This article explains why the menu item and software update options are disabled on some systems. For general information, see Update Firefox to the latest release.
Package management on Linux
Firefox's software update feature can be disabled on some Linux systems because the distribution itself handles upgrading Firefox. To update Firefox on these systems, you'll need to use your distribution's package management utility (for example, Synaptic Package Manager, Adept Manager, or Yum).
Many distributions will only provide security and stability updates to Firefox. They will, for example, let you go from 1.5.0.10 to 1.5.0.11 but not to 2.0. To make a major upgrade, you will have to install Firefox outside of your package manager. See Install Firefox on Linux.
Permissions
If your WindowsMac OSoperating system account doesn't have permission to change the Firefox installation directory, updating Firefox will not work, so is disabled. To get Firefox updated, log in to your computer as a user with sufficient permissions, for example an administrative account. should then be enabled.
- (Windows 7 and Vista): See How to run a program as an administrator at Microsoft Support.
- (Windows XP): See Use the RUN AS Command to Start a Program as an Administrator in Windows XP at Microsoft support.
To make enabled permanently, change the permissions on the Firefox installation directory.
