The Windows version of Firefox on that page IS an exe file. You must have 7zip set as the default program to open exe's on your computer.

The Firefox installer .exe files on Windows are packed as a self-extracting 7-ZIP archive, so Windows may be detecting the 7-ZIP program when you run the installer.

If you aren't able to open the file in an archive manager that recognizes this format to extract all file/folder then you would need a ZIP archive version as is available for developer versions to avoid running the 7-ZIP extraction code.

I have no defaults set for .exe files in my registry settings for the .exe, OpenWithList or OpenWithProgids. It is extracting but fails. Should the .exe etc be set to something?

Does your IT know about this problem and have any suggestions? There must be a lot of open source software that uses the 7zSD "self extracting executable" (SFX) utility. Maybe they don't like open source software. ;-)

In theory you can download and save the installer file on another computer and use the 7-Zip archive manager to extract all the files and folders to an USB stick. Then you can install (copy) these file on the other computer and possibly run the maintenance service installer manually if you are allowed to install this service as it requires administrator permission.

Okay... Thank you to all who gave me the bread crumbs to get this working. Even the developer version at first try didn't work. I finally thought to do the following:

1. Open Winzip 2. From Winzip open the downloaded Firefox Setup 41.0.1.exe

    You'll see a core folder and Setup.exe.

3. Select Setup.exe and use the unzip and try icon.

This executes the setup and installs firefox.

Again thanks for all your fast response! I am now up running with my favorite browser!

jscher2000 said

Does your IT know about this problem and have any suggestions? There must be a lot of open source software that uses the 7zSD "self extracting executable" (SFX) utility. Maybe they don't like open source software. ;-)

We are completly aware of the limitations of FireFox.

As an IT organization we do not support FireFox. Why? 1) The FireFox installation is packaged in a self-extracting archive (Which we block for security purposes) - in order to prevent the transmission of malicious programs. see disadvantages on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-extracting_archive

With any basic secuirty controlls in place no organization should allow a self-extracting archive on thier network because it leaves the organization open to security threats.

2) FireFox currently does not support applying group policy to its browser. Therefore we cannot set the home page, and other behaviors controlled by the IT organization.

Hope this anwsers you questions of why it is not supported by our organization.

Hi EsterlineIT, if you want to, you can find solutions to these issues. Numerous companies deploy and manage Firefox using tools other than group policy. You could start by joining the mailing list described on this page: http://www.mozilla.org/firefox/organizations/

lynrajk said

For me 7-zip is blocked by group policy (which I can not control) and I want to find a full exe that doesn't extract using 7zip. Several posts already here suggest going to https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/ to get the full download but at least the English US version for windows is NOT a "full" exe version. When I run as administrator or not it starts the extracting window and when it is almost complete I see the message 7-Zip This program is blocked by group policy. For more information, contact your system administrator. Can anyone point me to real download that doesn't require 7-Zip? I am such a fan of Mozilla but I will be forced to move to a one of two despised browsers unless I can install without 7-Zip. Please help me!

lynrajk said

Okay... Thank you to all who gave me the bread crumbs to get this working. Even the developer version at first try didn't work. I finally thought to do the following: 1. Open Winzip 2. From Winzip open the downloaded Firefox Setup 41.0.1.exe You'll see a core folder and Setup.exe. 3. Select Setup.exe and use the unzip and try icon. This executes the setup and installs firefox. Again thanks for all your fast response! I am now up running with my favorite browser!

Just an FYI for people if this does not work for you I tried version 44 (the current version at the time of this post) and extracting it did not work. I notice that It did not have the Core folder and setup, but only the Setup. So went and found an older version, I used version 36 and when i extract that it had both files as described above and I could then install Firefox i just had to run a few updates. I don't know what version things changed but i know version 44 will not work and version 36 will.

Hope this helps!

fhgui said

Just an FYI for people if this does not work for you I tried version 44 (the current version at the time of this post) and extracting it did not work. I notice that It did not have the Core folder and setup, but only the Setup. So went and found an older version, I used version 36 and when i extract that it had both files as described above and I could then install Firefox i just had to run a few updates. I don't know what version things changed but i know version 44 will not work and version 36 will. Hope this helps!

You may have downloaded the "stub installer". (236 KB)

Get the full, off-line installer (41.1 MB) from here: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/

That has the Core folder and setup.exe at the 'root' level of that package.