7/20/2021 browser - How to stop Firefox update notifications?

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How to stop Firefox update notifications?

Asked
3 years, 1 month ago Active
2 months ago Viewed
65k times

I have Firefox 56, the last good version of the browser, where things I need in terms of
performance, and functionality both still work. I'm not going to update, EVER. There are other
41 browsers out there, but Firefox worked so well for scripting.

Anyhow, Firefox keeps alerting me about updates. I have turned the updates off, in
about:preferences but Firefox keeps bugging me with notifications like these:

13

and this:

I don't want to keep getting bothered by notifications, how do I make them stop?

firefox browser

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7/20/2021 browser - How to stop Firefox update notifications? - Super User

Share Improve this question Follow edited Dec 5 '20 at 17:51 asked May 24 '18 at 0:00
Termininja j0h
117 1 6 1,188 4 12 26

5 If you really want to stay on the "old" firefox (pre-quantum) why not try out Firefox ESR 52? At least that is
patched and stay current (until Firefox ESR move on to Quantum which is on Firefox ESR 60 and ditch the
old 52) mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations
– Darius
May 24 '18 at 1:34

8 Answers Active Oldest Votes

From experimenting with Firefox config, just as a possible addition or alternative when solutions
that have previously been suggested here are not enough.
14
After opening the about:config (typing about:config into the address bar and then pressing
Enter ), apply either or both of the following config items:

Search for app.update.silent , then set it to true

Search for app.update.url , then change it to a fake/non-existent
URL

For example, if the original is

https://aus5.mozilla.org/update/6/%PRODUCT%/... , I
changed it to
xxxhttps://xxxaus5.mozilla.org/update/6/%PRODUCT%/...

Share Improve this answer Follow answered Jan 9 '19 at 22:48

peter.aryanto
272 2 2

5 Will this still allow manual updates? Without that url will it know where to look for updates so that I can
manually request updates?
– Nelda.techspiress
Jul 22 '19 at 17:57

7 In firefox 69 app.update.silent does not exist.

– andrew lorien
Jan 30 '20 at 22:58

It's also app.update.url.manual now.

– nhooyr
Dec 14 '20 at 1:13

None of the former about:config Configuration changes work nowadays to control update
behaviour
27
This should completely disable the Updates messages in Firefox as per today:

Method 1 - Registry change (Windows)

Create the following Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox

Create inside, a 32-Bit DWORD DisableAppUpdate , with value 1 .

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Restart Firefox.

The following can be saved as a .reg file to apply this change:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox]

"DisableAppUpdate"=dword:00000001

Or execute the following line in an elevated command prompt/PowerShell:

reg ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox /v DisableAppUpdate /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

Method 2 - Policies.json (Windows / Linux / Mac / Others)

Create the folder distribution at the same place the Firefox executable is located (i.e. in
Windows: C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\distribution\ ).

[Edit: Under MacOS, create the distribution folder under

${APPS}/Firefox.app/Contents/Resources where ${APPS} is the directory you installed Firefox
in. This is usually /Applications , but the Firefox app can be installed in other locations
(matter of taste mostly).]

Create inside, a file policies.json with this text:

"policies": {

"DisableAppUpdate": true

Restart Firefox.

Now under about:preferences under Updates, the following label should appear:
Updates
disabled by your system administrator . and under about:policies.

Other policies can be modified in this way. Check the GitHub link and the about:policies section.

If you ever, ever want the original behavior, just undo these steps.

Share Improve this answer Follow edited Apr 30 at 12:13 answered Nov 5 '19 at 17:58
stackprotector Brethlosze
604 1 2 13 490 5 11

I had the same question!

6 I assume that you want to completely disable the updates otherwise you won't opt the option to
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6 I assume that you want to completely disable the updates, otherwise you won t opt the option to
disable automatically install updates option from the settings, and won't get the notification at all!

Well, actually if you truly want to disable autoupdate, you can add a policy.

To add a policy, follow the steps:

1. Go to the firefox installation directory (for any supported OS).

2. Create a directory called distribution .

3. Change directory into distribution .

4. Create a file called policies.json . And paste this code:

"policies": {

"DisableAppUpdate": true

Save the file, and quit the editor.

5. Restart Firefox if it's already running.

6. To confirm, you can go to the URL about:policies and check if there's an entry like this:

Policy Name Policy Value

DisableAppUpdate true

After you are done, from the Menu => Help => About Nightly you get to see this:

When you want to update, you may set the boolean value to false.

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Reading More about Policies

For documentation, you can read the options here in about:policies#documentation . You can learn
more about how to add policies here.

Hope this helps!

