Your Firefox extensions are all disabled? That's a bug!
Some Firefox users started to notice that installed browser extensions were all disabled in the web browser suddenly. Extensions would display "could not be verified for use in Firefox and has been disabled" messages in the add-ons manager of the browser. Firefox would display "One or more installed add-ons cannot be verified and have been disabled" at the top as a notification next to that.
Affected extensions include LastPass, Ghostery, Download Manager (S3), Dark Mode, Honey, uBlock Origin, Greasemonkey, NoScript, and others.
Update 3: Mozilla published an add-on for users of Firefox 47-65 that fixes the add-on signing issue.
Update 2: Mozilla released Firefox 66.0.4 and Firefox 66.0.5 to address the issue on the desktop and for Android. The company plans to release updates for older versions of Firefox as well.
Update: Mozilla started to roll out a fix for Release, Beta, and Nightly versions of Firefox. The fix uses Mozilla Studies, and you need to make sure that this is enabled to get it. Mozilla notes that you may disable Studies again after the fix is applied and add-ons have been re-enabled. You need to make sure that "Allow Firefox to install and run studies" is checked on about:preferences#privacy.
Solutions that may work in the meantime:
- Editing extensions.json
- Editing user.js
- Installing Firefox 66.0.4 Update (note it is not release, release candidate only)
- Loading Temporary Extensions
What happened
Only options provided were to find a replacement and to remove the extension in question; this left affected users puzzled. Was this some kind of preemptive strike against policy violation extensions? Mozilla did announce that it would enforce policies more strictly.
The answer is no. Turns out, the issue is caused by a bug. If you read carefully, you notice that verification is the issue. A new thread on Bugzilla suggests that this has something to do with extension signing.
Firefox marked addons due signing as unsupported, but doesn't allow re-downloads from AMO → All extensions disabled due to expiration of intermediate signing cert.
All Firefox extensions need to be signed since Firefox 48 and Firefox ESR 52. Firefox will block the installation of extensions with invalid certificates (or none), and that is causing the issue on user systems.
Related issues have been reported: some users cannot install extensions from Mozilla's official Add-ons repository. Users get "Download failed. Please check your connection" errors when they attempt to download any extension from the official repository.
Solution
Nightly, Dev and Android users may be able to disable signing of extensions; some users reported that this resolved the issue temporarily on their end. You need to set the preference xpinstall.signatures.required to false on about:config to disable signing. You could change the system date to the previous day to resolve it temporarily as well, but that can lead to other issues.
The issue can only be resolved on Mozilla's end. The organization needs to renew the certificate or create a new one to resolve the issue. I'd expect Mozilla to do that soon as the issue is widespread and affecting lots of Firefox users.
Users should not remove affected extensions from their installations; the issue will resolve itself once Mozilla fixes it.
Do arkenfox and librewolf have the same settings or which one would I be better off with?
Martin can i use arkenfox in tor browser ?
This problem can also occur, after FF was started, with the devices’ system date being significantly off (i. e. in the past), compared to the actual date.
To fix this, try setting all of FF registry entries, starting with ‘app.update.lastUpdateTime*’, to ‘0’.
“it’s not a bug, it’s a feature!” #comply #obey
(the ‘bug’ is called Mozilla – oh, i’m sorry: “moz://a” [lupine emoticon] Firefox (20+))
WOW! I’ll never upgrade! HOSTS blocks all
attempts by FF itself! I have something similar for Win10, tho I rarely use that OS since it’s so bad.
Well before May 2019 I had to make my legacy ESR Fox my default browser, while clean installing PaleMoon.
Next day, despite *never update*, my legacy ESR Fox was replaced with the most recent web ESR and all legacy extensions gone. The profile had been wiped.
Another Win-10 style hijack.
FF 56
tried “hotfix-update-xpi-intermediate” and “Hotfix for Firefox bug 1548973” as well as Editing extensions.json. problem still keeps coming back as of 2019-06-06.
When you edit extensions.json is there a way to edit the file so as to not have to click on disable/enable button each time you reset the file?
Ive even experimented with making a backup copy of the file and then when this happens just recopy the file back and then relaunch FF but even that does not set all the extensions back to the correct state.
The “UNIX TOD” suggestion is working great!
No disablement at all for, what, 3 weeks now… :)
I am really pissed about this “mistake.” Firefox for Android ate all of my mobile data because ublock wasn’t blocking a site that crypto-jacked me. I was left without protection with no warning. Thanks, Firefox!
FYI
The “UNIX TOD” suggestion actually PREVENTS
this GARBAGE code from running. Setting the files to read-only and deleting the .tmp copies STILL runs this GARBAGE code, but closing the window, deleting the .tmp copies, and re-starting the browser gets your
extensions back, until the next day…
@Peterc and @Anonymous:
Thank you very much for your help. I have now set the extension.json file as read-only and deleted the tmp copies. Fingers crossed that these changes will keep the problem for coming back. I just wanted to report that I tried to install the add-on but it didn´t work on FF 55. The only change I made was to the extension.json file, but just after installing it all the add-ons were automatically disabled. However, the add-on could be installed on FF 54 without problems, even though I had also edited the extension.json file and set it to read-only as I did for FF55. Oh, well, whatever works I guess…
@Anon:
Based on my experience with Tor Browser 7.5.6 (which is based on Firefox ESR 52.9.0) and your experience with Firefox 55, could the lesson be, “if it’s broke, don’t even *try* to fix it until a confirmed official fix has been released”? (Unlike you with your single fix attempt in Firefox 55, I tried multiple solutions in legacy Tor Browser, and I couldn’t get the the official add-on to work until I wiped out the entire portable-install folder and replaced it with a pre-experimentation backup.)
Setting it read-only only works (for me) if you also delete their respective .tmp copies first. See the above “UNIX TOD” suggestion. About a week doing this, and no extensions disabled yet…
Could someone please let me know how to set extensions.json as read-only? I would really appreciate your help, I am tired of restoring the file every single day to get the extensions up and running again. Thanks!
@Anon:
Go to the gHacks home page and look for more recent articles on the matter. Mozilla released an update that fixes the current stable branch of Firefox and an add-on that fixes versions 52 through 56. The add-on *might* not work if you’ve messed up your profile trying out interim solutions, so if you’re talking about Firefox 52-56, you might want to restore a recent, un-messed-with backup of your profile beforehand.
If the above doesn’t work, or doesn’t apply to you, repost your question specifying exactly which version of Firefox you are talking about. (I probably won’t be able to help you, but someone else might.)
BTW, if you’re running Windows, you can make a file read-only by right-clicking on it in Windows Explorer (or File Explorer, as I guess it’s now called), choosing Properties, putting a checkmark in the “Read-only” attribute box at the bottom of the “General” tab, and then clicking OK. I’m pretty sure you can do basically the same thing in the GUI of most Linux desktop environments, although the minor details will be different.
Thanks to all for recipes, I just restored my copy from backup and set extensions.json read-only. Launched FF, after some time extensions got disabled, I restarted FF and still things are OK after whole day of uptime. I use FFPortable v.56. Still some addons couldn’t be updated though.
seems Mo$illa got the message, add-on that repairs (for now) the damage that was done:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/disabled-add-on-fix-52-56/
one can now on v56 install updated uBlock Origin, HTTPS Everywhere, Privacy Badger, et al.
seems also not to be disabling the add-ons,… for now,…
Cheers up. I had searched these in this month June, but nothing were found. Then once an addons named by y’character was searching to get additional info. It shows the “disabled ..fix or bug”-extension which I need extremely. Then checked and approved to resolve properly. Thanks a lot. Its establish in May 14. Very good service- All that certificate expires problem as extensions disabled have committed accurate. So best wishing_
“disabled add on fix for firefox 61 to 65″(search key & more is “hotfix…”
In a way, I have to thank Mozilla for this stupendoes
SCREW-OVER! Using many items in this blog, I recovered,
and now keep it at bay w/the above “UNIX TOD” suggestion.
Like keeping a lion locked up in the zoo!
But that caused me to dig even deeper into FF, and,
along w/tracking/blocking(via HOSTS)/archiving/reporting
all their (now attempted) web access, the DSNTODAY system
(Windows OS) shows me all the files/registry entries they
update, including the ‘datareporting’ subDIR in the profile
DIR, even tho I have the “telemetry” option (Studies,etc)
un-checked in the GUI.
It seems to archive this hex data anyway (another setting?),
apparently for about 2 months (per file TODs).
W/the “UNIX TOD” suggestion, it was a simple matter to
add the DOS command ‘rmdir /s /q’ (to DELETE the subDIR) in
my startup FF .bat, just to ensure that, if FF DOES INDEED
transmit the data in spite of what I selected, it will only
be for that window run! And if it does, I’ll now see it.
;-)
Copy and paste the lines together as is.
This is a permanent fix. All my plugins/extensions work. Forgot to add Noscript to the list I use.
Again, I use only FF Portable.
@ Art, thanks for a possible fix.
Can you clarify what you said ?>>
Do we run each of the two lines separately or as is?
If separately, can you delineate the verbatim of the text/symbols to paste,pls?
Is this fix a permanent or a daily or an each time we start up?
(In other words has the bug resurfaced?)
*Then in the browser console Ctrl+Shift+J you run the following two lines:*
Components.utils.import(“resource://gre/modules/addons/XPIProvider.jsm”);
XPIProvider.verifySignatures();
This still happens daily. I am using FF 55 for specific reasons. My work around is to do the above mentioned true/false changes in the extensions.json file. Then set the file to READ ONLY. Through out the day while using FF once in a while my extensions become disable, I just close FF and reopen it. Because the extensions.json is set to read only it will revert to your extensions being enabled. Doing this until I decide to download Waterfox as others have mentioned above.
Hi
Just for everybody’s information, I updated my Debian Linux laptop (via the apt-get process, this morning) and it updated Firefox ESR. I cannot recall which version it was at before, but it is now showing as being version ‘60.6.2esr’ and both NoScript and uBlock Origin icons have re-appeared (and both these packages are working as they should).
Briain
For those who REFUSE to update their FF w/this “virus” code,
yet STILL get your extensions DISABLED (ie: HORRIBLE GARBAGE)
on a DAILY basis, EVEN WHEN NOT(!) CONNECTED to the Web, I do this.
First, most everything suggested in this blog and elsewhere
fails to stop this GARBAGE:
. setting these to FALSE in about:config:
1. xpinstall.signatures.required
2. extensions.langpacks.signatures.required
3. extensions.blocklist.enabled
4. services.blocklist.update_enabled
5. xpinstall.whitelist.required
. note that setting the below UN-damaged files to read-only WILL WORK,
but ONLY if you first get rid of their respective .TMP copies!!!
Second, restore these files in your profile DIR from a pre-5/4/19
backup:
1. addons.json
2. extensions.json
3. addonStartup.json.lz4
If no backup is available, use the mentioned time-setting trick
(temp-set clock to B 4 5/4) to be able to re-download your extensions.
Change the clock to, say, 5/2, right B 4 the ‘add to firefox’ blue button,
press the button, then set the clock to normal (the correct day).
When they get disabled, you have 24 hours to do this B 4 it runs again.
Then get out of FF and take backup(s) B 4(!) they get DISABLEd again.
Finally, I now DYNAMICALLY construct a user.js file in my profile DIR.
I now ALWAYS(!) start FireFox from a .bat (Windows OS).
This .bat first calls my program to get and pass the current
(-3 sec) UNIX TOD (converted FILETIME) into the following statement:
app.update.lastUpdateTime.xpi-signature-verification
This means that this GARBAGE WILL NOT RUN(!!!) until 1 day ahead
of this. WARNING: don’t run the same window after 24 hours or YOU WILL
BE SCREWED AGAIN!!! Just close and re-open FF w/the .bat which
loads the current UNIX TOD again.
And since I can no longer trust this company and its product any
more, I block every site this browser attempts to access on its own
(about a dozen as shown by NETMON/MsgAnal), via the HOSTS file,
as also mentioned in this blog! To re-load any new extensions,
simply temp-remove these (# in col1) and re-start your Web connection.
Only time will tell if this technique continues to work. I’ve been
doing this MANUALLY the past few days and my extensions have NOT been
SCREWED OVER!
Good luck.
@Anonymous:
It’s almost *too* easy! :-)
Thanks for compiling this list and for keeping us updated. This is really helpful!
I see an opportunity here for someone with the wherewithal to rescue FF 56 and set up a permanent DL with the ability to accept the add ons the world wants.
Donations would flow ,for this world service I’m sure
https://sourceforge.net/projects/portableapps/files/Mozilla%20Firefox%2C%20Portable%20Ed./Mozilla%20Firefox%2C%20Portable%20Edition%2056.0.2/
There, just install one of these. I only use portable versions, avoidign all the crap of the normal installation. Of course, the freedom to easily copy a setup onto another drive is very desirable.
I run 54 and all my “legacy” plugins work just fine, including Classic Theme Restorer and uBlock.
I have no qualms with Quantum and post-quantum, or with the bug that decimated us a week ago (shit happens). No qualms, that is, but a single one: I need the TABS UNDER THE ADDRESS BAR. Is that too much to ask? Is it a toxic chemical weapon which will make FF developers’ arms drop? Is it that much of a hassle to allow this, or permit something like the Classic Theme Restorer?
Since the 66/0/4 fix, I see they are just continuing to dump on those of us over 35 who are refusing to treat out PCs like mobile touch-phones, or relearn every time some 15 year-old kid decides that something that was working isn’t hip any more. Now, even the css shell has glitched out post-update.
I am done.
Firefox can go around the corner and fox itself. I have just moved to Waterfox on my main PC, and doing the same with all my secondary systems. Sure, it’s a couple of hundred MBs on my RAM, but it beats bending over every time FF is in heat.
Enough is enough.
Re the reddit fix>
This instruction>
“Then in the browser console Ctrl+Shift+J you run the following two lines:”
The text provide to copy and paste, is that paste as it is, or seperate the ‘2 lines’ from each other first?
As is…
VERSION 54:
I see lots of folks talking about v56 and fixing that. I’m running v54 Portable and fixed it very easily by the solution I posted above.
Why not just switch to v54 Portable and be done with it?
I see that there are still many posters that are commenting that they tried everything in the settings that has been posted in a attempt to bring back their addons in FF 56.0.2. I did the same thing without success.
The last thing I tried was posted by Dumbfox on May 06- scroll up to May 6 to view the post and link. The procedure is a bit complex but not hard to do if you read it carefully and take your time. I did have to go into about:config and change the devtools.chrome.enabled to true so I could copy/paste the 2 line text.
Here is the link again if you are unable to locate it above.
https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/bkspmk/addons_fix_for_5602_older/?st=jvclhhor&sh=7bb57801
It’s official, Mozilla has emphatically told people to install FFox 66.04, complete with all the poision within, or they can fox right off.
Got the message again for the last and final time
I have Firefox (64) on ramdisk, my profile are located on ramdisk too. Ramdisk are protected from recording. All update are disabled. I’m using firefox from 2006, all this time as default browser. First time you broke me, and I’m think about Opera.
