It should never be necessary to reboot the computer to update Firefox.

If this is needed then you probably have some security software that is using or protecting files in the Firefox program folder (C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\) against changes.

Do a clean (re)install and delete the Firefox program folder (C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\) to make sure that all files are removed.

Download a fresh Firefox copy and save the file to the desktop.

• Firefox 13.0.x: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all.html

Uninstall your current Firefox version, if possible.

• Do NOT remove personal data when you uninstall your current Firefox version, because all profile folders will be removed and you will also lose your personal data like bookmarks and passwords from profiles of other Firefox versions.

Remove the Firefox program folder before installing that newly downloaded copy of the Firefox installer.

• It is important to delete the Firefox program folder to remove all the files and make sure that there are no problems with files that were leftover after uninstalling.
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_Firefox

Your bookmarks and other profile data are stored elsewhere in the Firefox Profile Folder and won't be affected by a reinstall, but make sure that you do not select to remove personal data if you uninstall Firefox.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox#Clean_reinstall

cor-el,

  Thank you. I followed those instructions, and I am now typing this reply in Firefox 13.0.1 with all my bookmarks, and original settings working properly. Support=10 :-)

You're welcome

I have the same problem, but worse. I tried to uninstall FF, but still got the "must reboot" message. Then I deleted the FF files and tried to reinstall, but still got the "must reboot" message. Any idea how to fix this?

Did you remove the Firefox program folder (C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\)? You can try to reboot after having done that and check if the folder is stil gone.

You can also try to reboot the computer in Safe mode with network support (press F* on boot screen) to see if that helps.

I did reboot and the C:/Program Files/Mozilla folder was still deleted. I tried the update again and get the same reboot request.

Thanks for the other tries, but I think I'm stuck. I use this on a work computer with full disk encryption and a common image. After entering the FDE password, I hit F8 and the computer came up in a screen with no Safe Mode choice, and in fact, it seems they have disabled any kind of selection on this screen, because the machine hung here and I had to cycle power.

Now the issue is losing bookmarks, which is very annoying, as I had a lot of them that I use quite a bit. I tried to import from IE w/o success. Is there any way to recover the bookmarks?

Again, thanks for the help.