Hi  !

Just to make sure :

Have you also unchecked 'Use a background service to install updates'  ?

See screenshot :

@Happy112, Yes that box is NOT ticked.

I have now reverted back to version 56 so I shall see if it happens again. I would be happy to move forward to 57 but it does not look as if any of the scrapbook addons that offer the functions I want are compatible with version 57

@Happy112, your response made me think about services. The Mozilla Maintenance Service was set to manual, but that probably means that it can still be activated. I have now, for the time being, disabled that service so hopefully that will resolve the problem.

Could maybe this extension be an option  ?

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/web-scrapbook/?src=search

It's still under development, but sounds promising ......

Unfortunately the disabling of the Maintenance service, and setting Firefox NOT TO UPDATE seems to be being completely ignored and Firefox is riding roughshod over my settings and installing itself every time I start it.

This is NOT ACCEPTABLE. Whilst Happy112 suggested an extension that might resolve my problem with Scrapbook I have not decided yet and do not want to install version 57 until I have.

I have now uninstalled Mozilla Maintenance and deleted all 'update' or 'updater' files to see if that will stop this happening.

I do not have the checkbox for background service in settings.The reason is that when I installed 56 manually, I went throught the Custom install, where there was an option not to install that background service. I disabled it.

Yet, Firefox went to 58 by itself!

Now it seems to be okay; it's staying at 56 in the face of restarts. Knock on wood!

Kaz_Kylheku said

Yet, Firefox went to 58 by itself!

That is a Beta channel version.

You must have had a Beta version installed in the past.

the-edmeister said

Kaz_Kylheku said

Yet, Firefox went to 58 by itself!

That is a Beta channel version.

You must have had a Beta version installed in the past.

I have no idea. I uninstalled Firefox though as part of the process of going back to 56. I had thought of using Revo Uninstaller; that software will hunt down the left-over breadcrumbs after an official uninstaller runs. It finds registry items and files that appear related to the program and then lets you sift through the items and selectively delete them.

That is risky though since in doing this downgrade, we want to preserve all the bookmarks, add-ons and so on; the whole profile.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data

Hi,

I have the same problem and I have tried all solution I have found on this forum and in other places: - this post; - https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1185225 - https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1003777 - https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1157765 - https://superuser.com/questions/1268359/how-to-prevent-automatic-update-to-firefox-57-0-quantum

NOTHING WORKS!! I start every day with installation of FF v56. I tried before to uninstall 57, reboot and install 56, but it does not make any difference!! I is still going "Microsoft way" i.e. ignoring users' preferences, just forcing what they think "all should love". Very disappointing!!! Mozilla Team – don’t you understand that you are losing users?? I was with you for ... God know how long, probably since one of first versions. And now I am looking for similar add-ons in Chrome :-\

c.bolek said

Hi, I have the same problem and I have tried all solution I have found on this forum and in other places: NOTHING WORKS!! I start every day with installation of FF v56. I tried before to uninstall 57, reboot and install 56, but it does not make any difference!! I is still going "Microsoft way" i.e. ignoring users' preferences, just forcing what they think "all should love". Very disappointing!!! Mozilla Team – don’t you understand that you are losing users?? I was with you for ... God know how long, probably since one of first versions. And now I am looking for similar add-ons in Chrome :-\

I have managed to stop it.

In Options > Advanced set updates to 'Never check for updates (not recommended: security risk)'

Set the Mozilla Maintenance Service to disabled in services.msc

Delete all files in the Mozilla firefox program folder that start with updater:

updater.exe updater.ini updater-settings.ini

It should not bother you any more until YOU wish to update.

ThePuterMan said

I have managed to stop it. [...] Delete all files in the Mozilla firefox program folder that start with updater: updater.exe updater.ini updater-settings.ini It should not bother you any more until YOU wish to update.

I did the other things you stated, but this is probably the solution - brutal and not really elegant, but working. Thank you - this should not be necessary, but given the situation I will implement your method.

