[Mozilla Enterprise] Profile issue

Thu Jan 23 10:16:53 UTC 2020

Hi Mike,

I think it’s creating a new profile because the old one has become corrupted.  If you create a new profile, open and close Firefox, and try to point it at the old profile, it triggers the error again.

I’ve looked at the logs on the affected machines, and I think it’s being caused by a conflict between SCCM and the Mozilla Maintenance service. SCCM initially installs the Firefox in “c:\Program Files” using SCCM credentials (that have install rights). The standard user does not have install rights, and the Mozilla Maintenance Service used to use the logged on users credentials to try to (and fail to) update the installation.  Recently (particularly since the option to turn off auto-updates was moved from the profile to GPO) I’ve noticed that the Mozilla Maintenance service was managing to successfully update the installations while only a standard user was logged on, as has happened in these cases.  SCCM then downgrades the installation, and then the Mozilla Maintenance service upgrades it.

It's this oscillation between 68.4.1 and 68.4.2 that’s caused the profiles to corrupt and become unusable, triggering the error message.

So I’ve turned off the SSCM distribution while I finally sort out implementing the GPO to turn off the autoupdater.

I’m assuming the Mozilla Maintenance service has somehow retained and is using the installation credentials SCCM used to install it.  Is there a log I can use to check it?

Regards

Will
Will Spratt
IT Science Support Specialist
Tel:         01904 46 2631

From: Mike Kaply <mkaply at mozilla.com>
Sent: 22 January 2020 17:01
To: William Spratt <William.Spratt at fera.co.uk>
Cc: Mozilla.org <enterprise at mozilla.org>
Subject: Re: [Mozilla Enterprise] Profile issue

Is the old profile still there?

I'm confused as to why a new profile is getting created at all.

Mike

On Wed, Jan 22, 2020 at 10:59 AM William Spratt <William.Spratt at fera.co.uk<mailto:William.Spratt at fera.co.uk>> wrote:
We’ve had more today.
[cid:image001.png at 01D5D1C5.FBB6C780]

But they aren’t.  They’ve all updated to 68.4.2, and the new profile generated is completely blank.  We can import the bookmarks, but it’s taking us time.

At least it’s motivated me to get the GPO working to turn off automatic updates.

Regards

Will

Will Spratt
IT Science Support Specialist
Tel:         01904 46 2631

From: Enterprise <enterprise-bounces at mozilla.org<mailto:enterprise-bounces at mozilla.org>> On Behalf Of William Spratt
Sent: 21 January 2020 15:15
To: Mozilla.org <enterprise at mozilla.org<mailto:enterprise at mozilla.org>>
Subject: Re: [Mozilla Enterprise] Profile issue

Hi Mike,

Apparently they have been able to update their software, because I just checked the machine and they are on ESR 68.4.2 – not sure how they’ve managed that.

So the compatibility.ini file has this on the old profile:
[Compatibility]
LastVersion=68.4.2_20200117153614/20200117153614
LastOSABI=WINNT_x86_64-msvc
LastPlatformDir=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
LastAppDir=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\browser

And this from the new profile:
[Compatibility]
LastVersion=68.4.2_20200117153614/20200117153614
LastOSABI=WINNT_x86_64-msvc
LastPlatformDir=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
LastAppDir=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\browser

We push out new updates via SCCM.  I’m guessing the Mozilla Maintence service is using the SCCM system account to apply the updates?  Is there a log I can use to confirm that?

Regards

Will

Will Spratt
IT Science Support Specialist
Tel:         01904 46 2631

From: Enterprise <enterprise-bounces at mozilla.org<mailto:enterprise-bounces at mozilla.org>> On Behalf Of Mike Kaply
Sent: 21 January 2020 14:32
To: Timo Pietilä <timo.pietila at helsinki.fi<mailto:timo.pietila at helsinki.fi>>
Cc: Mozilla.org <enterprise at mozilla.org<mailto:enterprise at mozilla.org>>
Subject: Re: [Mozilla Enterprise] Profile issue

Is it possible Firefox was still running? I've been seeing a weird problem with regards to this. Does it work if they wait a minute and then start Firefox?

can you check the values of compatibility.ini on someone that is experiencing the problem? It's in their profile.

Mike

On Tue, Jan 21, 2020 at 8:05 AM Timo Pietilä <timo.pietila at helsinki.fi<mailto:timo.pietila at helsinki.fi>> wrote:
"error stating it can’t use the current profile as it’s meant for an
older version of Firefox."

Usually that's other way around, older FF can't use newer profile. Are
you sure that it was this way around? FF updated today to 68.4.2, maybe
some of the users have managed to use newer version before you installed
68.4.1?

Timo Pietilä

On 21.1.2020 15.20, William Spratt wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I’ve got a bit of a weird one in our environment.
>
> I have an estate of about 500 users.  ESR 68.4.1 was installed last week
> across the estate. About half a dozen of them have been logging on okay,
> but today  have been getting an error where Firefox refuses to start,
> with an error stating it can’t use the current profile as it’s meant for
> an older version of Firefox.
>
> All the other users are fine.  These aren’t old profiles (for instance
> one was created last September). Creating a new profile and importing
> the bookmarks from the previous profile allows them to open Firefox, but
> this means they lose all they’re saved passwords (our company’s
> information security policy prevents them being backed up using Firefox
> Synch).  Any clue what’s causing it?
>
> It sounds a bit like Justin Anderson’s issue, but it’s not being
> triggered by staff having different versions of Firefox, and these
> aren’t old profiles.
>
> Regards
>
> Will
>
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>
>
>
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>
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