This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

ابحث في الدعم

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

cannot add-on ask.com as a search engine

  • 4 ردود
  • 2 have this problem
  • 9 views
  • آخر ردّ كتبه ydaltak

more options

when i click on ask.com to add the search engine to my list, i get a pop-up that says "sorry, you must use a mozilla based browser (such as firefox) to install a search plugin." and of course, i am using the latest version of firefox.

when i click on ask.com to add the search engine to my list, i get a pop-up that says "sorry, you must use a mozilla based browser (such as firefox) to install a search plugin." and of course, i am using the latest version of firefox.

الحل المُختار

The way the site works, it checks certain browser capabilities. Here is a way to double-check.

Open the Web console by pressing Ctrl+Shift+k

Next to the caret (>), paste the following (it's all one long line) and press Enter:

if(window.external && window.external.AddSearchProvider) alert("OK"); else alert("FAIL");

I'm guessing you'll get FAIL because that's how you get the "sorry..." message on the add-ons website.

(You can close the web console by pressing Ctrl+Shift+k again.)

I'm not aware of any built-in way to disable this function. I wonder whether one of your add-ons might be blocking it? Could you restart in Safe Mode and try adding it again?

Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

Click the Restart in Safe Mode button, not the Reset button.

More info on Safe Mode: Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode.

Read this answer in context 👍 2

All Replies (4)

more options

Are you trying to add it from here?

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/askcom/

more options

no, that wasn't where i was trying to add it from, but that location gave me the same error message.

more options

الحل المُختار

The way the site works, it checks certain browser capabilities. Here is a way to double-check.

Open the Web console by pressing Ctrl+Shift+k

Next to the caret (>), paste the following (it's all one long line) and press Enter:

if(window.external && window.external.AddSearchProvider) alert("OK"); else alert("FAIL");

I'm guessing you'll get FAIL because that's how you get the "sorry..." message on the add-ons website.

(You can close the web console by pressing Ctrl+Shift+k again.)

I'm not aware of any built-in way to disable this function. I wonder whether one of your add-ons might be blocking it? Could you restart in Safe Mode and try adding it again?

Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

Click the Restart in Safe Mode button, not the Reset button.

More info on Safe Mode: Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode.

more options

i restarted in safe mode and was able to add ask.com. thanks!