need to restart to apply updates - no updates
I keep getting a notification to restart Firefox to apply updates, but when I check what needs updating, I find nothing. None of my addons are out of date in about:addons, and opening "About Firefox" shows that there are no Firefox updates available. Yet after several minutes of using Firefox, I get an update notification, which I usually notice after making a YouTube video full screen, or some other change to what I'm doing.
My OS and applications outside of Firefox are also up to date. I am an Ubuntu user, so "up to date" is relative - Ubuntu is frequently out of date. Because of this, combined with my habit of keeping multiple OSes on each of my computers, I have a copy of Firefox in my dropbox folder and use Firefox Sync to keep my settings and addons across systems. This information may help with debugging the problem, i,e, if Dropbox was confused by Firefox's update process or vice versa.
I will attach logs if I can catch Firefox asking to restart again, as the last few times it happened I failed to get the logs.
All Replies (11)
Try to run your FF in safe mode. Running in safe mode resolves most of the problem to start the safe mode type about:support and to the right side see there is option disable all add-ons and run in save mode.
if it doesn't seems to work. Go for clean installation of FF. by removing the the order version
Note: You might want to print these steps or view them in another browser.
- Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from mozilla.org (or choose the download for your operating system and language from this page) and save the setup file to your computer.
- After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (or open the Firefox menu
and click the close button 
).
- Delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
- Windows:
- C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
- Mac: Delete Firefox from the Applications folder.
- Linux: If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder firefox in your home directory.
- Windows:
- Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
- Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
- Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.
More information about reinstalling Firefox can be found here.
WARNING: Do not use a third party uninstaller as part of this process. Doing so could permanently delete your Firefox profile data, including but not limited to, extensions, cache, cookies, bookmarks, personal settings and saved passwords. These cannot be easily recovered unless they have been backed up to an external device! See Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.
Please report back to say if this helped you!
Thank you.
- 1 Download Firefox Full Installer For All languages And Systemsv38.0.5 {web link}
- 2 Uninstall Firefox from your computer {web link}
DO NOT remove your profiles. - 3 After, reboot the computer. Then run the full installer.
FredMcD said
- 1 Download Firefox Full Installer For All languages And Systemsv38.0.5 {web link}
- 2 Uninstall Firefox from your computer {web link}
DO NOT remove your profiles.- 3 After, reboot the computer. Then run the full installer.
This is Linux, not Windows and the current version is Firefox 39.0 as you need to update this clip board as it is a old one to be more multi OS firendly as there is no installer on OSX and Linux..
fixed.
- 1 Download Firefox Full Version For All languages And Systems v39.0 {web link}
- 2 Uninstall Firefox from your computer {web link}
DO NOT remove your profiles. - 3 Then extract tarball and run Firefox.
I suspect the issue may be related to the recent Adobe Flash softblock. However, the person who gave me this idea and is experiencing the problem does not appear to be knowledgeable in how security or Firefox work. It may also be another plugin instead, but no plugins register as having an update available.
Adobe has updated flash player; https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/forums/support-forum-contributors/711401
FredMcD said
Adobe has updated flash player; https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/forums/support-forum-contributors/711401
I am already running the latest version, yet it is still soft blocked. It appears as though they have not yet updated the Linux plugin version.
The last Flash update had the appropriate security fixes, but was not the cause of the restart messages. I am still baffled by this.
Flash Player 11.2.202.491 (Linux)
FredMcD said
Flash Player 11.2.202.491 (Linux)
Yes, that is what I have been using for a few days now. The list of plugin versions didn't update.
I have updated to Firefox 40.0, and I'm still receiving "restart to update Firefox" notifications after various undetermined events, such as loading or refreshing web pages, or opening a YouTube video in full screen. I am still unable to locate the cause of the problem, but can confirm that none of my plugins, add-ons, extensions, or the browser itself report having an update available. I am also unable to locate any Firefox logs or ways to enable such logs, which are not helping me debug the problem. Any help would be appreciated.
Sorry for the delay, I lost my internet for two weeks.
Try this; https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-to-fix-preferences-wont-save
Note: Some software, like Advanced SystemCare with Surfing Protection, can protect files in the Firefox profile folder against changes. If you have such software then check the settings or uninstall this software.