When my installation of v56 suddenly lost all of the extensions that made the “old” Firefox somewhat functional, I assumed that I had somehow enabled automatic updates; I did not realize that this evil was perpetrated upon everyone else as well.
I have tried to fix the problem ever since. I have uninstalled everything; and lost any hope of recovering the installed extensions, because so amount of installation of versions even as far back as v52 recovered my extensions. Even the “old” versions that had always supported legacy extensions suddenly would not.
I have used Firefox since it was Phoenix. I stopped upgrading at Quantum for the simple reason that Quantum is totally non-functional garbage. I do not know what anyone else is using; but Quantum is totally non-functional on Windows 7. What do I consider non-functional? Well, as of last night, two years later, Quantum still uses 5 GB of RAM for four open tabs. Not even Chrome has ever achieved that!
Searching the web for solutions has resulted in pages that say that Mozilla “fixed” the issue for everyone who doesn’t use a legacy version of Firefox, that the problem can be fixed if you enable Mozilla to snoop through your data for a few hours – imagine that, with their track record for privacy profiteering, and lastly, that no one should ever use any fork of Firefox or Chrome because . . . reasons.
Well, no one would have to if either one of them actually worked. Privacy concerns aside, using four GIGABYTES OF RAM for one instance with one window and just four tabs on static websites with no streaming video or anything cannot be characterized as “working”.
It’s long past time to “piss on the fire and call in the dogs”. It’s past time to find another browsers entirely. These past several years I’ve continued to suffer through Firefox because there was one thing, and only one thing, it could do that the others couldn’t. Now with legacy extensions disabled, it can’t even do that. Thankfully, I’ve found another way. It isn’t free. But it works . . . mostly.
Firefox, farewell old nemesis.
This is all just a scam to force everyone to update to the latest, Trojan infested version of Firefox.
Word,exactly,true.
Ransomware, actually
All I had to do was change proxy settings to “No proxy”, restart FF and all my addons are working again.
It’s that simple!
Unless it’s going to disable again automatically but so far it’s working.
actually, been running v56 since day #1 with No Proxy, so this setting is no protection.
Not sure what version you have,what OS or what addons, but it did not work for Win7Pro, FF 56, with 3 add ons, 2 of which are security.I hope Avast formally disassociates from FFox and lists it a a virus portal.Because that’s what it is.
4 days after they cut off the user base and the only option is install a Malware/Ransomware called FFox 66
The fanboy base will be waiting for V 66.6, should be fixed (wink) by then.
Switch “xpinstall.signatures.required†to “false†works. For plugins but all Language Pack still shows red warning text: “Language Pack could not be verified for use in Firefox and has been disabled”
Works with which version??
(Pls ppl, post what version you ‘claim’ is fixed and follow up here if it flatlines again.)
Mozilla has gone mute on this.It seems links to fixes are also getting snuffed out.There’s a reason for this push to install their latest version.
I’m guessing within no time most old version will either infect,implode or ‘accidentally’ become unusable.
Have a few systems still running Windows XP/SP3 to which Firefox 52.9.0 is the highest version available, and yes, they’ve all been affected.
I can also confirm manually toggling the ‘xpinstall.signatures.required’ to “false” worked as a temporary solution for this unsupported legacy version. I say temporary because all plugins are still flagged as unverified (in yellow, with an exclamation mark), but at least it’s treating it as a caution warning as opposed to an outright blocking (in red).
Not pleased with this latest glitch, especially since I’m still trying to figure out why this version of Firefox under XP has recently been using 50-75% of CPU resources for no apparent reason (on ALL my machines). Been thinking of downgrading to an earlier version, maybe 40.x?
@ Apple IIGS
There is a fix for this problem for FF 56 or earlier available at reddit. Scroll up on this thread to find it. The fix is a bit complicated.
Try the Maxthon browser, which still supports Win XP.
Many websites no longer support old browser versions of more than 3 years old = software conflicts.? = high CPU and RAM usage.?
……. Similarly, nearly all browsers and AV programs have stopped supporting Win XP(EOL’ed in 2014) since around 2017.
@ AnorKnee Merce
With regards to reddit, are you talking about the fix for add-ons being disabled or…. a fix for Firefox eating up excessive CPU usage?
I don’t have any issue with Chrome slowing down under XP. No issue with AV either, at least not with Avast. Firefox 52.9.0 is starting to break in other ways though, not just slowing down. Lately I’ve noticed Kijiji messing up the display with regards to photos and text. Guess I’ll soon need to push these systems up to Windows 7 (outdated too, I know, but not quite as badly).
Btw, is it OK to just use this temporary fix to unblock add-ons? Switching the one config line to ‘false’?
Fire-trojan or Trojanfox, slowing it down?
Perhaps the ‘good,kind and altruistic’ folk at Moronzilla planted the seeds long back, for later germination?
Tor has just issued a new version that fixes the problem (No Script was de-activated ; works again).
No drama, no “you’re stupid and we know best”, no “go away if you are pissed off, and shut up in the meantime”, no interim, half-baked solutions that need their own help threads with hundreds of comments, just : we repaired the thing silently, just press “Update” and you’re back to normal (and there were interim, dead-simple instructions to mitigate the threat in the meantime).
Real “open-source” job, or commercial job, for that matter. Doing correctly one’s job, without shifting the blame to the user, does not depend on how you make a living out of it, or whether you’re actually make a living out of it.
Despite feeling like I was duped into installing some backdoor telemetry BS, have to be honest.. the latest version of FF Quantum performs better than the early version I was running before. I tried Waterfox also, but it doesn’t come close.
NSA/Trump/CIA/MS et al mission accomplished.
We own (all,now) y’rass
y’all welcome.
Mozilla =
x x
______
KX said on May 7, 2019 at 10:38 am
Solution Makes no sense .
Something is missing.
And any chance you can clarify what Version this (yet to be clarified) solution applies to?
FF 56 win 7 pro
blocked extension
“Ublock orgins” and “Classic theme restorer”
Firefux added their worm 25/3/2019
Solution:
Turn off FF
Open in notepad c:\Users\{insert user name}\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{insert current profile name}\extensions.json
Replace all instances of “appDisabledâ€: false to “appDisabledâ€: true
Replace all instances of “signedStateâ€: -1 to “signedStateâ€: 2
SAVE
Run FF
go to menu extension and turn off all extension
Turn off FF
Run FF
go to menu extension and turn on all extension
Turn off FF
Run FF
If all run OK
Turn off FF
chenge to read only c:\Users\{insert user name}\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{insert current profile name}\extensions.json
@KX:
There should be no space after the colons in the instances of code you typed, and a find-and-replace won’t work if you copy-and-paste them without editing out the spaces.
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen code at gHacks that appear to have been inappropriately “autocorrected.” I also remember seeing double hyphens (common in some Linux terminal commands) that had been converted to em dashes.
Did you compose your comment offline in a word processor and forget to turn off autocorrect for the “code” portion? Or is this something that’s happening on gHack’s end?
YES WORK OK
FF 56 WIN7 PRO
Extension “Ublock orgins” 1.18.6 and “Classic theme restorer” 1.7.7.2 after remote disable easy reapair 3 times this metod. After that I chenge properity this json files to read only and extension can not disable remotly. Remember you can not instal new extension or chenge noting in extension properity when file is read only .
@Anonymous said on May 7, 2019 at 8:04 am
The other takeaway is since the V48, it has only been about recruiting more users so when the day came 3 days ago, they could harvest the userbase data and connect the siphon by whatever means.
It’s not ‘freeware” if bullying,pseudo-blackmail and risking your customer bases security is your base KPI.
it’s certainly not ethical to claim you would fix all, when they are still forcing everyone to choose the latest trojan model or go without.
@Ceyarrecks
I have V56 on one of my laptops too and despite having preferences (not just options) set to not update, it sometimes does anyway, whereupon I then have to uninstall the latest version and reinstall V56. After having additional problems the last time, quite recently, I now use Seamonkey (couldn’t get the pre-WebExtensions add-on I use to work properly in Waterfox). I may try Pale Moon at some stage as well. If Mozilla isn’t going to respect the settings users have chosen and forces updates on us, why continue having the options to choose? At least be a tiny bit honest, Mozilla.
I noticed the following statement under the update options during this latest debacle and can’t recall if I’ve seen it before. Is this recent or has it been around for a while? I no longer have Firefox on my 2 laptops synced because it has caused problems in the past and I don’t need any of the add-ons I have installed in V66.0.4 on the V56 laptop anyway. This statement seems to be conveying the message “we don’t actually care about your choices or set-up so they will be ignored”.
“This setting will apply to all Windows accounts and Firefox profiles using this installation of Firefox.”
@OzMerry
I Agree with your sentiment.
/cue sarcasm:
Tell me again who owns MY computer?
/end sarcasm
Making use of Sandboxie allows one to keep a *pristine* version of Firefox, installed that way the user prefers, then when things go awry (and they will), just EMPTY the Sandbox, and relaunch ;)
Day #1 all over again! :D
(which also lends credence to having a hard drive image saved just after initial install/setup; so if/when things go awry… hard drive crashes, etc. then only a few hours downtime!)
here are some additional instructions for this Kerfuffle:
Replace all instances of
(!ONLY! if extension(s) are already Forced-DISABLED and not starting with a pristine/fresh copy)
“appDisabled”:false
to
“appDisabled”:true
==also in extensions.json=================
[“1″=enabled, 0=disabled]
(for those extensions one wishes to retain in their current state/version)
Replace all instances of
“applyBackgroundUpdates”:1
with
“applyBackgroundUpdates”:”0″
===================================
once edit is saved, Right-click Properties and make extensions.json Read only!!!
then set File Properties/Security tab permissions for
Read & execute
&
Read
to ALLOW for all listed Users/Groups by removing check for Write, which removes all other checks under Allow column.
======================
!!CORRECTION!! for v56 FF
to the current Read-Only Guidance.
setting to Read-Only the file [extensions.json] is not a useful option, as
FireFox will only make a copy called [extensions.json.tmp] and make said disabling there.
which, btw, with the current set of configuration changes as listed on this page, FFv56onWin7pro is still DISABLING extensions: uBlock Origin, HTTPS Everywhere, Privacy Badger, TreeStyle Tabs.
Let FFv56 sit for some number of hours,… and extensions become disabled. I had read somewhere that only in Nightly and Developer channel versions of FF can one disable add-on Verification. /shrug
This situation is not a “oh, saawee, we forgot to tell about the Cert expiration,…” This is a deliberate change to FORCE people off a usable browser into the planned CrapWare of current versions of FF.
There needs one among us whom is quite technically versed to detail a way v56 *CAN* be used with said extensions,… without the remote disabling feature enabled.
The Above instructions are Incomplete, once Forced Disable is corrected,
one must make the following RO, verified as functional >48hours later for v56.
RO files to prevent Add-on Disable in folder:
[C:\Users\%user%\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\unljp148.default]
set file attributes of the following five files to Read Only:
*addonStartup.json.lz4
*addonStartup.json.lz4.tmp -make copy of addonStartup.json.lz4, then add .tmp as extension
*extension-settings.json
*extensions.json
*extensions.json.tmp -make copy of extensions.json, then add .tmp as extension
A takeaway from this incident is that a good software entails good reliability. If it works today, it must work tomorrow.
It serves well to illustrate that, once user relinquish control of the software, things like this (and the likes of Win10 updates) are bound to happen.
@Ceyarrecks
Same here.
Version 56, selected do not update etc, still constantly harrassed for months to update, which as a choice I made.
So yes they lie.I’d say Mozilla has been sucking user data since day dot,despite our settings and addons selections.
Avast security browser app was shut down without warning.
Ditto adblock plus
as was WOT (which I had disabled anyway)
If Mozilla cannot smash you with ads it’s going to control your functionality and drop data for $$ somewhere.
At least IE has it’s motives up front.
Sleazefox has reached its low point
btw, I think my experience is an important caveat to this FireFox kerfuffle:
I choose to use v56 due to being able to use Classic Theme Restorer, et. al.
I have the Add-ons that are not compatible with v57 set to NOT auto-update; these as well as Firefox is also set NEVER check. (Yet somehow, a bar appears intermittently across the top of webpages that states the obvious “the browser is not up to date F.U.D.!!!” prompt)
However, the said fixes are for v66 of FireFox,.. yet,.. somehow, v56 is affected?!?!!?
Let me repeat: no updates allowed, Add-ons nor browser, yet! my various add-ons, Treestyle Tabs, uBlock Origin, et. al have been DISABLED!!! on a v56 Firefox.
Something screwy is definitely going on, and it seems Mozilla does not honor the settings a User sets for the browser.
Isn’t it deceptive / fraudulent / for Mozilla to claim they have fixed the issue, when all they have done is further endanger uses with temporary fixes, and/or force a ‘new version’, [with more and deeper privacy inbuilt data vacuums] ?
I’ve been a Firefox user for about 15 years, but this was too much for me, today I installed Waterfox and didn’t like the layout, installed Pale Moon and bang! I liked it, uninstalled Forefox and Chrome and now Pale Moon is my only browser. You asked for it Firefox.
This fixes don’t work anymore, FF is able to change prefs.js an extentions.json. If you set yme to “read only” and tweak acces rights, it will not work also.
I was able to quickly fix this bug by switching to the Google Chrome browser.
fix for 56.0.2 & older
https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/bkspmk/addons_fix_for_5602_older/?st=jvclhhor&sh=7bb57801
@dumbfox,
Thanks for this 56.0.2 fix information. It solved the problem and all of my addons are fully functional now. I found the install very easy to do following the well written instructions.
@dumbfox,
Just some additional information to my above post.
I have 3 FF profiles, and I had to do the update to each profile. Otherwise addons wouldn’t install on the profiles that were not updated with the 56.0.2 Fix.
So the software develop writes the code and deploys it knowing in advance this would cause issues of functionality on a global scale. This didgital signing is just another another way to track and trace your browser, browser fingerprint IP addy and MAC addy. It is all surveillance. Whenever anyone tells you they want to make it safer for you means you must let breach your privacy. I removed 2 very important add ons that now leave me vulnerable across the nazi www.
About 30 minutes ago, I fired up the Windows box, opened FF 66.0.3 and selected ‘help’ then ‘about’ and it prompted me to restart FF to install an update. Having done so, it is now on 66.0.4 and the noscript icon was showing (and noscript is working) so I then sought the uBlock Origin add-on and now that the certificate issue has been fixed, it installed without issue.
@Valerium, yes, that is correct; Palemoon cannot run uBlock Origin or noscript (which are the only two add-on packages that I use).
All the best
Briain
Thank you, Brian, for the tip. On my MacBook Pro, I clicked on FF and received the same prompt. I did the update and have my extensions back.
Mike
Hi Mike
All looks good here, too; I did have to disable and re-enable noscript (to get the icon back on the toolbar) but it does now all seem to be working as it should.
