Deploying Firefox with updates disabled

[remodb]

I've previously successfully used the directions from Mozilla to disable updates in our deployed installation of Firefox. However, starting with version 35 of Firefox, this method no longer seems to work. Upon launch the browser throws up the following error and quits on acknowledgement:

Failed to read the configuration file. Please contact your system administrator.

I'm using a 'Firefox.app/Contents/Resources/defaults/pref/authconfig.js' file with the following contents:

pref("general.config.filename", "mozilla.cfg");
pref("general.config.obscure_value", 0);

along with a 'Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/mozilla.cfg' with the following:

// Disable updater
lockPref("app.update.enabled", false);
// make absolutely sure it is really off
lockPref("app.update.auto", false);
lockPref("app.update.mode", 0);
lockPref("app.update.service.enabled", false);
// Set default homepage - users can change, but will reset on relaunch
pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://inside.designory.com");
// Disable crash reporter
lockPref("toolkit.crashreporter.enabled", false);
Components.classes["@mozilla.org/toolkit/crash-reporter;1"].getService(Components.interfaces.nsICrashReporter).submitReports = false;

I've tried moving the authconfig.js file to 'Firefox.app/Contents/Resources/browser/defaults/preferences' and changing privileges to 777 for the two files, to no avail.

Any ideas on how to get it to work? Anyone else having success with this?

[RobertHammen]

The locations of the files moved starting in v34 of Firefox, IIRC. Search for posts here. Or use CCK2 and @gregneagle's AutoPKG recipe to build a PKG installer with your components embedded in the app bundle.

[lkrasno]

look into ESR? https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/faq/

[davidacland]

Hi, we've got a couple of step-by-step guides for Firefox 35 and CCK2 if its of use:

General CCK guide - http://www.amsys.co.uk/2014/blog/locking-firefox-cck-2/#.VOxNEkIXdfk

Changes for Firefox 35 - http://www.amsys.co.uk/2015/blog/changes-cck-2-usage-firefox-35/#.VOxNWUIXdfk

[lwindram]

I had the same issue. Placing the mozilla.cfg file into both /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/ and /Applications/Firefox.app/Resources/defaults/ lets the autoconfig.js find the config file regardless of whether Firefox is v34 or v35.

[remodb · Accepted solution]

Based on the replies of RobertHammen and lwindram I started playing around with the location of the mozilla.cfg file and finally had success with the following locations:

/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/Resources/defaults/pref/autoconfig.js
/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/Resources/mozilla.cfg

I tested this with 10.9 and 10.10 and with Firefox 35.0.1 and the newly released 36.0. Thank you all for your replies and I hope this helps someone else.

[DLewtheCEO]

I'm a little confused about some of the info provided in this thread but here is my two cents. There was an issue with v34 that didn't allow the use of the config file but other than that much hasn't changed. Basically you should be working with two files:

/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/Resources/defaults/pref/*.js (This file can be named whatever you want as long as it points to your config file)
/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/Resources/mozilla.cfg (This file can also be named something else as long as you reference it's name in the above .js file)

Make sure that your config file at least contains:

// Mozilla Locked Preferences
//
lockPref("app.update.enabled", false);
lockPref("app.update.autoUpdateEnabled", false);

[ianmb]

Has anything changed in v39.0?

I've followed the advice of @DLewtheCEO and Firefox opens, but when I go to:

about:config

In the browser, the preferences I've set (like app.update.enabled) still read as 'true'.

[remodb]

Other than having to reapply the changes because the update blows away the config files, it's still working for us. Here are the files we are using in our environment and their contents:

/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/Resources/defaults/pref/autoconfig.js

pref("general.config.filename", "mozilla.cfg");
pref("general.config.obscure_value", 0);

/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/Resources/mozilla.cfg

// Disable updater
lockPref("app.update.enabled", false);
// make absolutely sure it is really off
lockPref("app.update.auto", false);
lockPref("app.update.mode", 0);
lockPref("app.update.service.enabled", false);
// Set default homepage - users can change, but will reset on relaunch
pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://intranet.domain.dom");
// Disable crash reporter
lockPref("toolkit.crashreporter.enabled", false);
Components.classes["@mozilla.org/toolkit/crash-reporter;1"].getService(Components.interfaces.nsICrashReporter).submitReports = false;

[ianmb]

@remodb Thanks, I now have it working. I realised that saving the relevant files out ANSI-encoded kind of helps :-)

[bcbackes]

Is this method still legit? I stumbled on this old post trying to find a way to disable Firefox auto update.