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.

Search Support

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

Auto Updates with Firefox ESR

  • 5 cavab
  • 0 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by Mike Kaply

more options

I recently deployed Mozilla Firefox 102.4 ESR here in our environment expecting that when a new version is released Firefox would automatically update on clients computers. Well today I noticed at a new release is out but isn't automatically updating on end users workstations. Does Firefox ESR not automatically update?

I recently deployed Mozilla Firefox 102.4 ESR here in our environment expecting that when a new version is released Firefox would automatically update on clients computers. Well today I noticed at a new release is out but isn't automatically updating on end users workstations. Does Firefox ESR not automatically update?

All Replies (5)

more options

It does, but it might take a day or two. Updates are throttled as we roll them out.

Have the updates happened?

more options

Sorry for not replying to this sooner. So yes the updates do work now but only if the user has opened Firefox, meaning it doesn't update unless an actual logs in and launches Firefox. I would prefer Firefox to auto update regardless if a user launches it or not. Is this possible?

more options

It sounds like the background updater is not working in your case.

Can you check this page, in particular the section at the bottom for reasons why the background updater isn't working?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-background-updates-firefox-windows

If none of those apply, you should open a bugzilla bug and we can debug

more options

Good morning, Mike.

Thank you for responding.

I've looked at the URL you provided and found the following items which may be the root of the issue based on the required requirements vs what we actually have setup.


The Mozilla Maintenance Service must be usable (installed and not disabled). When installing with the Firefox installer, this is the default.

The Mozilla Maintenance Service is installed within our environment but its "Stopped" and the startup type is set to "Manual"

Firefox must have a default profile, and it must run using that profile at least once after the feature is enabled.

We don't really have any profiles created outside of whatever Firefox creates when a user opens it for the first time.

Could the service being stopped and set to manual be the cause?

more options

Are you still having issues here?

We're thinking the best option when these problems happen is to open a bug on bugzilla.mozilla.org and we can have the install/update team help.