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Is Firefox-- or Waterfox-- still compatible with Windows XP past version 42? Plus multiple instances of Firefox

  • 4 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 39 views
  • Last reply by James

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Hey all,

I recently acquired a windows 10 laptop (yay me!), so I finally have an up to date machine, and recently tried to update to version 43. For whatever reason, the classic theme restorer refused to install on it, so I tried the licensed Waterfox variant. That seems to work fine. However I have been very cautious about upgrading the Firefox version I have on my old XP machine as now that 10 is out, I don't know if you guys (or Waterfox) are still supporting XP at all, so I figured I would ask, as apparently some people have posted questions recently about issues with Firefox on XP. So, is it still supported on the older system? I mainly use the laptop for a mix of gaming and computing on the go, but at some point I'll be using the laptop full time when/if the desktop dies. Can anyone clarify this?

In addition, I recently asked about how to do multiple versions of Firefox on the same machine, and while I got an answer, it wasn't one I entirely understood, as I am not tech savvy, nor programming savvy or anything like that. Can I get a clear, concise and, if I'm honest, really simple and straightforward explanation on this? I do not understand a lot of the steps explained very well in the answer I did get on how to do this, so that leaves me unsure how to proceed and frustrated as all hell. I'd like to upgrade to the current edition of Firefox on the XP machine (if it's still supported) as well as keep the older version in case the new version has some kind of issue that requires a fix, and also be able to run both Firefox and Waterfox on the new machine for much the same reason, as I don't know what sites, if any, might not be compatible with the newer versions of the browsers. I realize that is an unlikely scenario, but I do recall someone mentioning in the past that they keep older instances of the browser on hand because this very situation has come up.

Hey all, I recently acquired a windows 10 laptop (yay me!), so I finally have an up to date machine, and recently tried to update to version 43. For whatever reason, the classic theme restorer refused to install on it, so I tried the licensed Waterfox variant. That seems to work fine. However I have been very cautious about upgrading the Firefox version I have on my old XP machine as now that 10 is out, I don't know if you guys (or Waterfox) are still supporting XP at all, so I figured I would ask, as apparently some people have posted questions recently about issues with Firefox on XP. So, is it still supported on the older system? I mainly use the laptop for a mix of gaming and computing on the go, but at some point I'll be using the laptop full time when/if the desktop dies. Can anyone clarify this? In addition, I recently asked about how to do multiple versions of Firefox on the same machine, and while I got an answer, it wasn't one I entirely understood, as I am not tech savvy, nor programming savvy or anything like that. Can I get a clear, concise and, if I'm honest, really simple and straightforward explanation on this? I do not understand a lot of the steps explained very well in the answer I did get on how to do this, so that leaves me unsure how to proceed and frustrated as all hell. I'd like to upgrade to the current edition of Firefox on the XP machine (if it's still supported) as well as keep the older version in case the new version has some kind of issue that requires a fix, and also be able to run both Firefox and Waterfox on the new machine for much the same reason, as I don't know what sites, if any, might not be compatible with the newer versions of the browsers. I realize that is an unlikely scenario, but I do recall someone mentioning in the past that they keep older instances of the browser on hand because this very situation has come up.

All Replies (4)

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https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-can-i-get-latest-version-firefox-windows-xp

It runs on WinXP, but Firefox 43.0.1 and higher installation can be a problem on WinXP SP2 due to SHA-256 certificates used with 43.0.2 and later. Also may affect Vista.

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Best to have WinXP SP3.

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James said

Best to have WinXP SP3.

I do have XP SP3

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Marc7 said

James said
Best to have WinXP SP3.

I do have XP SP3

You can either download the Firefox 43.0.1 you will get served on mozilla.org or www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/ as Firefox useragents on WinXP does not show if they have SP2 or SP3 installed and then update in Firefox to current.

Or you can go to say https://archive.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/45.0.2/win32/ and download the Firefox 45.0.2 (which is current release version) in your language like say en-US.