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

When upgrading Firefox I get the message, "An older item named “Firefox” already exists in this location. Do you want to replace it with the newer one you’re moving?". Choosing YES results in "Operation can’t be completed because item “Firefox” in use."

  • 1 ŋuɖoɖo
  • 5 masɔmasɔ sia le wosi
  • 5 views
  • Nuɖoɖo mlɔetɔ cor-el

more options

Using Mac Snow Leopard 10.6.7 Current Firefox: 3.6.18 Trying to update latest version: 5.0.1

This seems quirky. In Updating a newer version of Firefox is should seem obvious that the existing firfox executable would be replaced by the newer version ?!?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Using Mac Snow Leopard 10.6.7 Current Firefox: 3.6.18 Trying to update latest version: 5.0.1 This seems quirky. In Updating a newer version of Firefox is should seem obvious that the existing firfox executable would be replaced by the newer version ?!? Thanks for any help you can give.

All Replies (1)

more options

If you have problems with updating or with the permissions then easiest is to download the full version and trash the currently installed version to do a clean install of the new version.

Download a new copy of the Firefox program and save the DMG file to the desktop

  • Trash the current Firefox application to do a clean (re-)install
  • Install the new version that you have downloaded

Your profile data is stored elsewhere in the Firefox Profile Folder, so you won't lose your bookmarks and other personal data.