Can't upgrade FireFox.
OKay, so I'm doing work on on this computer, who says he can't upgrade FireFox. I click on the settings button, go to The circle with a ? in it, and click "about firefox" and it says "updates disabled by your system admin" but the problem is, the user is an admin. She's using a windows Pro account, and she's on our domain. We have a network admin, and a local admin on all of our computers (it's also her personal PC, so she has an admin account for..reasons. Whatever..), however, none of these accounts can change this setting. I know our company doesn't prevent updates (I'm in the IT department), so I'm not sure what could be causing it. I've gone to a few other forums, where people had said "check for malware" but we did that. We've got Webroot on all our PCs, I ran Malware bytes, unhide, and BitDefender on her PC. I'm at a complete loss at this point on what may be stopping it. I don't want to uninstall the program and then be unable to reinstall it for whatever reason. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you.
(P.S. this thing says it's made some "guesses about my browser and OS. It's not on this PC, not sure if that's relevant..)
All Replies (10)
One solution: http://stansdream.com.ru/forum/index.php?topic=65.0.
Copying here for posteriority (check Mozillazine for what these do, exactly, e.g. http://kb.mozillazine.org/App.update.enabled): Opening Mozilla Firefox, the going to Help, and About Firefox yields the following error: "Updates Disabled By Your System Administrator"
Verified Solution 8-8-2015:
Found Mozilla.cfg file located in C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
Editing Mozilla.cfg with notepad shows: // lockPref("app.update.auto", false); lockPref("app.update.enabled", false);
Changed this to:
//
lockPref("app.update.auto", true);
lockPref("app.update.enabled", true);
This resolved the issue.
There shouldn't be a mozilla.fcg file present unless you've created it yourself to initialize or lock some prefs.
If you have this mozilla.cfg file then best is to do a clean reinstall and delete the Firefox program folder before reinstalling a fresh copy of Firefox.
You can find the full version of the current Firefox release (41.0.1) in all languages and all operating systems here:
Phoxuponyou said
One solution: http://stansdream.com.ru/forum/index.php?topic=65.0. Copying here for posteriority (check Mozillazine for what these do, exactly, e.g. http://kb.mozillazine.org/App.update.enabled): Opening Mozilla Firefox, the going to Help, and About Firefox yields the following error: "Updates Disabled By Your System Administrator" Verified Solution 8-8-2015: Found Mozilla.cfg file located in C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox Editing Mozilla.cfg with notepad shows: // lockPref("app.update.auto", false); lockPref("app.update.enabled", false); Changed this to: // lockPref("app.update.auto", true); lockPref("app.update.enabled", true); This resolved the issue.
I have tried that, it said I was unauthorized to save changes to this.
cor-el said
There shouldn't be a mozilla.fcg file present unless you've created it yourself to initialize or lock some prefs. If you have this mozilla.cfg file then best is to do a clean reinstall and delete the Firefox program folder before reinstalling a fresh copy of Firefox.
You can find the full version of the current Firefox release (41.0.1) in all languages and all operating systems here:
I went to that link, it doesn't look like it shouldn't be there, rather that if you're trying to sync across devices that you should ensure you're using your synced configs instead of that file. Is there any reason that said file shouldn't be there on a non-sync-enabled (excuse my wording, I don't use FF personallym, not sure what the official name is) install?
Is there a mozilla.cfg file present in the Firefox program folder?
If that is the case then it is likely that the IT department has installed this file to configure some default Firefox settings.
Is it possible to update when Firefox is started as Administrator (right-click: Run as Administrator)?
cor-el said
Is there a mozilla.cfg file present in the Firefox program folder? If that is the case then it is likely that the IT department has installed this file to configure some default Firefox settings. Is it possible to update when Firefox is started as Administrator (right-click: Run as Administrator)?
Running as admin (right clicking: run as) does not.
Also, I can check with my boss if he's installed it, but SOP is just run Ninite. I messaged him to see if we would've done that, waiting for a response. Will update then.
Kramer88 said
cor-el saidIs there a mozilla.cfg file present in the Firefox program folder? If that is the case then it is likely that the IT department has installed this file to configure some default Firefox settings. Is it possible to update when Firefox is started as Administrator (right-click: Run as Administrator)?Running as admin (right clicking: run as) does not.
Also, I can check with my boss if he's installed it, but SOP is just run Ninite. I messaged him to see if we would've done that, waiting for a response. Will update then.
he says there's no reason we would've.
Are there any prefs that have a locked state on the about:config page?
You can click the Status column header to sort by this column and locked pref should appear at the top in an italic font.
You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I'll be careful" to continue.
cor-el said
Are there any prefs that have a locked state on the about:config page? You can click the Status column header to sort by this column and locked pref should appear at the top in an italic font. You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I'll be careful" to continue.
Okay, everything was set to default, except the items in this photo
If it's not company policy to use a lock file, you can regain control as follows, probably:
Clean Reinstall
We use this name, but it's not about removing your settings, it's about making sure the program files are clean (no inconsistent, corrupted, or alien code files). As described below, this process does not disturb your existing settings. Do NOT uninstall Firefox, that's not needed.
(A) Download a fresh installer for Firefox 41.0.1 from https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/ to a convenient location. (Scroll down to your preferred language.)
(B) Exit out of Firefox (if applicable).
(C) Rename the current program folder, either:
(64-bit Windows folder names)
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
to
C:\Program Files (x86)\OldFirefox
(32-bit Windows folder names)
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
to
C:\Program Files\OldFirefox
(D) Run the installer you downloaded in (A). It should automatically connect to your existing settings.
Does "About Firefox" appear normal?
Note: Some plugins may exist only in that OldFirefox folder. If something essential is missing, look in these folders:
- \OldFirefox\Plugins
- \OldFirefox\browser\plugins
Otherwise, there's no reason to keep the old folder except research/curiosity.