[Mozilla Enterprise] Stop Firefox from creating a new profile on upgrade

Sat Oct 12 17:20:21 UTC 2019

Ok, I get the idea of using the old folder during an upgrade (I don't 
like it, because it breaks rule of 32bit in %ProgramFiles(x86)%, but ok.

Here's what I'm doing to make sure I get a clean install (and am using 
the proper folders).

1)Uninstall the current copy.
2)Delete the C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox folder (or 
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox)
3)Set MOZ_LEGACY_PROFILES=1
4)Reinstall Firefox in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox (most 
machines are now 64bit).
5)Make the %ProgramFiles%\Mozilla Firefox\distribution folder
6)Copy the policies.json to %ProgramFiles%\Mozilla Firefox\distribution
7)Start Firefox with the -setDefaultBrowser to set it as default browser

What generally happens is that:

1)I get a new profile
2)Even if I don't get a new profile, the old profile ignores at least 
some of the policies.json settings
2)Firefox sets itself as default browser about 80% of the time.

Even when I'm installing on a brand new install, the policies.json 
settings fail at least 20% of the time.

So my automation fails completely.

What am I doing wrong?

Thane K. Sherrington

Computer Connection, Ltd. ...taking the mystery out of computers since 1982.
Winner of the 2012 Ian Spencer - Excellence in Business Award
*Thanks for making us the Reader's Choice Best Computer Store in 2016, 
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95 College St., Antigonish,
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thane at computerconnectionltd.com
On 10/10/2019 7:26 p.m., Mike Kaply wrote:
> That's correct, this is an old issue, and the profile per channel 
> situation made it more interesting.
>
> So just summarize how things are going to be:
>
> If you have Firefox installed (32 or 64), and you upgrade to a 
> different version using our install, it will overwrite the existing 
> install. This will prevent you from getting separate profiles fro 32 
> and 64 bit (it was the only way to solve this problem for most users.)
>
> Note that we had always upgraded 32 to 64 in the same directory in 
> place. This new change is if you explicitly use an installer and 
> already have Firefox installed, it will overwrite it in place (which 
> is the logical thing to do).
>
> separately, I have added a Windows GPO only policy to turn off the 
> profile per installation. It will be in the Firefox and ESR that 
> release on October 22.
>
> Any other platforms should use the environment variable 
> (MOZ_LEGACY_PROFILES)
>
> https://github.com/mozilla/policy-templates/blob/master/README.md#legacyprofiles
>
> Mike
>
> On Tue, Oct 8, 2019 at 6:25 AM Andrew C Aitchison 
> <andrew at aitchison.me.uk <mailto:andrew at aitchison.me.uk>> wrote:
>
>     On Wed, 2 Oct 2019, Klaus Hartnegg wrote:
>
>     > Am 01.10.2019 um 23:00 schrieb Mike Kaply:
>     >> We're also making a change so 64 bit Firefox installs in the same
>     >> directory as 32 bit (which is causing the new profiles).
>     >
>     > Oh, no!
>     >
>     > You just learned the hard way that not following rules causes
>     problems.
>     > Now instead of fixing the underlying bug you want to break
>     another rule.
>     > Guess what? That will cause more problems.
>     >
>     > Every deployment solution, every inventory tool, and Windows itself
>     > assumes everywhere that 64-bit programs are installed in
>     C:\Program Files.
>     >
>     > How about this:
>     > When Firefox is installed in its default directory, it uses the
>     default
>     > name for the profile directory.
>     > Only if somebody installs it in a non-standard directory, it uses a
>     > non-standard name for its profile.
>     >
>     > Then all users who use defaults will get what they expect, and
>     those who
>     > do not use defaults will get what they deserve: a surprise.
>
>     Mike will know better than me, but my recollection is that this
>     issue is
>     not new but goes back to around ff56.
>
>     At that point 64bit firefox became the default and many users were
>     upgraded automatically. Since this would have meant profiles
>     moving from
>     %ProgramFiles(x86)% to %ProgramFiles% (have I got that the right way
>     around?) both versions were installed in the 32bit location, so
>     that the
>     profiles did not move.
>
>     Now that the chaos has been seen, they wish to scratch another itch
>     (requests to be able to run multiple versions of firefox) and tackle
>     two problems at once.
>
>     -- 
>     Andrew C. Aitchison  Kendal, UK
>     andrew at aitchison.me.uk <mailto:andrew at aitchison.me.uk>
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