Share Improve this answer Follow edited Oct 15 '19 at 18:13 answered Oct 7 '19 at 12:07
Sourav Goswami
429 1 4 10

Save the file...wherever the hell you feel like it. These details aren't important or anything.
– John
Nov 4 '19
at 4:36

2 "Save the file... wherever the hell you feel like it"? - have you tested that before commenting? I have moved
the file to the default installation directory [from distribution/], and it's not working. In my system, if I miss
any of the step I posted, the auto-updates are re-enabled.
– Sourav Goswami
Nov 4 '19 at 11:24

You don't even use a relative term like "profile folder". If you're going to spend the time helping people you
should make the proper effort.
– John
Nov 5 '19 at 12:04

2 I have said to go to the installation directory (please read the step 1 again, carefully this time) If you
downloaded it to the /home/users/download folder, that's your installation directory. If you move it to
/opt/firefox-abcd then that's your installation directory. Note: If you don't know what your installation
directory is, go to the URL about:support and check for the update directory. By default, the update
directory is your installation directory. I have written the answer in a way so that a person without any
technical knowledge can follow. thanks.
– Sourav Goswami
Nov 5 '19 at 13:18

1 Ah, I missed that. My apologies. I was not operating on sufficient sleep.

– John
Nov 5 '19 at 16:35

This is just extension of previous answer.

4 Find the user preference file, named as prefs.js , in user specific folder.

Windows: %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xyz.default\prefs.js

Linux: ~\.mozilla\firefox\xyz.default\prefs.js

Then add these following three lines. These preferences are of the boolean type. If you find any of
these lines are already present, replace that with the following:

user_pref("app.update.auto", false);

user_pref("app.update.disable_button.showUpdateHistory", false);

user_pref("app.update.enabled", false);

Also if you want to remove the update URL, add these three lines. These preferences are string
type:

user_pref("app.update.url", "");

user_pref("app.update.url.details", "");

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user_pref("app.update.url.manual", "");

If these don't work delete/move these three files:

1. update-settings.ini ,

2. updater.ini ,

3. updater.exe ( updater in Linux).

Share Improve this answer Follow edited Sep 11 '19 at 11:32 answered May 29 '18 at 9:31
Geert Biswapriyo
103 2 9,261 7 39 73

2 If I delete the url how will it know where to look for updates when I run updates manually or does this
eliminate my ability to manually update?
– Nelda.techspiress
Jul 22 '19 at 18:07

Also in newer versions, 67 and 68 I no longer have the app.update.auto setting it is now
app.update.auto.migrated and setting it to false does not persist.
– Nelda.techspiress
Jul 22 '19 at 18:09

Also, go to about:support, notice the the "Update Folder" entry. Delete that directory, in case a previous
check for updates populated it, and found an update. Once populated, even turning off these settings won't
help, but if you delete it after doing all these settings, then even if it comes back later, the settings will take
effect, and you won't get the annoying reminder.
– Victoria
Jan 11 '20 at 3:16

For others, a simpler solution if you are just annoyed by that second type of notification, you can
do this in about:config by setting app.update.doorhanger to false .
2
Share Improve this answer Follow answered May 1 '19 at 21:34
ipetrik
129 2

1 Any idea what else doorhanger effects?

– Nelda.techspiress
Jul 22 '19 at 19:18

3 This option actually replace the small top right message with a modal window. I feel this option is even
more abusive...
– Brethlosze
Nov 5 '19 at 18:06

At the time of answering, this option did not replace the doorhanger with a modal in the version I was
using. This may have been changed in an update.
– ipetrik
Apr 7 '20 at 18:48

You have done the method via Firefox Menus (which is the about:preferences), but there are a few
more below.
0
From about:config Menu

Type about:config in the address bar, then press Enter .

Search for the app.update.auto setting.

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Double-click the app.update.auto option to toggle the setting. 

If set to true , automatic
updates are enabled. 
If set to false , automatic updates are disabled.

Via prefs.js file

Close Firefox.

Navigate to the following location based on your operating system.

Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10 – %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox

Unix/Linux – ~/.mozilla/

macOS / OS X – ~/Library/Mozilla/ or ~/Library/Application Support/

Open the Profiles folder.

Open the folder that represents the profile you would like to edit. 
The name of the folder will
vary. 
It is usually a bunch of alphanumeric characters,
followed by . and the user-visible
profile name
(which is default by default).

Open the prefs.js file with a text editor like Notepad.

Look for a line that contains app.update.enabled . If it doesn’t

exist, add a line for it in the file
and set it as desired using
these examples:

Automatic updates enabled: user_pref("app.update.enabled", true);

Automatic updates disabled: user_pref("app.update.enabled", false);

(Save the file.)

Source: TechniPages: Enable or Disable Automatic Updates in Firefox.

Share Improve this answer Follow edited Sep 22 '19 at 15:18 answered May 24 '18 at 1:41
Scott Darius
19.4k 43 58 107 5,090 2 25 23

in about config, app.update.auto is false, but the update alerts persist...? Ill look into those files
–  j0h
May
24 '18 at 19:57

1 I didn't try the js file but I can say that editing about:config does nothing: it still displays the notification
(even if it doesn't install automatically the update)
– ThePhi
Dec 5 '19 at 17:26

Alternatively to Sourav Goswami's answer you can paste into policies.json this code

0 {

"policies": {

"AppUpdateURL": "http://127.0.0.1/"

Thus you will got message "You are using latest version of Firefox" in "About" screen
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Thus you will got message You are using latest version of Firefox in About screen.

Share Improve this answer Follow answered Apr 8 '20 at 17:11

Kyo
61 1 4

renaming update.exe to update3.exe do the job

-1 Share Improve this answer Follow answered Sep 22 '19 at 8:57

ggg
1

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