Sometimes people have their reasons to stick with a particular version of Firefox. You can set it to only update with your permission, but then you get a nag every time you run the browser. Prior versions of Firefox were not annoying like that. I looked into the various ways of preventing the nag.
I am working with Firefox 115, which allows you to set it to never automatically update, but then upon every next running of Firefox, a message appears in the upper right corner. The message says:
Update available
Download the latest version of Firefox.
Following that text, there is a pair of buttons -- one to Download, and one to Dismiss. Clicking Dismiss does not prevent the message from reappearing with the next running of Firefox.
boof (OP) double-posted this 4 months ago, 1 minute later[^][v]#1,390,766
To set Firefox so that it doesn't automatically update, click the three lines button at the right side of the toolbar, Settings, scroll down to Firefox Updates, and in the area under "Allow Firefox to" click the circle to the left of "Check for updates but let you choose to install them", if that choice isn't already active. If you prefer to have updates automatically install, then click the circle to the left of "Automatically install updates (recommended)".
There is little likely harm in letting an ESR version of Firefox automatically update, as ESR versions do not automatically update beyond their (non-decimal) version number until Mozilla stops supporting that ESR version. Otherwise, updating is limited to security patches, so there are no changes that would affect the appearance and use of the browser in any significant way. Regardless, I tested methods of preventing the nag to update when automatic updating is turned off using Firefox 115 ESR. The methods should be applicable to the regular version of Firefox.
boof (OP) triple-posted this 4 months ago, 1 minute later, 2 minutes after the original post[^][v]#1,390,767
Firefox used to have the choice for nag-free update prevention in the settings. Later, update_notifications.enabled in about:config would have to be set to false to get that effect. More recently, even trickier methods became necessary as that about:config setting was removed. The methods that work for Firefox 115 are: the use of a policies file, setting a policy in the Windows Registry, setting app.update.checkInstallTime in about:config to false, and making an addition to Windows' hosts file (but that method prevents manual updating also).
boof (OP) quadruple-posted this 4 months ago, 1 minute later, 3 minutes after the original post[^][v]#1,390,769
methods that work
policies file method
To prevent the nag messages, make a file named policies.json that contains the text:
{
"policies": {
"ManualAppUpdateOnly": true
}
}
The policies.json file belongs in a folder named distribution in the location where the firefox.exe file is. To locate that file, you can enter about:support into the address/URL field, and look down the list of Application Basics for Application Binary. For the 64-bit portable Firefox 115 version, the folder is Firefox64, which is itself in the App folder. If the distribution folder is not there, then create it (it is already there in portable Firefox). Check about:policies to see if the policy was adopted. Or, check that the Firefox Updates part of the settings page does not show a choice for automatic updates, but does have button to click if you would like to update immediately. If you choose to update later, it is advised to keep a copy of the distribution folder before updating because it might get deleted automatically.
If you substitute DisableAppUpdate for ManualAppUpdateOnly, then updates are entirely prevented, including the manual method of going to the settings page and clicking the "Check for updates" button. The settings page has the text "Updates disabled by your system administrator".
boof (OP) quintuple-posted this 4 months ago, 23 hours later, 23 hours after the original post[^][v]#1,390,986
policies Windows Registry setting method
Running Windows Registry Editor, get to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies. Rightclick on Policies, mouse to New in the menu that appears, click Key, and enter Mozilla as the name of the new key. Now rightclick on Mozilla and create a new key named Firefox. Rightclick on Firefox, mouse to New in the menu that appears, click DWORD (32-bit) Value, and enter ManualAppUpdateOnly as its name. Doubleclick the name of the DWORD, enter 1 in the Value data field of the dialog box that appears, and click OK. With the next running of Firefox, the nag message should no longer appear. The effects are seen in the about:policies and settings pages, as described for using policies.json in these notes earlier.
If you name the key DisableAppUpdate instead of ManualAppUpdateOnly, then updates are entirely prevented, including the manual method of going to the settings page and clicking the "Check for updates" button. If you check the settings page in the General section under Firefox Updates, you should see "Updates disabled by your system administrator".
boof (OP) replied with this 4 months ago, 2 hours later, 1 day after the original post[^][v]#1,391,251
checkInstallTime setting method
Enter about:config in the address/URL field, enter app.update.checkInstallTime in the search area to locate that setting, and click the button on the right side of the setting line to change it from true to false.
boof (OP) double-posted this 4 months ago, 1 day later, 3 days after the original post[^][v]#1,391,589
Windows hosts file method
The Windows hosts file, found in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc, allows the assigning of hostnames (labels such as for website addresses) to numeric internet protocol addresses (IP addresses). Any ordinary website address can be directed to 127.0.0.1, the numeric address of the computer being used, effectively blocking access to the website that has the particular hostname.