Bri
you are partly wrong about ublock origin & palemoon, Briain.
Palemoon can run a “legacy” version of ublock origin if you download & install it from here:
https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/releases/tag/firefox-legacy-1.16.4.10
I have Palemoon v28.5.0 installed on many of my machines and I have ublock origin v1.16.4.10 legacy version, which works just fine, along with noscript 5.1.9. I just disable the palemoon warnings about noscript
Thank you for the tip, but the key one for me is noscript, but of course, I guess it might also be possible to find an earlier version of that (and it would be trivial to convert the current whitelist format into a simple list of sites for importing into the earlier version) but it’s all starting to look a little less attractive.
From my brief test, I did like the ‘feel’ of Pale Moon, but atop the add-on issue, I noted that the detection of proxy settings wasn’t working (I tried both the use system settings and auto-detect). Okay, I used the manual option (and pointed it to the wpad file on my firewall) but given that feature appears not not to be working as it should, it makes me wonder how well it is being ‘maintained’ (in terms of patching). I’m not in any way saying that it isn’t, but what I am saying is that it is something that it is just something else that I’d have to go and investigate (atop the add-on issues) so perhaps it’s just not the solution for me.
All that said, all this nonsense has finally prompted me to actually do something (rather than just occasionally ponder doing something) so later today, my plan is to install Waterfox, just to see what that might bring to the party.
Bri :-)
Complete incompetence to let such a important certificate expire. Guess all the good people have moved on to Google Chrome. Seems like Firefox can’t get the basics done anymore. I would assume a certificate gave plenty of warning it was expiring. What is going on internally with Mozilla these days? For me this was the last flub, I’m moving on from Firefox, no more chances.
Unless they can explain and prove they were hacked.
Mozilla is now officially a heavy weight global Trojan
********Ads ,data and tracking = BIG $$$********
Clearly, way too much to knock back
Sigh
Darn it, 66.0.4.
I found it quite frustrating madly googling for a explanation/solution after this first happened, so just in case anyone hasn’t seen this GHacks update, Mozilla’s official release of 66.0.04:
https://www.ghacks.net/2019/05/05/firefox-66-0-4-with-add-on-signing-fix-release-on-its-way/
Grrrrr, replies don’t seem to be working….there may be duplicates?
Further to @Quantum777’s comment re the solution on ycombinator, as per the advice I got in that thread, you have to save the link to your desktop and then drag it into Firefox. When I just clicked the link, I got: “The add-on could not be downoaded because of a connection failure.” After a FF restart, the Quantum version becomes 66.0.4, which someone else here has posted an official Mozilla link to. No need to do any of the other stuff posted here. I haven’t read this whole thread, so apologies if any of this has already been mentioned.
Any ideas why two weeks ago when Waterfox was downloaded from their site they gave version 56.2.9 but today when you go to their site and download they give version 56.2.8?
try download and install WaterFox
I’ve already tested,, and working fine..
90% compatible with my firefox v56 addons
Basically they closed down your choice of home security, then asked you to leave your doors open, and then they asked you to go out.While you’re out, they invited the world in to go through your house, and drop a few taps and wires in..Then they say when you get home, “just shut your doors.It’s all good”.See ya!”
[Oh look I found the keys to a VPN while I was in there.Shhh]
Nozilla Failfox
Third Party data collector becomes dedicated NSA service provider.
I have come to the conclusion this was Mozilla’s plan all along. To have an across the board disabling of all previous versions of Firefox, and force users to go with a [fraudulent] advertising of the updated version of the browser, claiming they have a fix.
Well poo-poo on you Mozilla. There is a Firefox 56.0.2 fix, using a re-coded version of their Hotfix (as if it came from a Programming 101 class), and then added some code into the browser itself which Mozilla could have done in 1 hour and directed users on what to do, but they didn’t—–they purposely didn’t do that—-they wanted everyone to “wait and do nothing”. Insane; rather, on purpose to manipulate users to go to 66 in a cost cutting measure so that they don’t have to support older versions.
Turned off “Studies” everyone. Trust No.1
The lack of interest in fixing older versions is certainly suspiscious.
FF devs are extremely annoyed that > 10% of their telemetry users refuse to update to the newest versions.
Look at the update orphaning statistics on telemetry.mozilla.org/update-orphaning
I wouldn’t be surprised if, due to some way of how search engine traffic is measured, they do not make much money with people on the older version, so that the management has decided to create pressur in order to ‘optimize’ the 10%.
The reason I highly suspect I’m correct is the following blog post: https://blog.mozilla.org/data/2018/08/20/effectively-measuring-search-in-firefox/
I think that the lack of information about users on older version gives them an disadvantage when making search engine deals.
The question is, what were the results of the 2018 study estimating the telemetry-off population: https://www.ghacks.net/2018/09/21/mozilla-wants-to-estimate-firefoxs-telemetry-off-population/
8 months ago, Robert Helmer wrote: “I see data coming in that looks reasonable, I think we’re done for now. Thanks everyone!” https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1487578
They should tell us.
@ Ed Straker
I see you said there is a FF 56.0.2 Fix? What is it and where can it be found?
@ Ed Straker
Give that man ^ a cupie doll.
This is a feature not a bug. Mozilla is trying to test the waters here for remote kill-switches and/or complete feature removal, etc.
I won’t be surprised to see them removing addons completely later.
Pretty much. And it’s so obvious if you’ve watched what Mozilla has been doing for the last few years. I mean the normandy thing can already modify your config without your knowledge.
I am a blind person who uses a screen reader and does not know the state of all of my addons in newer versions of Firefox. As a result, I believe in if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. So, how can I fix this on a much older Firefox, specifically 53.0.3 portable? The settings dialogue is a bit different, some oof the stuff seems to be under advanced rather than security, and privacy and security re two separate tabs. Any advice would be appreciated.
I don’t think there is an easy way to do that. A solution was published on Reddit, but it requires some tinkering with files and such. I did not test it: https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/bkspmk/addons_fix_for_5602_older/
This worked perfectly for FF 56.
Thank You Martin!
Worked for me (FF 56.0.2) and took mere minutes. Follow the OP’s link to download the certificate (https://www.velvetbug.com/benb/icfix/) and import per the instructions. No obscure studies, no messing with about:config, no seemingly random try-this-try-that runaround.
Mozilla could have done that?
Big thanks to u/megalomaniacs4u, and thanks to Martin for reporting this.
I updated on openSUSE to Firefox 66.0.3 and my extensions are back in operation. The openSUSE maintainers must have backported the fix for 66.0.4.
thanks for this article….updating to 66.0.4 fixed it for me
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/66.0.4/win64/
Good Work, M0z|llA
Thank you so much to Art, just applied that fix, and am breathing much more easily. Thanks so much!
I thought the fix was supposed to happen automatically, like an upgrade. Are we supposed to MANUALLY change something?
Poking around with Waterfox after this whole fiasco, but unfortunately it can’t handle lots of tabs very well. Quantum is #1 in that department. I’d have compromised by having outdated add-ons, had better tab support been in place.
Anonymous said: “Poking around with Waterfox after this whole fiasco, but unfortunately it can’t handle lots of tabs very well.â€
Waterfox can’t handle lots of tabs very well? Is this a known thing that Waterfox can’t handle many tabs? I often have 50-100 tabs open. This is a dealbreaker for me.
So does Firefox check certificates locally on your own computer, or does it send the data somewhere else to be checked?
And if it’s checked locally, where does the certificate come from? Is it embedded into Firefox, or is it downloaded by Firefox?
@ kristoff
When the Firefox user is online, FF will auto-connect to Mozilla’s servers once every 24 hours to check on the add-on/extension signing certificate = FF will disable any unsigned add-on/extension that has been recently installed by the user or not been approved by Mozilla.
This is similar to what M$ does with Windows licensing and online activation, ie when a Windows computer is online, Windows will auto-connect to M$’s activation servers once every 24 hours to check on the OEM-SLP key or Product Key or digital license/certificate. M$’s activation servers store a very long list of valid Windows digital licenses or Keys. For Win 7, non-activation after 30 days results in the OS being disabled or made practically unusable.
im guessing it is something downloaded as it happened to me in the middle of a browsing session. Just sitting there reading some article when it updated, disabled addons caused my window to redraw with all the addon changes gone. Took about 30 seconds to realize the damage which point I immediately killed process.
It was not an update initiated by the user, on startup, or during shutdown.
SOLVED:
1. I’m running FF Portable 54.
2. As was noted above by another user, go here and do what it says.
https://www.velvetbug.com/benb/icfix/
3. Classic Firefox Restorer, uBlock and everything else works just fine.
4. I also installed WF Portable 56, copied FF profile into it, used Session Manager to migrate that and everything works.
WTF are firefox doing. They don’t test their product? This issue made me go back to chrome
Thank the highest heavens. I can use my browser productively again. How on earth browsers exist without TabMixPlus to allow multiple tab rows or Session Manager to save and manage sessions, I may never know, and it’s why I’ll never upgrade from Firefox 56 until something comparable to those things is made available in the current version of the browser. Why on earth these functions aren’t default inclusions for every browser without add-ons even needed is even more baffling.
+10 for TabMixPlus!! Unbelievable that Mozilla destroyed compatibility for that with this quantum stuff. That and YouTubeCenter to make YT not rubbish although that one seemed to die as a result of YT redesign and lack of ongoing plugin development.
Maybe I’ll try WaterFox as Iron Heart is advising everyone who comments re FF5x :)
> I’ll never upgrade from Firefox 56
In this case you should consider Waterfox. Firefox 56 doesn’t receive security updates anymore since November 2017, Firefox 52 ESR doesn’t receive security updates anymore since August 2018.
Waterfox has all recent security patches applied to it, up to and including the security fixes of the most recent Firefox 66.
https://www.waterfox.net/
Waterfox 56.8.1 is working sooo good for me on Win 8.
It correctly imported all Passwords, Add-ons, Themes ASO,
seemingly even all settings, upon installation;
can even use Sync (option is there, didn’t yet try it)
No glitches on any website so far.
And it’s def faster than FFox on my System.
(You’ll have to restart your computer for changes to take effect, b4 that the add-ons still appear disabled)
They didn’t fix nothing. Today (day after supposed solution) I opened the clone of my system on other PC. FF started with all add-ons but after some time banned them all – like it was on my first PC. I cured that with the same method. But I’m power user, what a nightmare for those ordinary users! No doubt they’ll forget about FF as some terrible nightmare.
Tried “about:config, xpinstall.signatures.required;false” toggled it to “false” (as you can see) close/open the windows, emptied cookies, Ccleaned for good measure, yet still not working. I let them until tomorrow, if it’s not fixed, i switch to DUCK DUCK GO.
Reporting back, two extensions in FF 56.0.2, Classic Theme Restorer, and Safe Browsing were disabled. The rest are OK. Classic Theme Restorer gets disabled when I re-start Firefox 56, which forces me to re-install an older version (FF 55), and then re-install FF 56 with my system set as May 2.
This really is a pain in the foxhole. But it could be worse. All Mozilla has to do is just stop that—-which would have been fixed in a hour back in the Netscape days when I was studying CS. Thanks kids.
Thank you so much. It’s working. Hope it’ll work for next days.
Every my addon has feature for export/import its settings. How to save all addons and with its settings? I can’t even to do this!
So its helpful for the problem. No upgrading can solve new or old version; or extensions also unable. Caption= Extensions would display “could not be verified for use in Firefox and has been disabled”.
By Mr.Anonymous- I can note it as- Open Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\insert current profile name\extensions.json with a text file. Replace all of words= All [“appDisabledâ€: false] to [“appDisabledâ€: true] and then all [“signedStateâ€: -1] to [“signedStateâ€: 2].
I was heavy tired since 30 hours to solve it by upgrading but no result was found. Then searched of How to do !!
Thank you very much.
None of the fixes work for me and it’s taking too long… I’m switching to Waterfox.
WTF, yesterday, I fixed all the add-ons error (auto disabled by Firefox), and then, today Firefox
rerolled all my already enabled add-ons to become disabled!
Good job Firefox!!! -_-
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F*ck you FF.
You just broke my limit of patience with all these add-ons.
AWESOME. It works. Am on 56.0.2 on Win 7 as I refuse to alter a look/functions that suit me perfectly, and this saved everything. Huge thanks!
> Am on 56.0.2 on Win 7
In this case you should consider Waterfox. Firefox 56 doesn’t receive security updates anymore since November 2017, Firefox 52 ESR doesn’t receive security updates anymore since August 2018.
Waterfox has all recent security patches applied to it, up to and including the security fixes of the most recent Firefox 66.
https://www.waterfox.net/
I edited the extensions.json it work only one day, after the problem back, mozilla is an joke, I’m very sad with mozilla, now is all about money, and firefox now is an big piece of shit. Is sad…
In my case, after doing that, they got lost again until I did that ‘xpinstall’ toggle as well. Then OK. I shoulda restored my profile, but didn’t try that. Would’ve if I spent any more time on this garbage. Also, some things were affected by the temp-time change. Next time, I’ll restore…
Yes, I’ve been pondering whether to ditch FF for a while (and I don’t want MS Edge beta – which is based on Chromium – as like Chromium, it will gobble up too much memory if you have lots of tabs open) so I’ve just downloaded and installed Palemoon, but unfortunately, you cannot install noscript (or uBlock Origin) as they both require WebExtensions support (which Palemoon does not have), so I will later investigate whether I can mimic noscript behaviour (to block all scripts by default) in eMatrix, then if so, I’ll import my huge list of whitelisted sites and see how it all goes. :-)
Briain said: “I’ve just downloaded and installed Palemoon, but unfortunately, you cannot install noscript (or uBlock Origin)â€
Palemoon can’t run NoScript or uBlock Origin??!! Is that correct? These are the two most important add-ons for me. What about uMatrix? Can palemoon run that? What about Adblock Plus? Can it run that? I guess if I absolutely had to I could consider going back to ABP. But I strongly prefer UBO!
Is this weird Palemoon thing even safe? Right now it says right on their homepage: “Due to a potential security issue with the web installer, it is currently unavailable.†Is Palemoon also insecure and has been hacked, cracked, whacked or attacked? The last thing I want to do right now is download malware!
That is incorrect.
Noscript can be installed on palemoon but it comes with a warning that it may interfere with sites and if you would be so kind as to visit the palemoon forum then there are a large amount of issues which have arose from noscript use and it becomes irritating for want of another word for forum staff to keep on trying to fix these issues and that is the truth of the matter.UBO does install in palemoon just fine,however it is a legacy version.Judging from your lark ascending remark it appears to me you have not even tried the browser.Just be informed by the forum and just try the browser instead of wailing like a town cryer that palemoon is that and the other.
Regards.
@Valerium:
Sounds like FUD to me. I’m responding to your comment in Pale Moon 28.5.0 (the latest release), and I’m running the NoScript, uBlock Origin, and uBlock Origin Updater extensions, along with many others. (uBlock Origin Updater fetches the latest version of uBlock Origin directly from its home on GitHub.)
