Windows users who have Java and the Firefox web browser installed might see a Java Console extension in the browser. That add-on apparently gets installed with a new installation or update of the Java Runtime Environment.
According to information on the Java site the Java Console ” provides information about the Java version, user home directory, and any error message that occurs while running an applet or application”.
Two different Java Console extensions were installed on our test system, Java Console 6.0.19 and Java Console 6.0.20 with the latter enabled and the former disabled.
The enable and disable buttons were active but the uninstall buttons grayed out so that the extensions could not be uninstalled the usual way.
The first approach to uninstall the Java Console was to open the Java Control Panel applet (Control Panel > Programs > Java) which did contain a Java Console entry under the advanced tab. Changing the setting from Hide Console to Do not start console did however have no effect on the two extensions that were installed in Firefox.
A post at the Firefox Extension’s Guru blog brought the solution. Windows users who run Firefox as an administrator will have the uninstall buttons enabled making it possible to remove the Java Console extensions from the web browser.
A right-click on the Firefox executable and the selection of “run as administrator” will start Firefox with administrative privileges. This will also remove the Java Console link in the Tools menu in Firefox. It is likely that an update or new installation of the JRE will add a new Java Console extension to the web browser.
If you know of a way to prevent that let us know in the comments. We would also like to hear from users who have encountered similar extensions that they did not install directly and how they handled those.
Update: Another option to remove the Java Console extension in Firefox is to delete the plugin folder manually from the default Mozilla directory located here: C:\Mozilla Firefox\extensions.
The Java Console can also be disabled in the Java Control Panel applet found under Control Panel > Java > Advanced > Java Console > Do not start console.
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Really useful. Thanks!!
Which version of fx are you using? I have the nightly 3.6.5 and 3.7a5pre builds and I don’t see this in either.
I run 3.6.4. do you have the JRE installed?
Hi Martin.
Indeed I do, jre6u20. The two plugins it installs (java deployment toolkit and java platform) I always disable as I never seem to need them. But I;ve never seen this java extension.
I seem to remember there was an extension extension java installed under XP, but I don’t remember what it was called.
does not work for me – even though I can see the uninstall button and it’s not greyed out, confirms the uninstallation , after restart the console is back.
Tom, try disabling the console in the Java Control Panel then,
Clue me in … why should I worry about or delete the ‘Java Console Extensions’ and the ‘Java Deployment Toolkit’ from Firefox?
Because there is no reason to have it there if you are not using it? Besides it is also a security risk.
I had three consecutive versions of the Java console extension in my FF.
Unlike Martin’s and others’ experience, Uninstall was [b]not[/b] grayed out even though running my Windows 2000 Pro as restricted user.
Just tested, uninstalled both the earlier consoles from FF, worked as a charm :=)
You might want to remove them because Oracle seem to be pushing out two updates a day.
All for no reason, unless you want to run java applets. Which you shouldn’t (they suck balls).
Wow thank you so much!!
Doesn’t work. You have to do it manually. This advice is out of date and no longer applies.
Ang so how did you delete them then?
As “Ang” had said, the above method doesn’t work anymore. Here’s how I deleted it. Delete “{CAFEEFAC-0017-0000-0000-ABCDEFFEDCBA}” folder located in “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\extensions” folder.
P.S. Don’t know if above extension folder name changes from system to system, and also didn’t find any corresponding reg key to delete.
This does not work. There is no uninstall button at all.
You then need to remove the console manually.
I had more than 3. The fix was to go inton
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\extensions
Go into each GUID and open the .rdf in Notepad or Notepad+
For everone I saw Java Console. I deleted each one and it worked.
i run as admin. no uninstall button on this stupid extension. had to delete “{CAFEEFAC-0016-0000-0027-ABCDEFFEDCBA}” folder from “extensions” folder under the folder where Firefox was installed. annoying. arrogant pricks.
I, too, ran firefox with admin rights, no uninstall and manually deleted the above mentioned GUID folders to remove the extension from the latest version of Firefox…. This post is currently #1 on my Google for “remove java console extension” …. Perhaps it would be best to update the blog post with new instructions as not everyone is good enough to check the comments?
I really /really/ didn’t like running Firefox with admin privileges. Perhaps I’m being overcautious, but to me this is a security risk. I was sure to close all my tabs down and ensure to start up with only a blank page to mitigate the risk, but I’m not sure if most users will be as diligent.