@ThePuterMan

No - it didn't work. After closing and starting FF is immedately updated itself to 57. I am more than angry!!

c.bolek said

@ThePuterMan No - it didn't work. After closing and starting FF is immedately updated itself to 57. I am more than angry!!

Do you have only one instance of Firefox? It is possible to have both 32 bit and 64 bit installed together. Additionally there is another updater.ini in C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Maintenance Service - delete that as well.

The Update (Maintenance) Service must be set to disabled not manual. Any file with updater in the name must be deleted Options must be set to never check for updates

Do you Kaspersky AV? The program updater in that can perform updates as well.

I assume you are installing from a downloaded exe of the Mozilla ftp site?

All I can say is that if all those are disabled / deleted it should not be able to update.

This happened to me with only one non-beta-channel version of Firefox installed. It's disgusting that FF57 would install without permission when 'do not update' is checked, whether 'background service' is checked or not.

It is a betrayal of user trust. Why would I trust Mozilla again?

ThePuterMan said

Do you have only one instance of Firefox? It is possible to have both 32 bit and 64 bit installed together. Additionally there is another updater.ini in C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Maintenance Service - delete that as well. The Update (Maintenance) Service must be set to disabled not manual. Any file with updater in the name must be deleted Options must be set to never check for updates Do you Kaspersky AV? The program updater in that can perform updates as well. I assume you are installing from a downloaded exe of the Mozilla ftp site? All I can say is that if all those are disabled / deleted it should not be able to update.

Thanks for coming back with comments. Answers below. - I have one instance installed, only x64 version; - Yes, I removed the updater.ini file from C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Maintenance Service - Yes, Update (Maintenance) Service is set to Disabled; - No, I don't have Kaspersky AV. If that matters it is McAfee; - Yes, Installing FF 56 downloaded from official Mozilla site;

And now few interesting facts I got to: - The updater*.* files once removed, appear again at the moment of next launching FF and FF updates to v57; - I think that the problems are related to fact that the FF updated to v57 once (I had Automatic Updates enabled). When this happened I uninstalled v57, removed all temp files related anyhow to FF (except for Profile folder) and installed v56. All seemd to be OK, but after 2 days v57 installed again despite fact that I implemented all possible measures I found to prevent update. I use FF at home as well and before it updated to v57 I disabled Updates. In result my FF at home does not update to 57. - If somebody know whether there is something in Profile folder which may cause FF to constantly update, please let me know. I reviewed all files in this folder and could not find anything suspicious there.

c.bolek said

- The updater*.* files once removed, appear again at the moment of next launching FF and FF updates to v57; - I think that the problems are related to fact that the FF updated to v57 once (I had Automatic Updates enabled). When this happened I uninstalled v57, removed all temp files related anyhow to FF (except for Profile folder) and installed v56. All seemd to be OK, but after 2 days v57 installed again despite fact that I implemented all possible measures I found to prevent update. I use FF at home as well and before it updated to v57 I disabled Updates. In result my FF at home does not update to 57. - If somebody know whether there is something in Profile folder which may cause FF to constantly update, please let me know. I reviewed all files in this folder and could not find anything suspicious there.

I just found this:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1010118

I have that folder but there is nothing in it. See if removing that has an effect

ThePuterMan said

I just found this: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1010118 I have that folder but there is nothing in it. See if removing that has an effect

That thread is from 7/9/14 -- over three years ago. A lot has been changed about Firefox since Firefox 28 and iirc the Mozilla Maintenance Service didn't exist that long ago.

The two updater.exe files get installed when you install Firefox; they don't get re-installed with an update. They need to be deleted before Firefox is run for the first time! And if you can't figure out how toinstall Firefox and not let it run before deleting those two files - just disconnect your computer from the router or modem - that is pull the plug - so that Firefox can't check for an update! During the first launch every day Firefox will check for the availability of an update; subsequent launches each day Firefox doesn't check.

ThePuterMan said

I just found this: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1010118 I have that folder but there is nothing in it. See if removing that has an effect

Thank you. I saw this before. I have folder with "hex numeric" name in ... Mozilla\updates folder, but it is empty, I have removed this empty folder but no difference.