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

setting initial default homepage

  • 5 replies
  • 9 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

more options

I am deploying FF18.0.2 to about 700 workstations, in the past I have been using;

Mozilla.cfg, copied to <install_Folder> //Firefox Default Settings

// set Firefox Default homepage pref("browser.startup.homepage","http://myhome.pagesite.org");

// disable default browser check pref("browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser", false); pref("browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone", "ignore");

// disable application updates pref("app.update.enabled", false)

// disables the 'know your rights' button from displaying on first run pref("browser.rights.3.shown", true);

// disables the request to send performance data from displaying pref("toolkit.telemetry.prompted", 2); pref("toolkit.telemetry.rejected", true);

local-settings.js; Copied to <install_folder>\defaults\pref

pref("general.config.obscure_value", 0); pref("general.config.filename", "mozilla.cfg"); lockPref("app.update.auto", false); lockPref("app.update.enabled", false);

but the endusers can not change this homepage, how do I enable them to be able to change the default page?

I am deploying FF18.0.2 to about 700 workstations, in the past I have been using; Mozilla.cfg, copied to <install_Folder> //Firefox Default Settings // set Firefox Default homepage pref("browser.startup.homepage","http://myhome.pagesite.org"); // disable default browser check pref("browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser", false); pref("browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone", "ignore"); // disable application updates pref("app.update.enabled", false) // disables the 'know your rights' button from displaying on first run pref("browser.rights.3.shown", true); // disables the request to send performance data from displaying pref("toolkit.telemetry.prompted", 2); pref("toolkit.telemetry.rejected", true); local-settings.js; Copied to <install_folder>\defaults\pref pref("general.config.obscure_value", 0); pref("general.config.filename", "mozilla.cfg"); lockPref("app.update.auto", false); lockPref("app.update.enabled", false); but the endusers can not change this homepage, how do I enable them to be able to change the default page?

All Replies (5)

more options

hello, change that into

// set Firefox Default homepage 
defaultPref("browser.startup.homepage","http://XXX"); 

for reference please see http://mike.kaply.com/2012/03/16/customizing-firefox-autoconfig-files/

more options

Thanks for trying, but when I do that FF wont open; Error "Failed to read the configuration file. Please contact your system administrator"

made that change to the Mozilla.cfg file, which is copied to "c:\program files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox"

more options

Make sure that the file name is mozilla.cfg (;case sensitive; all lowercase).

Does it work with the pref() function?

Also try to save the mozilla.cfg file with UNIX line ending (i.e. only a linefeed and not cr/lf).

more options

The pref() function works fine, I have set a few prefs set during install, but this is the one I can not get to make so the users can change it!

have tried;

        userpref()
        defaultPref()

Only pref() works

more options

The "browser.startup.homepage" is a complex pref and apparently requires a different approach to set as a default value.

See:

  • defaultPref("browser.startup.homepage", "data:text/plain,browser.startup.homepage=http://www.bbc.co.uk");