Firefox seems to update in the background, then accuses me of launching an older version, wiping my bookmarks
I'm running Firefox 139.0.1 on Mac Sonoma 14.7.1.
Since FF V138, I've had this extremely frustrating problem where, approximately once a day and while the application is still running, Firefox seems to either auto-revert to an older version' 'or otherwise mess up the installation files. I don't get any notice this is happening until I try to open a new tab and it brings up the "You must restart Firefox" notice. When I click Restart, it pops up with "You've launched an older version of Firefox, so you won't keep any of your bookmarks because that would be unstable" error.
The only way I've found to fix it is to redownload the most recent install files, which, after the fresh install, will allow me to keep using Firefox with my bookmarks for the next 5-6 hours, before the whole process starts again.
I theoretically have auto-updates off; my settings are set to the other option, "Check for updates but let you choose to install them". Doesn't seem to make a difference. It only does this on my Mac; the FF install on my Windows machine works fine.
I really want to keep using FF. It's my preferred personal browser. But this is really messing with me! I was hopeful that 139.1 would fix it but same issue, so far.
All Replies (2)
As a Windows person, it's difficult for me to troubleshoot this issue on a Mac, but...
(1) Forced Restarts
You're right: with your settings, there shouldn't be background updates unless you (or some other software on your system) initiated them. The only exception I've seen on Windows is if I use a second Firefox profile after downloading an update (and waiting to restart) in my main profile. Somehow launching Firefox in that second profile triggers installation of the update and forces a restart of the main profile. But most people do not use multiple profiles, so this scenario may not be relevant to you.
(2) Compatibility Flags
Could you create a shortcut to the Profiles folder? This folder should contain all your profiles that you've been unable to return to. More info on accessing profile folders: Profiles - Where Firefox stores your bookmarks, passwords and other user data.
Each individual profile folder under Profiles has a compatibility.ini file which lists the last version of Firefox that touched it. I believe this is the data used to determine whether the running instance of Firefox is allowed to launch the profile. If you check those files, do they have versions higher than what you see in the first table on the Troubleshooting Information page? (Use the Troubleshooting Information page to help fix Firefox issues) How serious are the discrepancies?
If the version difference is small, you could remove the compatibility.ini file(s) so that Firefox will launch the older profile folder. With a significant downgrade, this can cause data integrity issues, but if the versions are very close, it's reasonably safe to test opening the profile in your current version. After removing the files, try the steps in the first section of the following article: Recover lost or missing Bookmarks.
Separate question: on Windows, Firefox sets up certain scheduled tasks with the OS to check for updates, etc. Does Mac OS have a similar task scheduler? If so, you could try disabling those tasks so only your own usage of Firefox is in play.
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