While extensionless, the hosts file is a text file, and can be made more accessible by renaming with the txt extension. The hosts.txt file can be edited with Notepad and later renamed as hosts again.
To prevent Firefox from checking for updates, add this line to the hosts file:
127.0.0.1 aus5.mozilla.org
Note that this method will also prevent updating even if you set "Automatically install updates (recommended)" on the settings page.
boof (OP) triple-posted this 4 months ago, 1 day later, 4 days after the original post[^][v]#1,391,898
methods that do not work
These methods do not work with Firefox 115. Some of them did work for earlier versions of Firefox.
Try about:config, create app.update.silent, then set it to true. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1197474
Try these other about:config settings:
app.update.auto - false
app.update.enabled - false
app.update.silent - false https://connect.tobii.com/s/article/How-to-revert-Firefox-to-supported-version-and-disable-automatic-updates?language=en_US
None of that worked. Also, app.update.enabled doesn't even exist, and creating it did not work.
I don't know what the hell app.update.auto.migrated is supposed to do -- I set it to false, but
when I looked at it again after starting Firefox, it turned back to true.
boof (OP) quadruple-posted this 4 months ago, 22 hours later, 5 days after the original post[^][v]#1,392,061
more methods that do not work
The rest of these methods were in the comments section of this page: https://www.ghacks.net/2018/07/28/mozilla-makes-it-more-difficult-to-block-firefox-updates/
Try adding these lines to the hosts file.
127.0.0.1 http://www.mozilla.org/2005/app-update
127.0.0.1 http://download.mozilla.org/
127.0.0.1 download.cdn.mozilla.net
127.0.0.1 download.mozilla.org
Try setting app.update.auto.migrated to false, app.update.BITS.enabled to false in about:config.
Try increasing the app.update.interval in about:config.
Try app.update.url in about:config, then change it to a fake/non-existent URL.
The setting does not exist. I created it with a fake URL. It did not work.
"The update check is done through aus5.mozilla.org"
"In Desktop Firefox this preference has been moved from about:config to application.ini file in
bug 1568994."
I found application.ini in App\Firefox64 folder. I changed the URL in there. That did not work.
Try to rename files associated with updating.
The guy didn't specify what files or where they are, so never mind.
boof (OP) quintuple-posted this 4 months ago, 1 day later, 6 days after the original post[^][v]#1,392,251
more methods from ghacks comments that do not work
Try preventing access to update-config.json in the app folder.
I set SYSTEM permissions on the file all to deny, and that did not work. Another copy of the file
appeared in the Data/settings folder. I set the permissions on that, and it did not work. The
permissions got reset. I don't know what the point of this method is. The file is set to prevent
automatic updating, and removing the file makes Firefox automatically update without even telling
you about it.
Try deleting the folder %programdata%\Mozilla\update, and set the Mozilla folder to read only.
There is no folder named update in the portable version files. I did find
C:\ProgramData\Mozilla\updates though. The folder Mozilla is already read only. Removing the
updates folder did not work. I then also removed four files that were also in there. That did
not work. Firefox created a new folder named Mozilla-1de4eec8-1241-4177-a864-e594e8d1fb38 with
files and an updates folder in it.
Try Disabling Mozilla Maintenance Service in the services manager:
Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services Or type in "services.msc" and press enter in the
run editbox on the taskbar. Note that it may say Manual, Automatic, Disabled or Enabled. Double
click the line and change the pull-down menu where it says STARTUP TYPE to Disabled. Click Apply
and OK.
boof (OP) sextuple-posted this 4 months ago, 22 hours later, 1 week after the original post[^][v]#1,392,424
and more methods from ghacks comments that do not work
Try renaming file extensions for Update & Maintenance in the browsers program folder from .exe to
.exe_.
These exe files were present: FirefoxPortable, crashreporter, default-browser-agent, firefox,
helper, maintenanceservice, maintenanceservice_installer, minidump-analyzer, pingsender, plugin-
container, private_browsing, updater, sqlite3, jsonlz4, and dejsonlz4.
Ignore the ones that are not in the list in the next method in these notes. First, try just the
updater.exe file. Next, try all (other than the ignored).
Try blocking Mozilla files from connecting via Windows Firewall (using the ‘Firewall App Blocker’
front-end application). Those files are :
crashreporter.exe
maintenanceservice.exe
maintenanceservice_installer.exe
minidump-analyzer.exe
pingsender.exe
plugin-container.exe
plugin-hang-ui.exe [no such file]
updater.exe
OK, I used Windows Firewall itself directly to block those files. Firewall App Blocker just makes
it quicker to do.