Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

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

How to fix this: Cannot install unverified add-on even with xpinstall.signatures.required set to false.

  • 7 replies
  • 58 have this problem
  • 105 views
  • Last reply by James

more options

Firefox version 48 (OS X) disabled an add-on of mine that I am developing after Firefox updated. The add-on is unverified. After removing the add-on I am now unable to reinstall it despite xpinstall.signatures.required being set to false in about::config (I've toggled this on and off whilst restarting Firefox).

Although I am not interested in getting Mozilla to verify my personal add-on, now I'm hypothetically unable to work on my add-on to make it verified.

Firefox version 48 (OS X) disabled an add-on of mine that I am developing after Firefox updated. The add-on is unverified. After removing the add-on I am now unable to reinstall it despite xpinstall.signatures.required being set to false in about::config (I've toggled this on and off whilst restarting Firefox). Although I am not interested in getting Mozilla to verify my personal add-on, now I'm hypothetically unable to work on my add-on to make it verified.

Modified by James

Chosen solution

hi, you can use firefox developer edition where the xpinstall.signatures.required pref continues to be supported: https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/developer/

in addition you can easily get an addon signed - this is not the same as getting a full manual review for an extension that should be publicly listed at addons.mozilla.org: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2015/12/01/de-coupling-reviews-from-signing-unlisted-add-ons/

in addition you can also load unsigned addons temporarily through about:debugging: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/about:debugging

Read this answer in context 👍 4

All Replies (7)

more options

Hi, sorry, but I'm afraid add-ons that aren't signed in v48 won't work - the about:config fix was a temporary measure. The only thing you can do is to contact the developer and alert them to the problem.

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/48.0/releasenotes/

If your question is resolved by this or another answer, please take a minute to let us know. Thank you!

more options

That is incredibly frustrating since I'm the developer and I don't want to/can't get it signed. The add-on relies on pulling code remotely which is dangerous in principal so cannot be verified in the add-on store. It would take days to clone the code needed and I would have to spend months in the future keeping it up to date. I have no interest in doing this for a personal project, and no interest in distributing it in a store. I only want the add-on for personal use. Is there now no work around?

How are other developers developing add-ons if there is no way of loading an unverified add-on?

more options

Chosen Solution

hi, you can use firefox developer edition where the xpinstall.signatures.required pref continues to be supported: https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/developer/

in addition you can easily get an addon signed - this is not the same as getting a full manual review for an extension that should be publicly listed at addons.mozilla.org: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2015/12/01/de-coupling-reviews-from-signing-unlisted-add-ons/

in addition you can also load unsigned addons temporarily through about:debugging: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/about:debugging

more options
more options

philipp said

hi, you can use firefox developer edition where the xpinstall.signatures.required pref continues to be supported: https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/developer/

Is xpinstall.signatures.required planned to be phased out in the developer version?

Modified by James

more options

no, that's what devedition is for, among other purposes :-)

more options

I thoroughly appreciate your help and I've got my add-on working. Yay! Thanks very much.

Modified by James