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.

Avatar for Username

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

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Updates are disabled but still popup "Firefox can't update.." at every start

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 48 views
  • Last reply by Mike Kaply

stefan.johnen
stefan.johnen
more options

Hello @all,

we deployed Firefox ESR in a corporate environment, managing settings via GPOs. When users open Firefox a message box / banner appears: "Firefox can't update to the latest version"

This is what we have: Firefox 78.6.1 ESR No Background Update Service Updates Disabled via GPO Checking FF Options: "Updates disabled by your system administrator" Checking FF "about:policies#active" => Updates Disabled

BUT STILL: Open Firefox - message box appears "Firefox can't update to the latest version".

I do know that we are not on the latest version but first I need to get rid of this message for each user. I cannot thiink of why this is happening at all because updates are disabled and Firefox confirms this, too.

What am I missing here?

Hello @all, we deployed Firefox ESR in a corporate environment, managing settings via GPOs. When users open Firefox a message box / banner appears: "Firefox can't update to the latest version" This is what we have: Firefox 78.6.1 ESR No Background Update Service Updates Disabled via GPO Checking FF Options: "Updates disabled by your system administrator" Checking FF "about:policies#active" => Updates Disabled BUT STILL: Open Firefox - message box appears "Firefox can't update to the latest version". I do know that we are not on the latest version but first I need to get rid of this message for each user. I cannot thiink of why this is happening at all because updates are disabled and Firefox confirms this, too. What am I missing here?
Attached screenshots

Chosen solution

OK, I finally found the root cause and solution: At FF start it tries to create+delete a "test" file in: ..\ProgramData\Mozilla\updates\E7CF176E110C211B\update.test

This is performed within the user context, our users can read but not Write or Delete inside the ..updates folder.

Granting access (full perm., without changing ownership etc) DOES SOLVE THE ISSUE: FF starts, file gets created and removed: NO MORE UPDATE PROMPT.

This bahaviour is kind of ridicolous, as updates have been disabled by force/GPO, still some update mechanism is conflicting during program start...

Well, that's what I could find out, so I'm leaving this here for everyone stumbling across the same problem, not finding a solution in any forums, blogs, etc..

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (2)

stefan.johnen
stefan.johnen Question owner
more options

Chosen Solution

OK, I finally found the root cause and solution: At FF start it tries to create+delete a "test" file in: ..\ProgramData\Mozilla\updates\E7CF176E110C211B\update.test

This is performed within the user context, our users can read but not Write or Delete inside the ..updates folder.

Granting access (full perm., without changing ownership etc) DOES SOLVE THE ISSUE: FF starts, file gets created and removed: NO MORE UPDATE PROMPT.

This bahaviour is kind of ridicolous, as updates have been disabled by force/GPO, still some update mechanism is conflicting during program start...

Well, that's what I could find out, so I'm leaving this here for everyone stumbling across the same problem, not finding a solution in any forums, blogs, etc..

Mike Kaply
Mike Kaply
  • Moderator
more options

This definitely sounds like a bug, regardless.

Would you be willing to open a bug in bugzilla? (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/home)