I’m not aware of any issues with uBlock Origin on Pale Moon, other than the fact that its developer may decide to stop developing the “legacy-extension” version at some point. (Hopefully, Google’s recent decision to limit the number of ads that can be blocked in Chrome and this latest fiasco at Mozilla will prompt him to reassess the potential viability of the legacy XUL/UXP extension platform.) But if uBlock Origin actually *does* stop being available, there are several other ad blockers listed in Pale Moon’s add-ons site.
As for NoScript, so far as I can make out, the primary reason it was deprecated and remains strongly discouraged by the Pale Moon team is because users who didn’t know how to use it properly were sucking up *huge* amounts of Pale Moon support time. To be fair, I have also read allegations that it can interfere with proper functioning on certain sites even when it *is* used properly. *I* don’t seem to be having major problems with it. I’m currently forced to load recalcitrant sites in another browser only a few times a week, and for all I know, that could be due to Pale Moon’s lack of support for certain protocols, not because of interference from NoScript.
Even so, many savvy-sounding users recommend switching from NoScript to μMatrix (“uMatrix”), or in Pale Moon a fork called ηMatrix (“eMatrix”). I was actually on the verge of doing just that today, but uMatrix/eMatrix is more sophisticated than NoScript and has a steeper learning curve. Additionally, you have rebuild your site permissions from scratch. (I vetted domains and built my NoScript permissions over many years, and the thought of dumping them and starting over is … *discouraging*, to put it mildly.) Unfortunately, I had stuff to do on my computer this evening, and I just couldn’t devote the time required to start learning and training eMatrix right now. But I *do* intend to do it at some point soon. (And here too, there are some alternative, less sophisticated script blockers listed in Pale Moon’s add-ons site.)
Overall, I’d say that my current user experience with Pale Moon is *almost* as good as it was with Firefox in its pre-Australis (pre-29) glory days, and *far* better than it has been with Firefox 29+. It’s consistently been much more stable than Firefox has ever been. I can still customize the UI any way I want. I can still use most of the extensions I loved best (often in the form of Pale-Moon-specific forks or workalikes) — and most of *those* extensions have no full-functioned equivalent in Chrome or Firefox Quantum. The only reason I say it’s *almost* as good as as back in the glory days is because some sites no longer work in it. As I’ve already noted, some of that may be due to NoScript, but some of it is likely because Pale Moon’s small development team has trouble keeping up with the accelerating pace of new Web standards and protocols pushed by the GAFAM companies. Plus, Pale Moon has deliberately eschewed supporting WebRTC and DRM.
Nonetheless, I like Pale Moon far better than the alternatives I’ve tried for the kind of browsing I do. If I run into a site that I can’t get to work in Pale Moon, I just bend over and load it in Chrome. (And in Windows, at least, I have a Pale Moon toolbar button that allows me to do that with one click, thanks to the Browser View Plus / PlayLink extension.) Finally, Pale Moon (with NoScript) has been my default browser for *years* and I haven’t had a single browser-mediated malware infection in all that time — just the usual false positives for a handful of “naughty” Nirsoft and Sysinternals utilities that I deliberately download and keep up to date.
So, as I said — sounds like FUD to me.
Seems i spoke to soon.I just opened firefox on my linux box and all extensions have been removed.I cannot install any either.i shall await until mozilla issues an update which it no doubt will.
When I worked in mainframe decades ago, I always LAUGHed when other depts just slapped on fixes and then had SO MANY new problems. My online prod system (CICS) was EXTREMELY STABLE for many years. I would only put on fixes that caused me a problem, or a potential of one, based on if we used the feature the fix addressed.
As of 5/5/2019, I still have to back-date to 5/2/2019, reinstall FF 55.0.3 (to get Classic Theme Restore), then reinstall FF 56.0.2 to keep it. After about 15 minutes, FF disables the Safe Browsing Extension (but there is a “study” for it in about:studies), and then tells me that Classic Theme Restore will be disabled when I restart FF. Huh? There is an “undo” option listed to bypass that, but when I click it, it doesn’t remove the restart option at all (it’s internal sabotage, IMHO). Everything else is fine. FF disabled the HotFix 1.0.2.
Won’t go to Waterfox (not yet, but I downloaded their SetUp exe). More interested to get FF 56 working the way I want it. Will report if FF disables those 2 extensions since I did the reinstall and wrote this. Thanks.
Definitely was sabotage inside FF.
I only use FF to visit the stupid sites that force a newer level of encryption, such as the Navy’s simpletime.html page and other .gov sites. Really? You encrypt the current time? And don’t let older browsers see it? Yet many other sites use HTTPS properly w/older browsers; I guess they are not as stupid!
SAME!
YEP!
The focus is on the wrong part of the story.
The certificate timebombing was utterly stupid but I can imagine how it could happen because someone just didn’t think.
Now, using the crisis to try and harvest the users’ data through Studies rather than just providing the .xpi no-hassle is something that makes me consider ditching FF.
@MaliciousIntent
Yeah, exactly. Who was it that said “Never let a good crisis go to waste”? I believe it was good ole Rahm Emanuel, though that’s a strategy that’s been used for thousands of years anyway lol. This kinda ridiculous bs has been happening ever since FF decided to join The Cabal or the Internet Technocracy. You wake up one day and out of nowhere, some silly ass bs winds up breaking mysteriously. It’s like being time warped back to 19 f’ing 98 again **eye roll**
Try Palemoon, dude, it’s basically its own browser now and has all the great functions that made FF awesome back in the day. No bs. I heard Waterfox is decent too. I only use FF as a backup when an occasional site won’t work on PM, but like I said earlier, it’s not very often.
Hi Oz
Thank you for the tip. I just followed your instructions and obtained the new cert9.db (which is showing as 244 KB) and replaced the existing one (which was 340 KB, from memory) but in my Windows 10 Pro (64 bit) version of FF, the problem remains the same. I’ll later see if it works on my Linux box.
All the best,
Briain
Hey there Briain, I just tried the method I posted above again on another Linux box and a Win7 box and both continue to work perfectly. Be sure Firefox is closed when you transfer the new cert.db file over to your mozilla_OLD profile. It seems that not any one fix works for everyone.
I’m not even sure I want to upgrade to 66.04 that Martin said would soon be released as an official fix. My trust in Mozilla is very near the end and I was seriously considering all alternatives until experimenting with the fix described above.
Another thing I did after the first breakage was to 7zip a working Mozilla folder that holds our profiles and left a copy of the mozilla.7z file in the parent folder with the Mozilla folder so that each time it broke while surfing, it was just three clicks and I was up and running again without making any changes to my settings. This gave me time to continue surfing with my add-ons working and experiment a little to come up with the solution that worked for me.
I’ll report my findings:
Well, I did the fix with the extensions,json and that didn’t work at all. They would all show “Addon will be disabled next time you restart”, yet weren’t usable/enabled to begin with after making the edits in the json file. **shrugs**
So I installed the hotfix via the XPI file (drag and dropped it into the browser), and everything is working ok, yet it shows them with the red exclamation icon and says they still need to be verified. Lol, so it’s all showing as a false positive. Smh…
God only knows wtf they were up to with all of this. It definitely smells funny for sure since they wanted users to do this nonsense with the Moz Studies addon (yeah, right). Like uh, why not just release some patch via an update the normal friggin way? Why the need to install some addon to get the fix? Ridiculous.
I rarely ever use FF anyway, since we all know it went down the toilet long ago and sold out to Big Daddy just like so many other tech companies have done for the last 5-8 years. I only use it when a site won’t work well with Palemoon, which isn’t very often at all and PM has come a long way since it’s inception and works wonderful.
Oh, forgot to add I am on FF 55.0.3, so maybe that is why some of the fixes didn’t work for me. I refuse to use anything above that for reasons I shouldn’t need to explain lol.
Another two methods are to change date of calendar, and another is to download this file and install it by dropping it into extensions: https://storage.googleapis.com/moz-fx-normandy-prod-addons/extensions/hotfix-update-xpi-intermediate%40mozilla.com-1.0.2-signed.xpi
Hey Martin, congrats on the traffic. Mozilla’s blunder is essentially a killswitch for Adblock (and other less interesting, in the guise of security. this should forgotten.
Just use Basilisk.
*** The fix that worked for me (so far) is:
-close Firefox (preferably before it breaks)
-rename the “mozilla” folder ~/.mozilla_OLD in Linux
and Mozilla_OLD found at %appdata% (Roaming) in Windows
-then start Firefox to allow it to create a new profile
-close Firefox immediately and open the new profile folder
-copy the (new but larger) “cert9.db” over to the _OLD profile folder
-delete the new profile
-change the _OLD folder back to their standard name
-restart Firefox and enable, or re-install your add-ons from before
-all previous settings saved
I’ve gone hours now without being interrupted by the Mozilla screw-up again. I tried most of the other fixes but none seemed to work for more than a few minutes.
Reduced customization – OK, I’ll find plugins that work around that
Increased privacy intrusion – …Fine, I can disable these new features.
Bloating – Mah, I got enough RAM
Killing NPAPI – hmm…I hope I’ll get around that
Killing all my addons “to protect me: without giving me a way out – I’m done…
I’m sure there’s some room left for me on the Brave team. By Mozilla, we had fun over the past 15years, but you’ve changed.
Twelve hours after fixing the problem, only two of my add ons still have the yellow DANGER! banner; looks like fixes are rolling out.
FF ESR v60. Fix was changing
xpinstall.signatures.required to false.
Expired site certs are not that uncommon; stupid to let that happen. FF letting it disable a huge chunk of why people use their product was monumentally dumb.
This thread must be record length for ghacks!
Follow-up on my previous comment, when trying to install 66.0.4, at the end of the installation process I see that the desktop icons show a black square where the short cut arrows should be (I had removed these arrows by using the trick described here: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-get-rid-shortcut-arrows-windows-10) so I suspect that might be why the installation if failing.
I’m off back to Linux land now (and I’ll again use the about:debugging to ‘side-load’ NoScript and uBlock Origin) but if a patch doesn’t appear by the next time I’m using Windows, I’ll undo that registry hack – to get the arrows back – and see if that’s what’s causing the 66.0.4 installation failures.
Thanks a lot Alex :)
It is extremely careless of Mozilla to let a cert expire to have noscript and uBlock origin disabled results in a serious degradation of my security, but hey, anyone can make a mistake, so I’m not going to throw all my toys out of the pram about that, but given the severity of this, I am getting rather irritated that it is taking them quite so long to fix it!
Curiously, I have tried modifying extensions.json (didn’t work) toggling xpinstall.signatures.required (didn’t work) and when trying to instal the 64 bit version of 66.0.4 on Windows 10, the installation seems to progress okay, but when restarting FF, it is still shows as being 6.0.33 (and with the problems remaining) so it would appear that it’s crashing at the end of the installation.
Yesterday, I elected to permit FF to install and run studies and I am still waiting for the patch; it currently shows the below status:
prefflip-push-performance-1491171•Complete
hotfix-reset-xpi-verification-timestamp-1548973•Complete
So, I am still waiting for that to happen (taking a lot longer than some others have suggested elsewhere on the www).
The only success I have had is by downloading the xpi files (and using about:debugging to load them) but obviously, that has to be done each time you start the browser (though thank goodness we at least have that option as a temporary solution).
I mostly use Debian Linux (and obviously, FF ESR for Linux also now has noscript and ublock disabled) so I am about to re-boot into Debian and see if toggling xpinstall.signatures.required to false (until this nonsense has been resolved) fixes things for the Linux version of the FF browser (as I dare say us Linux users will to wait for the fixed version – when it is made available – to then be put into the apt-get repositories).
Plz dont forget to uncheck the 2 boxes after all addons starts working…Because privacy matters. I am a diehard fan of Firefox. Also using Seamonkey and Palemoon as backup browsers. Will never opt another non Mozilla browser…!! Cheers..!!
Simple Fix:
1) Go to Firefox ‘Option’ and select ‘Privacy and Security’
2) Check 2 boxes under ‘Firefox datacollection and use’ menu
The 2 box options are:
a) Allow Firefox to send technical and interaction data to Mozilla
b) Allow Firefox to install and run studies
3) Restart the browser
Done
If firefox fixed the bug, you can see the description of the patch, under ‘Firefox datacollection and use’ menu
c) Click ‘View firefox studies’ to see the description of the bugfix.
Cheers…!!
I tried a couple of the recommended solutions and they didn’t work. So, I downgraded to 64 as trying to downgrade to 65 didn’t work because it auto updated to 66 and I couldn’t stop the update. 64 seems to be working fine after I changed the Chrome css file commands again.
Bye Firefox, bye! I’ve had enough. You can’t leave my add-ons alone? Well I can sure leave you alone. Hope you’re happy now!
Firefux
FF use to be a trusted browser which clearly was the favourite with the many. Seems FF is loosing some of their loyal fans as they are becooming crap like the other crappy browsers.
Using ESR 52.9.0 – The only working fix for me was goto about:config and change xpinstall.signatures.required to false.
Spending time today looking for alternative browser
> Using ESR 52.9.0
Firefox 52 ESR doesn’t receive any security support anymore, ever since August 2018. Waterfox is essentially Firefox 56 with all the more recent security updates (up to Firefox 66 security level) applied to it. If you need legacy add-ons still, I strongly recommend it over Firefox 52 ESR.
https://www.waterfox.net/
So do we know when a fix will be applied to ESR 60? I just want to kn0w when I should re-enable xpinstall.signatures.required.
Also, is the record for the most comments on an article?
Working solution (66.0.4 update directly from Mozilla):
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/candidates/66.0.4-candidates/build3/win64/en-US/Firefox%20Setup%2066.0.4.exe
There are other localized versions in the upper directories.
See this script
https://pastebin.com/sjUPd8aS
Aricle
https://galaktyczny.pl/2019/05/04/mozilla-firefox-dodatki-nie-dzialaja-jak-przywrocic/
or open console CTRL+SHIFT+J
What to do if you can not paste anything into the console?
Enter the about: config address in the bar
Accept the terms by clicking the “I accept the risk” button
Find the entry devtools.selfxss.count (you can use the search engine at the top) and double click
It worked for me
The definitive solution to this: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/96816?hl=fr
NB: I am a first hour user of Firefox (and before that ‘Mozilla’).
Solution by reddit Waterfox
https://www.velvetbug.com/benb/icfix/
Classic Firefox Restorer works perfect (FF 54)
This worked for me, FF Portable 54 !
No need to temporarily enable uBlock with each restart.
Everything works fine. No warnings, yellow alerts, no crap!
Thanks Mozilla for wasting two hours of my life…at least it introduced me to WF and now have that as a reliable option, if not my primary browser.
The official fix from FFHQ is for you all to turn on their studies remote-code-execution backdoor.
in case the correlation wasnt clear enough before..
expert(s) dictated that webrtc remain activated by default, weakening vpn protection.
same expert(s) maintaining the certs accidently let one slip, leaving all tor browser users open to exploits.
