How to Enable Java in Firefox

Easily turn on Java in Firefox

This wikiHow teaches you how to turn on Java support in Firefox, both on a per-website basis and
across the entire browser, as well as how to enable JavaScript for your Firefox browser. You can
enable both Java and JavaScript in the desktop version of Firefox.

Method
Method 1 of 3:
1
Allowing Java Content on a Website
Open Firefox. Its app icon resembles an orange fox wrapped around a blue globe.
1
Go to a site that uses Java. If there's a particular site that you want to access using
2 Java, go to that site.
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Wait for a Java prompt to appear. You should see a link in the middle of the page (or the
3 Java content area) that says "Activate Java" or something similar.[1]

Click the "Activate Java" link. It should be on or near the Java content that you want to
4 load.
If you see a message that says Java is "unsupported", "disabled", "not installed", or
something similar instead of the "Activate Java" link, you cannot run the site in question on
Firefox.

Click Allow Now when prompted. It should appear in the upper-left side of the Firefox
5 window. This will reload the website with the Java content enabled.
You can also click Allow and Remember to place the site on Firefox's "Allowed" list.

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Method
Method 2 of 3:
2
Enabling All Java Content
Understand the limitations of this method. Due to security issues, current versions of
1 Firefox do not support Java, nor will future versions. To enable Java content, you'll have to
install an old, 32-bit version of Firefox and then manually add the Java plugin. This is possible
on Windows computers, but Firefox for Mac defaults to 64-bit, making it impossible to install
Java for Firefox on a Mac.[2]
Closing and re-opening Firefox may result in Firefox updating, which will render Java
unusable.
Using an old version of Firefox increases the risk of contracting a computer virus or
running into malware.
You can never update your old version of Firefox, as doing so will remove your Java
support.

Open the Java website. Go to https://java.com/en/download/ in a browser. You'll need to

Download and install Java. To do so:

Open the Firefox 51 download page. Go to

Select a 32-bit link. Click the firefox-51.0b9.win32.sdk.zip link near the bottom of the
5 list of links on this page.

Open the downloaded ZIP folder. Double-click the ZIP folder to do so.
6
Extract the ZIP folder's contents. To do this:
7
Click the Extract tab at the top of the window.
Click Extract all in the resulting toolbar.
Click Extract at the bottom of the pop-up window.

Open the extracted folder. Double-click the firefox-51.0b9.win32.sdk folder (not the ZIP
8 one) to open it.

Open the firefox-sdk folder. It's the only folder in the window.
9
Open the bin folder. Double-click this folder, which is near the top of the window, to
10 do so.

Scroll down and double-click the Firefox app icon. It's near the middle of the page.
11 This will prompt the Firefox 51 app to open.

Disable automatic updates. Type abou t :config into the Firefox address bar and
12 press ↵ Enter , then do the following:
 Click I accept the risk! when prompted.
Click the search bar at the top of the page.
Type in app. u pdate.auto
Double-click the app.update.auto result to change its value from "true" to "false".
Be sure to click Not now or Ask later if ever prompted to update.

Click . It's in the upper-right side of the window. A menu will appear.
13 ☰

Click Add-ons . This puzzle piece-shaped icon is in the menu. Doing so will open the
14 Add-Ons page.

Click the Plugins tab. It's on the left side of the page.
15
Find the "Java(TM) Platform" option. You'll usually find this option near the bottom of
16 the page.

Click the "Ask to Activate" drop-down box. It's to the right of the "Java(TM)
17 Platform" heading. A drop-down menu will appear.

Click Always Activate . This option is in the drop-down menu. Doing so will activate
18 Java for any website that you visit in this version of Firefox, though you must be careful
not to update Firefox at all.
If you accidentally update Firefox or an update gets pushed through, you can reinstall
Firefox 51 by deleting the firefox-51.0b9.win32.sdk folder (not the ZIP version), opening
the ZIP folder of the same name and re-extracting it, and then re-opening the Firefox 51
app from within the bin folder.

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Method
Method 3 of 3:
3
Enabling JavaScript
Open Firefox. Its app icon resembles an orange fox wrapped around a blue globe.
1
Go to the configuration page. Type in abou t :config and press ↵ Enter to do so.
2
Click I accept the risk! when prompted. It's a blue button in the middle of the page.
3
Search for the JavaScript option. Click the search bar, then type in
4 java s cript.enabled to search for the matching result.

Review the JavaScript value. If you see "true" below the "value" heading that's on the
5 right side of the page, JavaScript is currently enabled; this is the default Firefox setting.
If you see "false" below the "value" heading, proceed.

6
 Change the JavaScript value to "true" if necessary. Double-click javascript.enabled near
the top of the page. You should see the status below the "value" heading change to "true".

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Tips

Mozilla ended Java support in Firefox at the end of 2016. If you need to use Java content
online in the future, you may need to switch to a new browser that supports it, such as
Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer.

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Warnings

Future versions of Firefox will most likely not support Java.

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References

1. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-allow-java-trusted-sites
2. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/932623
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