Garmin Communicator Plugin still not functional with latest Firefox browser
I have been using a Garmin Nuvi satellite navigation device for some years, and using up-to-date Firefox browsers throughout. I'm also currently using Windows 10 Pro. At intervals, I need to use the "my.garmin.com" website, and a USB cable link, to update my safety camera database on the Garmin Nuvi device.
Very recently Garmin have announced their Communicator plugin (used in this download) is no longer accepted by Firefox. On the first occasion this happened, I managed to find a workaround, but this no longer does the trick.
It's obvious I am not the only person to have this problem. Surely a major browser like Firefox, and a major internet-dependent company like Garmin, shouldn't have this much trouble getting along?
When is this problem going to be fixed??
All Replies (5)
Hi
The best people for you to speak to about this are Garmin. They are the ones that develop their add-on for Firefox and are best placed to better explain their decisions not to provide that service any more.
The most likely issue is that Garmin hasn't gotten their add-on for Firefox signed by the Add-ons website. I has been a year since Mozilla announced that extensions will need to be signed by Mozilla or they won't be allowed in Firefox. This program was a enabled months ago, yet well known companies like Garmin just don't seem to 'get it', leaving their users in a bad position. https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2015/02/10/extension-signing-safer-experience/ https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2015/04/15/the-case-for-extension-signing/
There is an override that you can enable to allow unsigned add-ons to be enabled.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-on-signing-in-firefox#w_what-can-i-do-if-firefox-disables-an-installed-unsigned-add-on
Change the xpinstall.signatures.required preference to false in the Firefox Configuration Editor (about:config typed in the URL bar). Support is not available for any changes made with the Configuration Editor so please do this at your own risk.
Note: That pref will be gone in Firefox 46, a few months down the road. So user's of currently un-signed extensions should contact the developers of those extensions and prod them into getting their act together & get their extensions signed by Mozilla.
This is the 'previous workaround' I referred to (above). I'm using Firefox 44.0.2 and although it's set to "false" Garmin still doesn't work.
Further info -
A moderator on Garmin's forum suggests that the issue is the use of NPAPI plugins, which it's claimed are being phased out by browsers (starting with Chrome, then Firefox, moving on to IE in due course). It's also claimed the 'future' lies in a HTML-5 alternative to plugins (whether all or just NPAPI ones not made clear).
Garmin is a big US company, Firefox is a highly-popular browser; I cannot understand why they can't get their act together. At present I'm having to use IE11 for the sole purpose of updating my Garmin device.
Is the Garmin extension signed?
An extension's XPI file is a ZIP archive and you can check this file in a archive manager to see if there in a META-INF folder to check if the extension is signed.
Does Garmin come as a program that you install in Windows and that adds an extension and possibly a plugin as well to Firefox?
The System Delete list next to the question shows that the Garmin plugin is detected, so Firefox finds the plugin.
Do you see this plugin on the about:plugins page?