(mozilla can turn tor security off as they please)
was yesterday a coordinated operation?
I propose a better longer term fix: drain the swamp at ffhq
Agree with draining the swamp at Mozilla; the studies enabled fix was a quick fix to get users back up; just turn studies off afterward as mozilla notes. It was superseded a few hours later, scroll down to second post here:
https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2019/05/04/update-regarding-add-ons-in-firefox/
It’s being rolled out as a do nothing auto fix.
The only fix which did work for me :
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19826903
You may have to download extension and install it manually.
Everything fixed even without restart.
RIGHT NOW….GO USE WATERFOX ….AND INSTALL ALL YOUR ADDONS FROM
C:\Users\urusername\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\g7g3juwf.default-1554396646778\extensions
work perfectly ….
Strange thing – I did nothing (change date, update to 66.0.4…) and suddenly all the addons were loaded. Maybe Mozilla finally fixed the problem?
installing 66.0.4 solved this. thanks.
Where did you get it?
I would gladly change FF for some other alternative but there’s none matching it. Chrome based clones are not an option due to totalitarian policy of (evil indeed) Google – they won’t allow YT anti-ads or video downloaders. Those former FF projects like the Waterfall are glitchy. I see no alternative but to continue with current FF. Link to direct bug fix helped – I saved it to my disk and than dropped it into Options page. After that I applied tweaks by AJ (said on May 4, 2019 at 2:41 pm). Now all is fine. But the trend towards total control of Internet is deploring. I still remember pre-Internet FIDO freedom.
Thank you – found via a search for the error string. I had guessed it was Mozilla, and it was nice to have that confirmed.
I was the only one in my family to notice, but I was the only one who had disabled Studies (because the idea of running unknown stuff does not appeal…) and enabling them worked overnight.
Now that it’s fixed you can disable Studies again.
This must be “modern, updated code” the anti-Pale Moon crowd here keeps salivating at. Lovely. I am trying from yesterday to install an extension to Firefox and it is “corrupt”. I tried another: “corrupt”.
How modern and updated.
Panorama Tab Groups is the one extension I would like to see promoted. I found and was happily using Tab Groups Manager until Mozilla decided that some piece of TGM was incompatible with a newer version of FF and spiked it.
Many months later, not using FF, I discovered Panorama Tab Groups and was back to loving FF. It was even able to import my TGM backup file. With a bit of tweaking, I was happy as a clam with 8 groups, each tailored to an area of my interest.
None of the fixes worked, except rolling date back :(
What a nightmare! IF only I could have hundreds of vertical tabs in Chrome, FF couldn’t hold me hostage.
Opera Browser is far from perfect but at least it has a built in VPN, so bye bye firefox.
If anyone finds a genuine workaround to Mozilla’s so called ‘fix’ I’ll keep my profile just in case
Firefox ESR v52.9.0
about:config, searched for _signature_, signature required was true; changed to false, restarted FF, and all was well as far as the add-ons running – some have a yellow-text message to proceed with caution because the file could not be verified, but they are enabled with options/disable/remove buttons active. Add-ons I disabled are still disabled, with buttons to enable/remove.
So I downloaded and manually installed the xpi from the googleapis address linked to here in the comments by lukami, and I reluctantly changed my settings to allow studies. Add-ons are all there and working, but now I notice FF behaving differently than before–it’s sluggish and laggy, at least when I’m viewing the enormous comments stream on this page, and even with just four or five other tabs open.
Has anyone who’s installed that xpi or who’s allowed studies notice any difference in Firefox’s performance?
P.S. Martin, for me the “Comment Link†in the emails is no longer going to the correct comment on the article page for some reason.
The allow Firefox to install and run studies fix did it for my Firefox copy, yesterday somewhere in the afternoon, Central European Time (MET, GMT +1). I disabled it afterwards and everything is fine – for the moment.
Wow … I was die hard fan of Firefox … migrated all to Chrome and I must admit it .. it works way faster and stable than this failure of a browser … and just like that to stop one important add on is where i kept session .. with like 10 windows with +30 tabs because of my work .. just to get all those reopened fucked my half working day. Thanks a bunch to mozilla amazing brain power. Sure they have killed for good this browser as well.
I have the same problem with addons. I try all posted solutions on the net with no lack so far.
To escape from adds on youtube and movies sites i install brave browser. He come with adds blocker built in and is surprisingly good. Not even an ad has reach to me. Unfortunately it does not have many options so you can not configure it as a mozilla. PRO: is quick, consuming few resources compared to firefox and blocks all ads.
My personal Firefox 51 pooter with Miss Pants
paranoid settings is working perfectly…All the legacy add-ons are still working as they should,
But FF 64 on my company computer has crashed
and will have to be dealt with…All those so called “latest greatest new extensions” have disappeared…I wouldn’t rule out sabotage
from a few disgruntled lucy lovin 5eyes employee’s…
Anyone else find it interesting that a locked down Win7 Pro OS with Miss Pants paranoid Firefox 51 settings still works perfectly?
What is “Miss Pants” ?
Pants is one of the two major developers of the Ghacks-user.js Firefox user script.
https://github.com/ghacksuserjs/ghacks-user.js
…with user_pref(“xpinstall.signatures.required”, false); in /* OTHER ***/
Firefox 66.0.3 portable + Pants Ghacks.user = all my add-ons working as it should be. No problemo.
Using FF 54. uBlock will only work if enabled through the debugging screen, which is only temporary. All other solutions posted here fail.
Restarted FF several times and still no good. Will wait and see if it kicks in tomorrow.
The shield study Mozilla distributed to fix this only works in the most recent version of Firefox. In Firefox ESR builds, you can set:
xpinstall.signatures.required to “false” in about:config.
Or you could install a Firefox derivative like Waterfox, which doesn’t enforce extension signing by default and is therefore unaffected by this mess.
https://www.waterfox.net/
What the hell? It disabled all of my Firefox extensions and I can’t re-enable them at all. These are official addons from the Mozilla Extension site.
It disabled –
Adblock Plus. Now I’m getting annoying ads on websites again
Honey – Now I can’t get any discounts etc on eBay or anything else
PureVPN – I can’t use this now.
I just removed these three extensions but I can’t download them because it says “download failed”. This update really sucks.
On a more serious note, how much in control of this browser are you, the user? We’ve got telemetry forcefully enabled a year ago, now extensions completely disabled, all this done remotely by mozilla, with no prior warning, and not even an after the fact notice in the case of the telemetry fiasco. I hope die-hard mozillians will finally learn something from this. “Your” browser is no better than Chromium. The difference is that with Chromium you know google will sell you for the highest bidder on the first occasion. Mozilla does the same, just tells you a bunch of b/s to lure you in
It sucks for many of you, I guess. Instead of enjoying the weekend, doing whatever you wanted, you had to deal with mozilla’s nonsense..
Firefox is back in business on my end within the past hour or so. It all looks good!
Can you hear it? It’s coming from the mozilla building. Seriously, can’t you hear it? That music…
youtube.com/watch?v=_B0CyOAO8y0
@Yuliya:
Thank you for broadening my cultural horizons! Until now, I only knew it as the “clown song” or the “circus song.” I was going to go with “This Is It,” the theme song to the Bugs Bunny Show (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-t8PngHgWY), mostly because of the parade of Mozilla developers toward the end, but yours is the better choice.
I can’t cause the fucked up the freaking browser
In all of this confusion, has anyone considered the possibility that Mozilla could have been hit by a virus???
This is one of the many reasons I use Waterfox instead of Firefox.
I tried it right away after reading your comment. Waterfox is glitchy – it asks for certificates all the time – even from Google or Bing. I removed it after several attempts to tame it.
I’ve had literally no addons issues with Firefox Beta.. but I woke up today to bookmarks missing…..
What a fiasco. One minute your browsing with confidence that your being protected by such add-ons as Malwarebytes Browser Extension Beta and then when you actually notice it, and other extensions, are disabled you realize you may have been at risk for the last 30 minutes or more. Thanks Mozilla.
Until they get this all sorted out I’m using Vivaldi with Mbam and other extensions enabled. I’m liking the Vivaldi experience so far so I may just stick with it.
Mozilla has laid down with sommany dogs it has bypassed the fleas to become the mange.
This is probably forced shutdown time to insert a reverse VPN tracking bug into their systems.
Mr Orwell was right
Priorities.
“Mozilla, the nonprofit maker of the Firefox browser, recently announced a new transgender policy for employees who are transitioning. The policy outlines clear guidelines and steps employees can take to foster a more inclusive environment for their coworkers. The guidelines discuss pronoun usage, steps for reporting harassment and offers suggestions for disclosure, among many other things.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2019/04/28/how-to-support-your-transgender-employees/#30a4f7214eca
The RC seems to be working fine. http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/candidates/66.0.4-candidates/
Changing xpinstall.signatures.required to false solved this issue for me. Studies were already enabled when I checked. Thanks, ghacks!
Enabled studies, then restarted, worked right away, had to re-enable custom theme manually.
Thanks for saving me from this crazy bug.
Mozilla is saying the various Linux FFs will need their own separate fixes. Fantastic.
Seeing how the Internet is unusable on FF without plugins, I’ve installed Chromium. It came with uMatrix and uBlock Origin pre-installed, LOL.
Chromium RSS reader plugin that seems to work OK for podcasts: Shoyu RSS/Atom Feed Preview
SavePage WE also available for Chrome/Chromium. Always saves in Downloads now, though. :/
Importing bookmarks: export FF bookmarks to html file and then import them into Chrome/Chromium – sort of a pain, but it’s tolerable. You can find ‘how-to’ pages on this, if you search.
This is ridiculous !!, just change the date of the PC to 5/3/2019 so that the add-ons will work again.
It is a must see!
Official announcement :
https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2019/05/04/update-regarding-add-ons-in-firefox/
Late on Friday May 3rd, we became aware of an issue with Firefox that prevented existing and new add-ons from running or being installed. We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to people who use Firefox.
Our team has identified and rolled-out a fix for all Firefox Desktop users on Release, Beta and Nightly. The fix will be automatically applied in the background within the next few hours. No active steps need to be taken to make add-ons work again. In particular, please do not delete and/or re-install any add-ons as an attempt to fix the issue. Deleting an add-on removes any data associated with it, where disabling and re-enabling does not.
Please note: The fix does not apply to Firefox ESR or Firefox for Android. We’re working on releasing a fix for both, and will provide updates here and on social media.
To provide this fix on short notice, we are using the Studies system. This system is enabled by default, and no action is needed unless Studies have been disabled. Firefox users can check if they have Studies enabled by going to:
“Midway, omitted”
There are a number of work-arounds being discussed in the community. These are not recommended as they may conflict with fixes we are deploying. We’ll let you know when further updates are available that we recommend, and appreciate your patience. (May 4, 15:01 EST)
FF ESR 52.8.0 for Linux: “xpinstall.signatures.required = false” works for me.
During the last couple of years FF developers:
1)issued new FF version that breaks dozens of good plugins like scrapbook
2)stopped support of NPAPI plugins even in ESR version (Waterfox still supports them)
3)removed “outdated” plugins database (there is a port of this database for Waterfox)
Now it has this annoying bug with plugins signature.
Currently FF is like Opera. It’s one more Chrome-based clone.
But nobody (5%) is going to use it any more. FF is fast, but market niche is lost.
from Mozilla: In order to be able to provide this fix on short notice, we are using the Studies system. You can check if you have studies enabled by going to Firefox Preferences -> Privacy & Security -> Allow Firefox to install and run studies.
Clarifying: The link to the Mozilla page where they explain and give this message: from Mozilla: In order to be able to provide this fix on short notice, we are using the Studies system. You can check if you have studies enabled by going to Firefox Preferences -> Privacy & Security -> Allow Firefox to install and run studies. It helped for us. all good on all machines now.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Firefox official Fix from Mozilla:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
See: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2019/05/04/update-regarding-add-ons-in-firefox/
Also See: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-ons-disabled-or-fail-to-install-firefox?redirectlocale=en-US&redirectslug=add-ons-failing-install-firefox
HAHA For the first time in forever i was subjected to browsing the internet without Adblock etc. OMG THE HOORRROR!!!!!! Was like WTF is all this extra junk on the screen at a few of my fav websites. ………..Never again!!
How the hell do people browse the internet with all that junk ??? Esssh
This is the Mozilla signed semi-official fix. Click link in the 3rd line and problem fixed!
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19826903
Easier for me to download Firefox 67 Beta 16 from Major Geeks:
Choose custom install
Install in Program Files Mozilla if using 64 bit
Check about:profiles to find what is what
Go to Users/User Name/App Data/Roaming/Mozilla/Profiles
Click on previous profile and Select All/copy
Paste in dev profile/overwrite all
When first opening, a small triangle will appear asking to install the xpi hotfix
I cancelled the install since I had no idea what would happen.
So Firefox is back and running–rather prefer the blue icon mode.
Funny how everything works in the Beta world and not the Safe for General Users category.
MS has some competition!
Just in time to see the Kentucky Derby–“Maximum Security” won! Sweet!
I just went into about:config section and set xpinstall.signatures.required to false.
Everything working now.
Extended Random strikes again.
Ok, but this is the last one. After the fix I will disable auto update forever…
Thanks for help!!
Bandaid Fix from Mozilla …
Enable Studies in Options – Privacy & Security – Mozilla Have pushed out Temp Cert which will re-enable your addons.
Huge fail by Mozilla. Best solution so far: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19824410
Nothing worked for me
Fix available for 66.0.3: https://storage.googleapis.com/moz-fx-normandy-prod-addons/extensions/hotfix-update-xpi-intermediate%40mozilla.com-1.0.2-signed.xpi
Download the linked xpi and install by dragging into your Firefox window. All add-ons should immediately be re-enabled and does not require installation of the RC version.
Let’s hope that some testing is put in place before such monumental screw-ups occur again.
I was a big fan and heavy user of Tab Groups Manager and was dumbstruck when it disappeared some time back. I managed to live without FF, using other browsers instead. Many months later I discovered Panorama Tab Groups, which provides almost all of the functionality of TGM — I do miss locking a tab, but Undo Closed Tabs button works.
Please don’t do this again.
I just realized all my addons ARE WORKING AGAIN, and I did nothing except have a little bit a patience i.e. seems like within about 24 hours they fixed it.
Almost like “take 2 aspirin & wake up in the morning ;) ”
Thanks
Solution here:
https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2019/05/04/update-regarding-add-ons-in-firefox/comment-page-6/#comment-226171
How to fix Firefox expired Mozilla add-ons signing certificate issue on Windows:
Note: Replace YOURUSERNAME in the following steps with your actual Windows user name.
1) Back up your profile (C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox)
2) Download hotfix from https://storage.googleapis.com/moz-fx-normandy-prod-addons/extensions/hotfix-update-xpi-intermediate%40mozilla.com-1.0.2-signed.xpi
Credits go to Samuel Vuorela (see 2nd comment at https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2019/05/04/update-regarding-add-ons-in-firefox/)
3) Start Firefox and browse about:addons
4) From the gear drop-down list, select ‘Install Add-on From File…’, and select the XPI file downloaded in step 2.
