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

Firefox "Apply Update" problem?

  • 22 cavab
  • 32 have this problem
  • 7 views
  • Last reply by CSFF

more options

Hey, recently my firefox had a strange problem, when i click Help and "About Firefox" to see if i need to Apply Updates i always see the "Apply Update" button, naturally i clicked it, Firefox resets but the button remains when i check again instead of saying "Firefox is up to date", when i check the Firefox website it says my version is up to date, i tried uninstalling firefox and reinstalling it again, i tried installing firefox while already having it installed, and the problem remains, however if i run firefox as the administrator it says its up to date, is this a update problem or am i just being overly paranoid?

Hey, recently my firefox had a strange problem, when i click Help and "About Firefox" to see if i need to Apply Updates i always see the "Apply Update" button, naturally i clicked it, Firefox resets but the button remains when i check again instead of saying "Firefox is up to date", when i check the Firefox website it says my version is up to date, i tried uninstalling firefox and reinstalling it again, i tried installing firefox while already having it installed, and the problem remains, however if i run firefox as the administrator it says its up to date, is this a update problem or am i just being overly paranoid?

Chosen solution

Software Update not working properly

Check and tell if its working.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (20)

more options

Hi,

Please check if there's an updates folder and also a file named updates.xml in the Firefox installation directory (usually Computer > ?:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox or ?:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox) and delete.

more options

Nope, no updates folder or update.xml file.

more options

Please also see if there's an active-update.xml file.

You have the latest version (see System Details on the top right). Did you install Firefox by right-clicking and Run as Administrator, in the first place? Actually I think there is nothing to be worried. Sometimes strange things can happen with UAC. (see the last part).

more options

There is no active-update.xml file either.

And no, i had Firefox pre-installed.

more options

If you are not logging on to a domain network, you can try to install Firefox over the current installation or uninstall Firefox and install it again. Ideally UAC should be at the default level and also right-click and Run as Administrator to install.

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/

To backup your data please see this and this.

more options

I Backed up my profile and uninstalled firefox (I set it so it wouldnt delete my prefrences, bookmarks etc.) , then i reinstalled it via Running as Administrator, then after that i replaced the profile with the back up one and after double checking everything was in check, i attempted to Apply the update again, it still dosent work.

I Deleted the profile i had backed up into a seperate folder afterwards, again for security reasons, and UAC is at the highest level because i feel paranoid without it.

Any more advice?

more options

-> Run as Administrator

Check and tell if its working.

more options

Tried that, The "Run as administrator" Firefox says its up to date but when i go back to normal Firefox it still has the "Apply Update not going away" problem.

more options

Hope you are using an Administrator account

-> Updates reported when running newest version

Check and tell if its working.

Modified by Hasan

more options

I checked as a normal account, no updates.xml or anything, did the same with the admin account, still no updates.xml.

more options

The Normal Account that you are using, is it not an Administrator type account ?? Or is it a Standard account ??

more options

Its a standard account.

more options

If you are sure you can restore from a safe backup, you can try a clean uninstall and a fresh install. During the uninstall process select to delete all files and preferences and also manually delete the Mozilla Firefox program folder as well as the profile folder and install again via Run as Administrator. After installation but before restoring from the backup, start Firefox normally (Standard account) and check (Help (Alt + H) > About Firefox). You can later restore the needed files individually.

Installation Folder

Profile Folder

Modified by Vivek

more options

Im literally about to tear my hair out, i did as you said Wilfred, i uninstalled, deleted the Mozilla Firefox program folder and my profile folder in App data after uninstalling firefox from the control panel like you said, however when i attempted to open it normally via standard account i got the Firefox process problem, only when i opened firefox itself via administrator it actually worked, i checked the updates, Up to Date, then i copy and pasted my backed up profile into the new profiles folder and then tried opening it again like normal, worked, and i checked the firefox help, and guess what? APPLY UPDATE. Seriously this is getting frustrating.

more options

I am not sure why, but usually Firefox should open in a standard account after installation, like any other program. Perhaps there is a OS filesystem permissions anomaly in the Program Files or AppData hierarchy.

more options

Any other solutions...? Or am i just gonna have to wait?

more options

Seçilmiş Həll

Software Update not working properly

Check and tell if its working.

more options

Ah thank you, i was looking in the wrong place, i had to go to C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Mozilla Firefox and delete the updates folder there, now Firefox says its up to date, it should update normally now right?

more options

probably

more options

Deleting those files seems to only temporarily resolve the issue. Something causes the Apply Update button to persist even when updates have been applied and no new ones are available. I haven't figured out exactly what is causing this glitch to happen, but I want to keep an eye on it when I apply the next update. I have a suspicion that it is somehow related to the updating process.

My experience is that reinstalling Firefox does not durably resolve the issue either; but I don't think I deleted and scrubbed all the conf and account files.

  1. 1
  2. 2