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Add-on manager loads forever and buttons to install add-ons don't work

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  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by cor-el

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Using a mac, just switched over to firefox from chrome. I wanted to install Ublock Origin so I went to its add-on page, clicked the add to firefox button and it did nothing. Tried checking out what add-ons I have but it just shows that its loading and stays like that forever. Tried clicking on Get Add-ons, didn't work. Javascript is installed? I'm not sure what's going on.

Using a mac, just switched over to firefox from chrome. I wanted to install Ublock Origin so I went to its add-on page, clicked the add to firefox button and it did nothing. Tried checking out what add-ons I have but it just shows that its loading and stays like that forever. Tried clicking on Get Add-ons, didn't work. Javascript is installed? I'm not sure what's going on.

Chosen solution

Let’s do a full clean re-install; Download Firefox For All languages And Systems {web link} Save the file. Then Close Firefox.

Using your file browser, open the Programs Folder on your computer.

Windows: C:\Program Files C:\Program Files (x86)

Mac: Open the "Applications" folder.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-download-and-install-firefox-mac

Linux: Check your user manual. If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder Firefox in your home directory.

Do Not remove the profiles folder.

Look for, and rename any Mozilla or Firefox program folders by adding .old to them. Do not rename the Mozilla Thunderbird folder if there is one.

After rebooting the computer, run a registry scanner if you have one. Then run the installer. If all goes well, remove the OLD folders when you are done.


If there is a problem, start your Computer in safe mode and try again.

Starting The Computer In Safe Mode;
Free Online Encyclopedia

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Chosen Solution

Let’s do a full clean re-install; Download Firefox For All languages And Systems {web link} Save the file. Then Close Firefox.

Using your file browser, open the Programs Folder on your computer.

Windows: C:\Program Files C:\Program Files (x86)

Mac: Open the "Applications" folder.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-download-and-install-firefox-mac

Linux: Check your user manual. If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder Firefox in your home directory.

Do Not remove the profiles folder.

Look for, and rename any Mozilla or Firefox program folders by adding .old to them. Do not rename the Mozilla Thunderbird folder if there is one.

After rebooting the computer, run a registry scanner if you have one. Then run the installer. If all goes well, remove the OLD folders when you are done.


If there is a problem, start your Computer in safe mode and try again.

Starting The Computer In Safe Mode;
Free Online Encyclopedia

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Note that in case of problems like this if you use the Get Add-ons tab in the Add-on manager (about:addons) it is best to directly go to the Add-ons website and install the extension from its page on that website. When you use Get Add-ons then Firefox sends a list of currently installed extensions and the server can take unknown time to process this list and send a response.