firefox to launch, it appears firefox is not getting the options from the profiles.json file. Are we missing something about placement of this file? Missing some lines? Should we be using AutoConfig instead? Thank you for any assistance!

{

   "policies": {
       "Homepage": {
           "StartPage": "none"
       },
       "Preferences": {
           "browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser": {
               "Value": false,
               "Status": "default",
               "Type": "boolean"
           },
           "browser.shell.skipDefaultBrowserCheckOnFirstRun": {
               "Value": true,
               "Status": "default",
               "Type": "boolean"
           },
           "browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone": {
               "Value": "ignore",
               "Status": "default",
               "Type": "string"
           }
       },
       "PopupBlocking": {
           "Default": false
       },
       "DontCheckDefaultBrowser": true,
       "OverrideFirstRunPage": "",
       "OverridePostUpdatePage": ""
   }

}

We are deploying Firefox installed via the v122 binary on Ubuntu 22.04.4 Server w/ubuntu-desktop-minimal --no-install-recommends (we need to have no-user-interaction install). We are using an Ansible playbook to copy over and unarchive the tarball, then create a firefox/distribution folder in the install directory and copying a profiles.json file to said folder, links the install directory to the /usr/bin/local directory, and setting firefox.desktop as the system default browser. Using the instructions from: https://mozilla.github.io/policy-templates/ What we are hoping to accomplish is the user who has never launched Firefox will click on a link in an application, which will launch Firefox and go directly to the requested page. As it stands right now, the first time a user clicks the link, it launches firefox and shows a start page. The user must then close this window, and click the link again. This brings up a "Use Firefox as the default browser" prompt, which the user must accept, but then does not display the link. The third time the user clicks the link, the requested page pops up, and works from this time out. We would like to have this be a one-click experience for the user. Looking at the options in about:config after getting firefox to launch, it appears firefox is not getting the options from the profiles.json file. Are we missing something about placement of this file? Missing some lines? Should we be using AutoConfig instead? Thank you for any assistance! { "policies": { "Homepage": { "StartPage": "none" }, "Preferences": { "browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser": { "Value": false, "Status": "default", "Type": "boolean" }, "browser.shell.skipDefaultBrowserCheckOnFirstRun": { "Value": true, "Status": "default", "Type": "boolean" }, "browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone": { "Value": "ignore", "Status": "default", "Type": "string" } }, "PopupBlocking": { "Default": false }, "DontCheckDefaultBrowser": true, "OverrideFirstRunPage": "", "OverridePostUpdatePage": "" } }

All Replies (1)

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What do you see when you go to about:policies?

Where are you putting policies.json?

Are you using the Snap or the PPO or the official Firefox .deb?