Work Offline is a mode of the Firefox web browser, and the Mozilla Thunderbird email client as well, which prevents the browser from using a computer’s or network’s Internet connection. Users can switch to work offline in the file menu of the browser. A click on File > Work Offline changes the mode so that no Internet connections are made by the browser.
A checkmark is placed next to the entry if the Internet browser is in work offline state. Some Firefox users however experience problems with the state. Firefox can enter work offline state on its own if it detects no network connection.
This happens for instance if the computer is connected through a wireless connection, Wi-Fi at an airport for instance. Some users are even reporting that Firefox starts always offline because of the Internet connection not being recognized by the browser upon startup.
Firefox 3.6 comes with a new setting that prevents the browser from going offline, ever. The preference does not exist by default and needs to be added to the configuration manually.
Firefox users need to enter about:config in the address bar which opens the configuration listing. They then need to right-click the listing and select New > Boolean from the context menu.
The parameter’s name is network.manage-offline-status and it needs to be set to false to disable automatic offline mode in the browser.
The new parameter exists in Firefox 3.6 and later only, including the latest Firefox 4 betas. It is still possible to manually set work offline in the browser if that’s needed.
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Thanks for the information. By the way I wonder how many settings there may be that do not, as this one, exist by default (even if the value is an understandment as here, implicitly, ‘network.manage-offline-status’ is true). I mean, no point in digging in about:config if the setting is not there!
I have been pondering about this as well. There surely must be a resource somewhere with all the hidden switches? I have searched and so far have not found it.
Using offline as a filter, I couldn’t find this in about:config in Fx 4 beta 8:
network.manage-offline-status.
The closest seems to be this:
browser.offline (status – user set; type – Boolean; value – false.
That’s because you need to create it.
thanks!
THANK YOU SO MUCH! This was the only thing that has worked!
Okay, I’ve done this, to no effect. What next? Mac FF 11, no add-ons to cover this, about:config not doing it.