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http:// prefix no longer appears in address bar

  • 8 replies
  • 37 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

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http:// prefix no longer shows in address bar

http:// prefix no longer shows in address bar

Chosen solution

You can set the pref browser.urlbar.trimURLs to false on the about:config page to see the http: protocol.

You can set the pref browser.urlbar.formatting.enabled to false on the about:config page to disable the highlighting of the domain and see the full URL more clearly.


To open the about:config page, type about:config in the location (address) bar and press the "Enter" key, just like you type the url of a website to open a website.
If you see a warning then you can confirm that you want to access that page.

  • Use the Filter bar at to top of the about:config page to locate a preference more easily.
  • Preferences that have been modified show as bold (user set).
  • Preferences can be reset to the default via the right-click context menu if they are user set
  • Preferences can be changed via the right-click context menu: Modify (String or Integer) or Toggle (Boolean)
Read this answer in context 👍 10

All Replies (8)

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Most sites people go to are HTTP so it was decided to just not bother showing the protocol in newer versions of Firefox unless it's something else, like https:// or ftp://, thus saving a little space and making the URL a little more readable.

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Chosen Solution

You can set the pref browser.urlbar.trimURLs to false on the about:config page to see the http: protocol.

You can set the pref browser.urlbar.formatting.enabled to false on the about:config page to disable the highlighting of the domain and see the full URL more clearly.


To open the about:config page, type about:config in the location (address) bar and press the "Enter" key, just like you type the url of a website to open a website.
If you see a warning then you can confirm that you want to access that page.

  • Use the Filter bar at to top of the about:config page to locate a preference more easily.
  • Preferences that have been modified show as bold (user set).
  • Preferences can be reset to the default via the right-click context menu if they are user set
  • Preferences can be changed via the right-click context menu: Modify (String or Integer) or Toggle (Boolean)
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Thanks to Dave.G and cor-el . I've always been accustomed to seeing the complete URL , and am not pleased to see the system override me . I'm a lazy typist , and if I cut and paste a URL , I don't want to have to retype any part of it . Thanks again for pointing out the cause , and for the solution .

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You're welcome.

If you copy an URL with the htpp hidden to the clipboard then Firefox automatically adds the htpp:// protocol to the data that is placed on the clipboard, so you do not need to add it yourself after you paste it..

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I would prefer that I can see the full URL to make it easy to verify that SSL is enabled on shopping pages and other areas on a site where security should be enabled. We have had situations where sites have not been properly secured and I would rather not have this information suppressed. To have to go to about:config to change the setting is already onerous and this is probably the first step in burying the full URL further. I think this is very bad practice. Naive users like my wife can be told to look for https in a page address, but where do I tell her to look if the full URL is not displayed? I checked an https: location and nowhere on your default view is there an indication of security level for the site apart from the full site URL. I certainly do not trust website owners to be conscientious about security requirements, especially if they think major organizations don't care about it. And if you think SSL is not adequate protection for average financial transactions and transmission of personal data, you should tell your users that so we stop trusting it. That would put a real dent in Internet traffic, wouldn't it?

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The secure https protocol isn't hidden and you should see it if you have a secure connection like this forum uses when you are logged on. Only http is hidden.

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Sorry, but this "solution" solves nothing. Don't know precisely what it does, but it fails to resolve the missing http://

After attempting, nothing has changed. Please try again.

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Start Firefox in Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of the extensions or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox (Tools) > Add-ons > Appearance/Themes).