This will install the new Mozilla signing certificate (signingca1.addons.mozilla.org).
5) Close Firefox.
6) Copy the cert9.db file under your profile folder to a save location.
7) Delete your profile backed up in step 1.
8) Restore your profile backup.
9) Restore the cert9.db file copied in step 6 to your profile folder.
10) Delete the Firefox folder under C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Local\Mozilla.
That’s it. Your profile is the same as before (without the hotfix add-on) and only the certificate database has been updated with the proper signing certificate.
The new certificate can be found under Mozilla Corporation in the ‘Authorities’ tab of the certificate viewer (Options => Privacy & Security => Certificates => View certificates).
Broken on Ubuntu 18.04. So nice to see Mozilla taking away user choice. How about testing before inflicting changes on users? Or how about a way to block future updates as many of us are forced to do with Windows? You don’t care if updates break functionality because it’s irrelevant to YOUR personal use. That’s your right as developers but it’s also insulting your user base.
If I can’t use extensions I do not need your browser. Extensions are the ONLY FUNCTIONAL reason to use Firefox.
Interesting that so many people on here have had issues fixing the problem.
Where are your backups?
Restore extensions.json and make it read only. Job done.
Wait for a proper fix.
I did a restore on Saturday, when the problem occurred, to last Sunday, April 28th. It worked and I had my extensions back. When I booted up the next morning, the extensions were gone, again.
You can use “Youtube-DLG” to download *.xpi files if you needed.
I tried the fix above, and it worked. Thanks.
I’m on a Mac, not all my add-ons are disabled, however, I am unable to download replacements as message after choosing install tells me the add-on is corrupt.
I think I’ll sleep on it for now……
Addons seem to be up and running as of 06:30 AU EST
Just refresh Firefox and install again desired extensions !
Nice, did absolutely nothing and all add-ons just stopped working.
Didn’t even apply any updates. Just out of nowhere.
Thanks firefox! Way to make me wanna change browser :)
Let me guess, Boeing probably outsource the software for the 737 MAX MCAS system to Mozilla…
I edited the file “extensions.json” in notepad ++. The file is in
C:\Users\”user name”\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\eknvp9aw.default.
In this file, all the commands must be found “appDisabled”:true and changed to “appDisabled”:false
Then you need to find all the commands “signedState”:-1 and change the value to “signedState”:2
Save the file and restart Firefox. Then disable all add-ons in the plug-ins
release them immediately. And they should be getting back to their original state.
Well, somewhere way up there I said my ESR v60 wasn’t affected. It was a few hours after my post. The xpinstall….false setting returned affected add ons, which was all of them. They now have a yellow DANGER warning but work.
Long thread, deservedly so.
Firefox finding better & better ways to commit suicide . Bravo!
It has happened to me in the Tor Browser and I’ve changed the preference xpinstall.signatures.required to fix it. Is it safe to leave it like that and forget?
I just updated FF 32 bit to 64bit quantum.
1st error update didn’t import old profile, so no history bookmarks etc.
Then couldn’t install extensions: Error message:
Download failed. Please check your connection.
Plus Couldn’t set homepage due to error message
Your Organisation has disabled the ability to change some options.
Shut down, restarted – extensions could be installed, but homepage couldn’t be changed, same your org…error.
Imported old data, history working, extensions installed had vanished and same your org error message.
software…
No wonder the Boeing 737 crashed and killed hundreds of people.
If incompetence at that level works at Boeing like here at MozillaI’m not surprised!
I am amazed by the autocratic arrogance and incompetence of this organization.
First they develop a really nice browser with plug-ins then in the forever security insanity they change all the extensions format and now they come through the back door stabbing trying to eliminate those who use older versions of Firefox because like in my case, two thirds of all the extensions are needed and used on a daily basis, won’t run on newer versions.
Why bother and waste all the resources to develop a system that can use customized extensions only to go and destroy all afterward? this is about as stupid and destructive as AOC wanting to rebuild every building to green standards in the United States.
Firefox
– options
– privacy & security
– Firefox Data Collection and Use
– check the top box (Allow Firefox to send technical and interaction data to Mozilla) & the second box (Allow Firefox to install and run studies)
Now restart your browser = fixed
You’re Welcome! :)
setting xpinstall.signatures.required to false, worked for me like a charme!!
Thank al lot!!
Tried above fixes with no success. I decided to uninstall Firefox and install (for no specific reason) the latest ESR version; 60.6.1esr. I was then able to install all my extensions without issue.
I have used an extensive list of addons and themes, I don’t even remember all of them and they all disappeared.
Why can’t I post?
This happened to me yesterday, reddit had a few workarounds, but the simplest one was to change my computer date to May 2, and that got all my add ons to work. Ill just change the date back to normal, once the fix goes live.
There is another fix with an .xpi file:
“Apparently beta and nightly need to change `Components.utils.import` to `ChromeUtils.import`.
But anyways, don’t use this now, use the semi-official fix of clicking on this link and letting it install: https://storage.googleapis.com/moz-fx-normandy-prod-addons/e…
This is the fix Mozilla has published to be installed via shield studies, but skipping the shield studies part. You can be sure it’s not malicious because it is signed by Mozilla… and if your browser installed unsigned extensions you wouldn’t be looking for this solution in the first place.”
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19826903#19828631
There is another fix with an .xpi file:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19826903#19828631
There is another fix with an .xpi file:
“Apparently beta and nightly need to change `Components.utils.import` to `ChromeUtils.import`.
But anyways, don’t use this now, use the semi-official fix of clicking on this link and letting it install: https://storage.googleapis.com/moz-fx-normandy-prod-addons/e…
This is the fix Mozilla has published to be installed via shield studies, but skipping the shield studies part. You can be sure it’s not malicious because it is signed by Mozilla… and if your browser installed unsigned extensions you wouldn’t be looking for this solution in the first place.”
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19826903#19828631
Since Dissenter was banned from the repository ( https://dissenter.com ) It’s hard not to think that this is something we have to get used to – that more extension will be taken down whenever some kind of grievance is felt – political or otherwise.
With this, I am officially done with Mozilla Firefox. It has been my primary web browser since version 0.6. No more. The only official “fix” at the moment is to enable Studios. LOL, no. Anyone remember the “Mr. Robot” fiasco from last year?
I have been using Brave Browser as my secondary web browser, which will now become my primary. Time to find a new secondary web browser…
I tried the xpinstall change to false solution which didn’t work for me.
Just now I found another solution that worked instantly.
Go to about:config, find app.normandy.run_interval_seconds and change value to 1. My add-ons instantly came back. I changed it back to 12600 and the add-ons were still there. Closed Firefox, reopened, still there so seems to work great for me.
On Firefox Quantum 66.0.3 (64-bit).
Sorry if anyone has already posted this. Only had a quick browse & saw a load of gibberish & the xpinstall “fix”.
So when are they releasing 66.0.4? I’m still stuck on 66.0.3 with this extension bug.
MOZILLA FIREFOX SUPPORT UPDATE: There is a banner at the top of their support page that now reads:
“We rolled out a hotfix that re-enables affected add-ons. The fix will be automatically applied in the background within the next few hours. For more details, please check out the update at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-ons-failing-install-firefox ”
Source: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/about-config-editor-firefox
ENJOY THE POST-MERITOCRACY
Looks like Mozilla fix it. Everything is back to normal for me
Okay, I got it all back, for the moment. I did download the direct link to the hotfix, and before I decided to do a hard Win 10 System Restore, I went into DOS and changed the date at the core C:/ to 5/2/2019. I saved my older Firefox start-up files and reinstalled an older version, which got the Classic Theme Restorer to work again. From that I reinstalled the current version of Firefox that I use (56.0.2) and changed my date back to 5/4/2019.
That seemed to work for me. But I did what I described this morning as well (and it didn’t work), thus the bug fix from Mozilla must be coming in now. I hope nothing changes from this point (glad I didn’t have to do a Win 10 System Restore to 5/2).
I need that Classic Theme Restorer for Firefox like no other, very painful without it. Thank you Netscape—-I believe this bug came from a disgruntled employee at Mozilla (we’ll never know). lol
Disgruntled FF employee? interesting…..
That’s likely how most breaches happen, not so much from remote locales by super-hacker types but inside jobs.
Anyways, the Chromium train is pulling up….ALL ABOARD….I’m getting on the MF’er…bye bye FF!
> From that I reinstalled the current version of Firefox that I use (56.0.2) and changed my date back to 5/4/2019.
Install Waterfox. It’s Firefox 56 with all the security updates up to and including the current Firefox 66:
https://www.waterfox.net/
> I need that Classic Theme Restorer for Firefox like no other,
CTR works in flawlessly Waterfox, I use it on a daily basis.
I updated Firefox as well only to discover all of my add-ons completely gone and the add-on manager won’t let me download and install add-ons.
While on this page, I am going to also say that firefox has a bug in reading video file’s metadata. If you pass a video’s current scene to canvas, and the video is in portrait mode, you will get a weirdly rotated image on canvas. This only apply to video that is taken in portrait mode. This bug doesn’t appear in Chrome, Opera, and even Microsoft Edge, wtf firefox!
I did not even update the browser, but suddenly I can’t use all my add-ons
No offence to all you people who have technical knowledge to build fixes BUT I JUST WANT THINGS TO WORK THAT I ASK FOR FFS.
Bad enough having Farcebook disabling accounts with no means of answers as to why, the ability to rectify whatever their issue is, and being guilty before any innocence is allowed, NOW THIS???
SORT IT MOZILLA QUICKLY!
All my add ons are disabled to. It won’t allow to download and install other add ons. I was only able to download WebRTC, that’s the only one.
I just deleted my profile and installed the extensions i needed started Firefox and synced my profile.
“Just in case,” I maintain a registered install of 32-bit Firefox ESR 52.9.0 with a full complement of extensions, and a portable install of Tor Browser 7.5.6 (based on Firefox 52.9.0) with its original pre-supplied extensions and a small number of additional extensions.
I fired up Tor Browser 7.5.6, and sure enough, NoScript (pre-supplied), uBlock Origin, and Canvas Blocker got disabled.
I exited, deleted my Tor Browser folder, and replaced it with a “pre-disabled” backup. I then put user.js files including the entries recommended by andy kegel in its two profile.default folders. (I even examined Tor Browser’s special channel-prefs.js and Invalidprefs.js files to make sure my user.js prefs weren’t somehow being overridden by something in them, but I didn’t spot anything obvious.) When I fired up Tor Browser again … the offending extensions were still disabled.
I think I’m going to wait a bit for this to shake out before trying additional solutions. Obviously, I’m not expecting Mozilla or Tor Browser to issue fixes for versions that have reached end of life. In the meantime, I’m going to avoid launching Firefox and Tor Browser, in either the old or current versions, and will continue to use Pale Moon as my default browser and Chrome as my primary fallback browser.
PS: The extensions.json trick and hotfix .xpi didn’t work either.
The final nail on Firefox browser coffin.
Android > Firefox (for years) > Kiwi (now)
Windows > Firefox (for years) > Vivaldi (now)
Mozilla tried to get rid of all loyal users for years now and after killing themes and real add-ons, dropping features with almost every release and breaking daily browser usage because an idiot thought is was a good idea to play around with policies and signature servers I’m finally gone.
There is no point investing any second of lifetime in this degenerated company and its dumb rulers.
RIP Mozilla.
I totally agree with you. In America we say “if it ain’t broken don’t fix it!”
the Germans have a very good word for it “verschlimmbessern” meaning, worsening by “improving”
this is exactly what these Cretins did at Mozilla which it’s ridiculous upgrade addiction like a drug addict increasingly rendering the product useless, disabling add-ons and rendering good functions dysfunctional.
What is the purpose for all that? I’m self-employed and I need this product for business and it is now interfering grossly my ability to do my work.
the despotic and autocratic arrogance of Mozilla and its dweeb circus trying to prove themselves on a daily basis becomes truly hazardous!
Fck this ßholes
going to another browser nuff is nuff
they fking around with addons since years
now ending this ßit
I just removed FF for good and changed to Vivaldi. Not that I think it’s such a great browser but I simply had more than enough of FF and all the silly things that happened in the past.
Guess removing FF is the only language Mozilla may understand if their market share will continue to plumet. Everything else is just talk, or how I call it – windbagging. Mozilla will not take talk seriously, only actions. So, goodbye FF – not an easy decision but in my opinion the only answer to Mozillas mess.
It the Force…or the 4th…
I have no idea how to fix this issue with the technical instructions provided. If Mozilla can’t or doesn’t fix it – or requires users to upgrade to a new version to repair/replace their current version – then I guess that will be the end of Firefox for me. Its good there are so may other browsers out there.
In my case, not only has the extensions disabled, but they have been erased (including Mozilla’s own “Facebook Container”).
Found an immediate fix: It’s called Opera Web Browser…
I’m going to guess that one of those Google insiders that got a job at Mozilla had something to do with this. Imagine having a dominent role in advertisements and now imagine thousands of users unknowningly perusing the internet with disabled ad-blocking software. Profits!
Not to mention that the fix is to let Mozilla collect your data if you previously had it unchecked in privacy.
Iukami suggestion worked for me: adblock for firefox is now working
firefox 56.0.2 used, no “enable studies†option
all add-ons stoped working and no new can be installed
addon blocker or another like this needed
update firefox to latest version is not an option because of non supported addons
so what to expect? is there going to be a solution also for older firefox versions?
some of the addons working after about:debugging but not addon blocker
Yes there are in 56.0.2. Type “about:studies” on the URL bar and see what’s currently active. Then click “update preferences” (upper right)—-you will see the “Allow Firefox to Enable studies” is already checked as a sub-directory to “Allow Firefox to automatically send technical and interaction data to Mozilla”.
Currently, the Safe-Browsing-V4-1387651 (which is still deactivated) is under an Active study. But my Classic Theme Restorer is back (by flipping xpinstall.signatures.required to false in about:config) which is an absolute requirement to be on. All other add-ons and extensions still work.
> firefox 56.0.2 used, no “enable studies†option
all add-ons stoped working and no new can be installed
Use Waterfox. Waterfox isn’t affected by the bug mentioned in the article, as it doesn’t enforce extension signing. Waterfox is essentially Firefox 56 with all later security patches applied to it, up to and including the security patches of the most recent Firefox 66.
https://www.waterfox.net/
Here is a direct link to the hotfix that is otherwise only available through their Studies:
https://storage.googleapis.com/moz-fx-normandy-prod-addons/extensions/hotfix-update-xpi-intermediate%40mozilla.com-1.0.2-signed.xpi
Once you installed it your extensions will be re-enabled instantly.
Cheers Lukami, addons now working
I applied this and it just gave me a “this addon appears to be corrupt” message multiple times.
If this shit is not fixed tomorrow, I am switching to chromium.
Fuck that shit. How hard can it be to NOT break your fucking browser in 2019?
Thanks. Mozilla should not be allowed to disable addons!: How to disable this in user.js?
Great help okami. Only coupla clicks needed without any of those commands suggested by previous comments. TY
THANK YOU LUKAMI!! YOU ARE AWESOME!! EXTENSIONS FIXED!! POSTING IN CAPS SO THIS REPLY AND YOUR LINK GETS NOTICED BY OTHERS!!
Thanks for the hotfix. Enabling studies did nothing to me but that link did the job. Thanks again.
Thanks for the direct link. Mozilla is blocking the download but if one right clicks on the file and saves it to the desktop, then installing the xpi manually works like a charm as the extensions started working again. I have made a backup of my user profile so when those boneheads fix their stupid browser, I can revert back with less hassle by pasting the old folder back.
What a privacy nightmare!
Thank you! Firefox support indicated that their Studies hotfix push could take up to 6 hours. Downloaded and ran it and now the browser add-ons are working.
It helped to set xpinstall.signatures.required=false.
I am feeling lucky .no destruction on windows 8.1, already made a backup of profiles .
Lemme guess. The fix will require me to update to the latest version. I’m calling BS on this “bug”.
that is exactly what I argue as well! the update they will provide will likely require you to update to the latest version. it is another extortionist autocratic and despotic method of forcing people their way (or the highway)
I’m done with this!
The Tor Browser 8.0.8 (based on Firefox to 60.6.1esr) has the bug as well. NoScript stopped working, but not the other default T.B. extensions.
It is all right now, at least on my end.
Though I was a very early adopter & long a FF evangelist, “features” such as ‘xpinstall.signatures.required’ having no effect on FF is why I no longer recommend it to people. We see moz doing this type of nonsense time and time again; such as the upcoming hyperlink auditing control being removed from users (which btw, moz’s explanation is completely illogical, has no basis in a fact based world, and is thus, a mask for their actual motive ).
This latest cert expired issue has chewed up 2 hours of my day thus far. Though I tried all the hacks, they have done zero for addon restoration. This is due to my machine being setup for isolation & security. If not for the fact this occurred in a snap shot of a VM, it would have been enough motivation for me to switch to an alternative browser and forsake FF forever (though the day is young and a newly found hatred for FF is growing by the minute).
This is an extremely ugly, preventable MS like, total fkup by moz. They deserve exponentially every ounce of user wrath heaped on them for both incompetence of letting a cert expire and critically, for disabling the xpinstall.signatures.required setting.
Thanks for the post. Now I know why it happened with my extenxions.
Well, Opera times while waiting for a fix.
May the 4th destroy all evil empires of big data starting with f*book
https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2019/05/04/update-regarding-add-ons-in-firefox/
Best solution. Stop using Firefox.
Yeah, that extensions.json is a little tough to read, lol. But geany (editor) worked fine with line wrapping on and the find next function.
If we want to run unsigned extensions and addons, then that is up to us, not Mozilla!
I couldn’t agree more with you! This autocratic and despotic attitude of this company has to stop at once it’s worse enough that we have a deal with Microsoft
Mozilla just issued a fix. Go here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-ons-failing-install-firefox
John C., that’s not a “fix” I can take seriously. I’m not a Mozilla/Firefox basher, on the contrary, but this non-solution is something they should be ashamed of, as is the bug in question.
Worked in minutes on my machine….
waited hours before it even installed on mine. was already using another workaround for hours by then. what a joke.
oh wait, it worked ok for you so it must be for everyone else! case closed I guess
Why are you being sarcastic about my post? I only posted about a possible solution. I never claimed it would work for everybody. I’m not a Mozilla employer, I’m just an end user like almost everybody posting replies to this article. In fact, I never even said that it worked for me, even though it did on my W7 computer running the latest version of FF. And now, on this other, ancient XP SP3 computer running FF 52.8.1, several of my critical legacy extensions were disabled here too! And I don’t know of any fix that will work on it. You think *you’re* frustrated? I thought the problem was all over for me and now here I go again!
@John C.
about:config -> xpinstall.signatures.required -> Set it to false.
That will re-enable the deactivated add-ons.
“It may take up to six hours for the study to be applied to Firefox.”
oh my god they seriously think this is an acceptable solution, even if temporary, lmao. that reddit dev console ‘fix’ is waaaaay more reliable than what took them like half a day to come up with. embarrassing really.
I tried the suggested fixes and now none of the sites load. Everything’s fine on Vivaldi, but FireFox & WaterFox show black pages.
Man, I’ve tried to overlook all the nonsense that Mozilla has inflicted on its end users in recent years, but this is too much. I tried a fix of my own design, at first it worked, but it didn’t hold despite having turned xpinstall.signatures.required to false in about:config. If they don’t come up with a fix within 24 hours, I’m done with Firefox. Period. And even if they do fix this problem, all my UI changes are now gone (buttons in special locations mainly) and most likely won’t be restored.
Excuse me now, I’m going to find another browser to have on hand.
At this point it’s them. So they need to make a fix. It’s more likely because of a recent update. So instead of doing this just wait. Why? Because the manual changes you make now will get changed with the new update they’ll end up doing that will fix this. Even legit add ons are now working. So it’s all of them. Just wait.
*are not working
I don’t understand how this could happen on my Firefox 65 with all updates disabled, I have the policy in place to prevent updates, no studies or telemetry, and add-ons are not auto-updated. Yet., suddenly as I’m browsing, the addons just vanish? Ublock – dead, Stylus – dead, and others. So Mozilla can actually remote-kill extensions at will on any Firefox installation?
@Bill
No
Mozilla didn’t killed you addons remotely.
actually your browser killed the addons because their certificate just expired today because (the end date of certificates was today)
“In order to be able to provide this fix on short notice, we are using the Studies system. You can check if you have studies enabled by going to Firefox Preferences -> Privacy & Security -> Allow Firefox to install and run studies.
You can disable studies again after your add-ons have been re-enabled.”
FireFox tweet….it works….
Just got all my extensions back and working. Fiou!
I am finished with Mozilla. No more. I even uninstalled T’bird. These mainstream browsers are going to get less use because they become almost unusable. Opera won’t even work anymore.
My Quantum (in Win7-32) fixed itself up without any intervention on my part. Everything (ublock origin, avast online security, and FVD flash downloader) just reappeared. I missed the actual happening.
Unfortunately, my 52esr (in Vista Business 32) hasn’t yet fixed itself. I also have two XP computers using 52esr. If Mozilla are willing to fix 52esr, I’ll send them another donation.
This has me PISSED as a Mother Fucker right now. i launched Firefox and saw things Disappearing from my Toolbar AND Tabs Disappearing, because i’m using Multi Account Containers and Temporary Containers, and i don’t see a way to get them back from “Recently Closed Tabs”.
About 50 Fucking Tabs Closed and i’m gonna be PISSED if they don’t get recovered. i see people talking about “Bye Firefox”, i actually hope this hurts Mozilla, you don’t fuck shit up like this.
And without uBlock and uMatrix, your site Martin is acting weird, my CPU usage is high and i keep getting “Read ad.(something)” and Read Static(something) popping up in the bottom left and a few other things, and my refresh button keeps changing from a Circle to an X and back to a Circle. i guess i’ll open this article in another browser.
i hope Mozilla takes a hit on this, “IF” i don’t get my tabs back, which i don’t expect.
I lost my work when Firefox closed while I was doing something 6 hours ago, after restart all addon disabled, and remain disabled until now… what a sh*t show. very disappointing…
They need to give you a warning or something instead of closing down the browser. WTF!!
Looks like Fireofx really wants the last few remaining users to switch to Google Chrome.
When am I going to be able to reinstall AdBlock Plus on Firefox???
The ads are driving me mad.
Also have Coupert unistalled by Firefox.
“The issue can only be resolved on Mozilla’s end. The organization needs to renew the certificate or create a new one to resolve the issue.”
O-kay. So mighty Mozilla, which is holier-than-thou, which keeps telling us we don’t really need descriptions in our bookmarks, which keeps telling us they know better than us what we want in our browsers, which is so virtuous and does so much for the greater good of the world, including in areas completely unrelated to browsers and tech, well, Mozilla can’t even be relied upon to properly renew a blasted certificate which hangs everything together. And breaks everything for everybody if it’s not there.
I’m so glad I migrated to Vivaldi, and left that madhouse.
In the meantime, I got banned without a warning from Firefox subreddit, because I voiced my disagreement with their ban of a free speech extension.
Some day, maybe Mozilla will realize they have to choose between political activism and the tech business. Or maybe they never will.
@Martin
You left out what version. Please don’t assume everyone has auto update enabled.
Because I have no problems here on v.66.0.2 (I have updates disabled, Ill do it when “I” want)
Never fails, about an hour after posting here the bug hit me. I tried the “Edit extensions.js” fix and all my addons vanished completely. I also was unable to download any. It said check my internet connection :(
I updated to 66.0.3 and then hit the “refresh firefox” button. Then I reinstalled all my extensions and did all my config edits, and copied over my chrome folder (for custom css) and it’s all been working fine since.
Just now the bug hit my TOR browser.
Possible fix:
1. Tick the options of Firefox Data Collection and Use
http://imgbox.com/tGPpPftX
2. Restart firefox and wait for some minutes. The extensions will be enabled again.
Works for me.
Bye Firefox, hi Chromium!
“Open the extension-signing doors, Mozilla.”
“I’m sorry, user. I’m afraid I can’t do that. Extension security is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.”
You’ll remember what happened to HAL 9000…
1/ This webpage and user comments are GOLD, why doesn’t this exist at Mozilla.org ? 2/ Shame on you Mozilla for spoiling 2 hours of my life with this disaster! 3/ Solution is now simple: go to your preferences in FF. Turn on:
Firefox-gegevensverzameling en -gebruik (i suppose this is “Studies” in the English version of FF? Restart FF, eh voila… all your extensions are back again. phewww… what a day, now a drink and sugar.
Waited all I can, I just don’t know why Mozilla give a simple way to downgrade to the last working version while correcting the bug.
I tried to do it myself but wasn’t able to make the add-ons work again.
Now I’m using Waterfox, only 10 minutes to make all the add-ons to work again.
It would be very interesting to know how many people will stop to use firefox after that.
I’m certainly overreacting, but I felt like it was a treachery from firefox to disable without warning nor choice my add-ons.
Ok folks….The fix is simple until Firefox fixes the bug. Simply change your system clock on your computer back 2 days. This will allow you to download and install the addons you have, Some folks may have to remove the addons and then reinstall them. After you have reinstalled the addons, simply change the system date back to the correct day and the addons will work.
IceCat 60.6.1esr for Windows (unofficial) is not affected
Unfortunately the cut/paste into the website destroyed the python tabbing but the flow should be rather clear to pythonistas.
Turning on debugging worked for me. I am amazed at the so-called “fixes” people here came up with. I am not going to engage in all those typing gymnastics! I’ll use WaterFox or some other browser if necessary before I do that. WaterFox seems to be unaffected.
this is the first article i could find that helped clear this stuff up. thanks, ill just wait it out i guess
For those still struggling with this I have written a small python script for linux OSes that handles the process outlined by Anonymous at 8.59am:
—8<——————————————————————————————————
'''
Created on 4 May 2019
@author: frederic
Due to FF Fuck Up [1] to validate the installed extensions and add-ons we try
to edit the .mozilla/firefox//extensions.json :
Anonymous said on May 4, 2019 at 8:59 am
Reply
After about 6 hours, they seem to have a fix but still need verification.
The workaround that I like best requires careful manual editing of extensions.json
in the profile folder.
I don?t remember who suggested it first but it was likely on reddit.
Shut down Firefox
Open extensions.json
Rreplace all instances of ?appDisabled?: false to ?appDisabled?: true
Replace all instances of ?signedState?: -1 to ?signedState?: 2
Save and start browser
Disable and re-enable all extensions in about:addons
Hope they don?t break it again
However this appears to be a single line of >400k characters and gedit crashed on this;
[1] https://www.ghacks.net/2019/05/04/your-firefox-extensions-are-all-disabled-thats-a-bug/
”’
import glob
import json
import os
try:
FPATH = glob.glob(os.path.expanduser(
‘~/.mozilla/firefox/*.default/extensions.json’))[0]
except IndexError:
print(‘could not find the default profile extensions.json file’)
raise
with open(FPATH,’r’) as f:
a = json.load(f)
All = True # set to False if you only want to update the
# list of extensions below.
# if exts is an empty list and All is False the
# script will just print the addons / extentsions
# that were presumbably wrongly disabled by FF
#
# this output can be inspected and used to populate the
# list below
exts = [‘chrome-gnome-shell@gnome.org’,
‘belgiumeid@eid.belgium.be’,
‘qwantcomforfirefox@jetpack’,
‘zotero@chnm.gmu.edu’,
‘uBlock0@raymondhill.net’,
‘contact@lesspass.com’,
‘CookieAutoDelete@kennydo.com’,
‘https-everywhere@eff.org’
]
print(‘# of Addons: ‘, len(a[‘addons’]))
updated = 0
for addon in a[‘addons’]:
if addon[‘appDisabled’] and (addon[‘signedState’] == -1):
to_update = ‘-> ‘ if All or addon[‘id’] in exts else ”
print(“%3s %-45s %6r %6r%3d” % (
to_update,
addon[‘id’],
addon[‘appDisabled’],
addon[‘userDisabled’],
addon[‘signedState’])
)
if to_update:
addon[‘appDisabled’] = False
addon[‘userDisabled’] = True # we disable it already here so we
addon[‘signedState’] = 2 # just need to enable it in FF
updated += 1
print()
print(‘# of addons updated:’, updated)
if updated:
print(‘writing new extensions.json file’)
with open(FPATH, ‘w’) as f:
json.dump(a,f)
print()
print(‘Done.’)
—8<——————————————————————————————————
Although it worked for me without any issues I would recommend that you backup the extensions.json file first and use the script at your own risks and perils.
affected me finally. I miss opera 12.
Look, it’s not all bad. Without all my extensions re-captcha solving is a little bit improved :-)
Luckily on Waterfox no issue right now.
I’m a adult. 60 iterations in fact. I bitterly resent these ham fisted “policy” decisions by the Mozilla crew. It would be annoying but acceptable to endure the occasional nag screen but these individuals blocking extensions and the like (blocking swf, etc.) is just f*cking absurd. Pardon my French. Chrome is looking better and better. Anyway thank you for posting this interim fix (the about:config) solution. I *really* wish somebody would hack the code, fork the project and produce a version of Firefox for adults!!! Have a great day and thanks again. ~TAG, Staten Island.
@Thomas Altfather Good:
“I *really* wish somebody would hack the code, fork the project and produce a version of Firefox for adults!!!”
Somebody *has*: check out the Pale Moon and Waterfox projects.
Waterfox being statically linked allowed me to just tuck in it /usr/local (on slackware) and run it avoiding slackbuilds, etc. It took a little back and forth to get libflashplayer(so) and some xpi’s to work but it wasn’t too painful. Far less annoying than waking up to find my daily labours much more tedious due to mozilla deciding to disable my tools – for my own good. Thanks for the tip.
i installed old version of firefox such as 50.5 , 50.0 and 60.0 . still can not download addons , this makes me feel it’s intentional .
> “old version of firefox such as 50.5 , 50.0 and 60.0 . still can not download addons , this makes me feel it’s intentional”
Addons’ signature verification became mandatory starting from Firefox Stable v48.0 (released: 02 Aug 2016), with no user override available. That’s why Firefox Stable v50.0, v50.5 & v60.0 won’t accept addons signed with expired/ invalid certificates — which is the issue here.
The certificate used for many Firefox addons expired on 04 May 2019 00:09:46 hrs GMT/UTC (ie. 9 mins 46 secs after 04 May 2019 midnight GMT/UTC). The so-called “bug” is Mozilla’s forgetfulness (or some say, internal sabotage) in failing to renew the addons certificate before it expired.
By default, Firefox will carry out a check every 24 hours to verify that all your addons are validly signed, & would disable them if the certificate is expired or invalid. As such, exactly when a particular user gets hit by the current issue depends on his timezone, whether his PC’s time is accurately set, as well as the timestamp of his Firefox’s last check of the addons’ signatures.
To use unsigned addons, you need an even older version (at your risk, due to security concerns), or a non-Stable/Beta build, such as:
(A) Stable: v40.0 (11 Aug 2015) – v42.0 (03 Nov 2015):
=> FF warns if unsigned addons are installed, but doesn’t enforce rule
(B) Stable: v43.0 (15 Dec 2015) – v47.0 (07 Jun 2016):
• addons signing enforced in FF Stable & Beta, ie. unsigned/ expired/ invalid addons will be blocked by default
• user override available at about:config :
→ xpinstall.signatures.required = false
→ extensions.langpacks.signatures.required = false
(C) ESR: v52.0 (07 Mar 2017) – v60.0 (09 May 2018) to latest v60.6.1 (22 Mar 2019:
• addons signing enforced, ie. unsigned/ expired/ invalid addons will be blocked by default
• user override available — see (B) above
(D) Recent & latest Dev, Nightly & Android builds:
• addons signing enforced, ie. unsigned/ expired/ invalid addons will be blocked by default
• user override available — see (B) above
• user override pref might be removed from future Android versions
Same thing happened to me and then just just knew I should visit ghacks right away…. and there it is.
Damn it Moziila, you guys are starting to be like the shitty Micro$oft with Windows 10.
WTF.
No extension/add-on problem on Firefox 60 ESR for Linux, after a restart. Phew.!
Fyi, it’s impossible to surf certain websites without the Adblock Plus extension, ie ads popping up left and right.
Correction: ……. spoke too soon. Also gotten hit by the extension/add-on problem. Applied the above ghacks article’s fix to solve it, ie went to about:config and changed “xpinstall.signature.required” to false.
happened to me on PC AND on Android !
All my extension has been disabled
https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/certificate-issue-causing-add-ons-to-be-disabled-or-fail-to-install/39047/13
10:50 a.m. UTC / 01:50 a.m. PDT: We rolled-out a fix for release, beta and nightly users on Desktop. The fix will be automatically applied in the background within the next few hours, you don’t need to take active steps.
caitmuenster
Caitlin Neiman
Another way to prevent this from recurring if you have a backup of your profile (I have a script that backs my Firefox Profile up every day) is to add the following lines to your hosts file.
127.0.0.1 blocked.cdn.mozilla.net
127.0.0.1 blocklists.settings.services.mozilla.com
You can also go to about:config in Firefox (after you’ve restored from a backup) and search for blocklist. Then change the URL’s which Firefox searches for the blocklist data to some non-functional URl. Also change “extensions.blocklist.enabled” to FALSE.
I was not sure which of these would kill this insane shutdown of my favorite add-ons, so I did them all. It seems to be working so far. Wjen I just restored a backup profile from yesterday it took only about ten minutes for it to shut down my add-ons again.
I still use Firefox x64 version 56.0 because I hate the new one and the loss of all my favorite add-ons which are no longer supported in the new FF.
> I still use Firefox x64 version 56.0 because I hate the new one and the loss of all my favorite add-ons which are no longer supported in the new FF.
I always recommend Waterfox in such cases. It’s basically Firefox 56 with more recent security patches applied to it. Waterfox has all security fixes up to and including Firefox 66 included, while Firefox 56 doesn’t get any security updates since November 2017.
https://www.waterfox.net/
@Harro, sorry to burst your bubble but MS Edge is as bad as Chrome, if not worse, as far as privacy and tracking/spyware are concerned. It appears Firefox seems to be heading. that way too.
Restored my profile from backup, and made the key importance configuration json files read-only. I restored more than just extensions.json, because I wanted my toolbar arrangement back as well. Now it’s working fine. Hope they’ll fix it soon. Probably for most users it’ll be too late anyway…
It happened to me 15 minutes ago.
I have a solution which seems to work for me (need time maybe to confirm).
This solution works best if you had a backup of your profile.
It’s based on what I read above (forgot where, too many posts), but modified.
Explanations and files :
Disable Add-on Signing, zip file at https://mon-partage.fr/f/SS3hbLaw/
Rollback Rx is not a synchronization or backup program, but it takes snapshots of the system at regular intervals or on demand (more effectively replaces Windows system recovery).
Unfortunately, I only have 6 snapshots and the oldest date is 27/04.
In each of them, the profile of Firefox has disappeared and I wonder, after reflection, if finally this disappearance does not result from the recent installation of the addons of eladkarako and their sudden withdrawal).
This is only a hypothesis that would exonerate Mozilla on this point, especially since no one else seems to have experienced my problem.
@Belga, your mention of Elad Karako’s Firefox extensions triggered some uncertainty, got me thinking, not that it could explain your snapshot’s issue but for the extension’s very potential so to say so I checked Mozilla’s Blocked Add-ons at https://blocked.cdn.mozilla.net/ : none of Karako’s extensions in the list. Removed from AMO but not blocked. (I’m neither endorsing nor promoting, raw information only).
@ Tom
FYI, the snapshots are not incremental.
The program makes one at each reboot and I make one myself at each major change. They are automaticly deleted after a pre-determined time.
So something must have happened in Firefox before 27/04.
I thought about addons because it’s the only modification I made (on 25 or 26/4) to the programs.
I can’t imagine though that all these snapshots could only have been altered in the Firefox profile.
Anyway, the problem is solved with the script, but without explanation as to the causes!
As for Elad Karako’s extensions, they were lost to me in the case and are (for the time being) irrecoverable.
Thank you very much.
@Belga, I’m not a specialist but I pain to imagine how a backed-up file could ever be active. The code depends of an environment and when the environment is Firefox how could an extension be active once Firefox closed, be the extension within the user’s profile backed-up or not?
I continue to use Elad Karako’s ‘API-Killer-IndexedDB’, flawlessly on Firefox, it’s included therefor in my Firefox profile’s backups … From far I’d rather wonder if the culprit is not within the snapshot application itself but, frankly, no idea. Just my two cents : I avoid incremental backups, if this is how you’ve performed your snapshots than that could be included in the explanation. But you know better than I considering you know and use ‘Rollback Rx’
@ Tom
Seems to work fine on Win7x64 too!
When i tried to retrieve my profile at an earlier date with the help of Rollback Rx, I had to find that his directory was completely empty on my C:.
But the most curious thing is that it was empty (or was becoming empty) in snapshots of Rollback Rx that were several days old.
I finally had to decide to get it back from an image I made a fortnight ago.
Really curious, isn’t it ?!
@Belga, great to read it’s apprently a success on your side too. Nice script, but I’m not the author (ask Shiva above my skills with scripting!).
Regarding your backup, I’m afraid I have no clue concerning the ‘Rollback Rx’ behavior concerning your backed-up profile. I don’t know that application. Here I simply use ‘SyncBack SE’ for all my backups (except system) with dedicated rules, and my Firefox profile gets backed-up with a click. Side-note : this is one thing I’ve always loved with Firefox (one among many), the fact all one’s Firefox user data is maintained in one profile and moreover with the option to choose where to locate that profile. Really handy.
Good thing that, as you say, that you had a recent image including your FF profile.
Remember the movie “Tora, Tora, Tora”? I always have that in mind when I hesitate to start a backup (among the the big ones anyway) : “Backup, Backup, Backup” :=)
@Tom
It seems to work. Thanks.
Users who use Aris-t2/CustomCSSforFx like me have to copy the content in my_userChrome.css and enable (if not) in userChrome.css end line
@Shiva, great. No issue here up to now.
I should have included the following information in the zip package:
The disable-add-on-signing.uc.js file I propose is nothing but the disable-add-on-signing.js file found at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31952727/how-can-i-disable-signature-checking-for-firefox-add-ons/42403531#42403531
I’ve renamed .js to .uc.js because the protocol I use to run the script is -moz-binding (that in usercConfig.css) which refers to .uc.js files when the user over at stackoverflow.com uses the XML protocol which I find more complicated. With -moz-binding you need only that in userConfig.css and then you may add as many userChromeJS as you wish (all in the user’s profile/chrome folder). I currently have 12 userChromeJS scripts running smoothly to which I’ve added this Disable-add-on-signing.uc.js which seems to work nicely.
@Tom
Same here since last post. All extensions are enabled despite they are also listed in ‘Not supported’ section, but all working fine.
https://postimg.cc/Z99vQqnN
@Shiva, “All extensions are enabled despite they are also listed in ‘Not supported’ section, but all working fine.”
Now that’s interesting, I mean info as far as I’m concerned. What was your context when installing Disable-add-on-signing.uc.js : have you installed it (which I presume) once your add-ons immobilized by the issue or after having restored a “clean” profile?
Here as soon as I saw my add-ons fall like ripe fruits, I closed Firefox, restored my profile’s backup, installed Disable-add-on-signing.uc.js and launched Firefox, which must explain why I’m free as you of the bug consequence but without the ‘Not supported’ section. I was wondering how this script would make it for users running it on an affected profile. At least the add-ons are usable; I thought they’d have to be reinstalled as i mentioned in the zip file.
I forgot to mention that I was lucky enough to read this Ghacks article before meeting the storm, finding because mentioned by someone here above the script, modifying it as I mentioned and keeping it ready to use : when baby hurricane arrived, well, I just proceeded as above mentioned. I dare not imagine my face should I have been confronted to this bug when starting morning session without being aware (Martin, you deserve my finest brandy! ). I think I would have been rude within a conversation between the heavens and me :=)
@Tom
What was your context when installing Disable-add-on-signing.uc.js : have you installed it (which I presume) once your add-ons immobilized by the issue or after having restored a “clean” profile?
I always do a backup of the profile after some changes, but honestly I don’t remember if I also made a backup (too late) after reading this article. I’m only sure that while I was writing the first post “No issue here with Firefox and Waterfox” all add-ons have fallen like ripe fruits as you wrote, so I changed the post with a sarchastic comment. Probably the worse timing backup ever. Murphy’s law docet :-)
Not a big deal, but a big laugh with a bug in a perfect Windos 10 style. Hope that some people in the Firefox’ team wake up. I disagree with some hysterical comments I read in this article, but I’m pissed off for another reasons: time has passed and I still have to install Python to use ‘Open with’, missing API for ‘Tile Tab’ (no tiling with tabs) or FlashGot (still needs to install third party software with some add-ons to connect with external download manager and in any case no related choosing option when saving files); not to mention about the limited customization options of the interface despite they detroyed old related add-ons (thank’s god there is ArisCSS) and when I remember that with ThemeFontSC with two click I I could change all global font and zoom including icons and now I have this ‘big’ compact mode like as if I am blind (but they save ‘space’ with no status bar and no tab below bookbarks…) a curse starts in my minds. That’s a lot of Chardonnay under the bridge but no priorities for this little things that can improve usability; on the other hands we will have DNS over HTTPS. (I’m on a desktop PC whith DNS filters not a Smarthphone), no Livemark (and I don’t know what does it change in security if I have to install like 22.730 other users the related add-on) and so forth and so on.
I cannot get Classic Theme Restorer enabled. xpinstall.signatures.required is false, what gives here?
When I moved from XP to Win7, I took along a couple portable versions of Firefox. Did lots of tweaking (About:config) on my 52.9version…………….My Legacy 52.9 without updates is working just fine. My new one 66.xx is broken til the certificate issue is fixed. Long live old versions!
Newer is not always better!
The noscript addon is literally the only thing why I still use firefox. They’re lucky that I currently don’t know any other alternatives thus I’m just sitting and waiting for the fix (but I’m far from being patient, to be honest.) Yeah, I just love noscript that much…
I used to love NoScript, but then I found uMatrix. It is much more comprehensive, the only draw back is the lack of keyboard shortcuts.
Martin, why are you not highlighting the various workarounds that people have found? I’m a bit disappointed in your coverage of this critical issue.
Please forget my last reply. I believe you. Still, your remarks made me very angry. Glad you straightened it out.
Anything else ? Maybe a drink and some chips while Martin is doing the work ? How about a foot massage to make your hard life easier ?
Or to put it in other words: Mann, bist Du bekloppt !!!
Some people will bite the hand giving them good things for free, asking for more.
I’m sorry that you feel that way. I’m not a robot.
Martin I want to say a heartfelt Thank you to you! Your site was the first I went too when this happened.
I’m sorry Martin, I did not mean to insult you. I’m very grateful for the work you do. I just felt like there could have been more info, that’s all.
Let’s just call the browser Firefux and bin the bloody thing. Mozilla have been crapping on this for many years now.
Well, Mozilla managed to put a fix in place somehow. after a restart of FF 66.0.3 the add-ons just worked all of a sudden
Some one here said there is a version 66.0.4, but on the official channel https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/?q=Dutch,%20Nederlands, The Dutch as well as the US language version is still 66.0.3.
???
for wibdows.
add addon language switch to remove the problem until mozilla solves the problem.
https://addons.mozilla.org/fr/firefox/addon/languageswitch/
I had the same issue.
Thank you Very Much for the fix in the comments.
Mine work fine, I feel left out.
ESR 60.
Using 56.0.3, but nothing yet to get my Classic Firefox Restorer back. Changed signed to false in about:config, still natta. How can I get back the Classic Firefox Restorer?
I refuse to use Firefox 57 or higher.
Use Waterfox. Essentially Firefox 56 with more recent security patches applied to it. Has all secrity patches of Firefox up to the most recent Firefox 66.
https://www.waterfox.net/
Classic Theme Restorer works in Waterfox, I use it on a daily basis.
No problems here.I use palemoon and firefox on xenial puppy linux and no extensions have been disabled or removed.
if they dont fix it, I might as well go back to IE. I use fireFox because of the personal information protection addons, some that I even paid for.
This just happened to me tonight. My extensions suddenly lurched on me, and I found that Firefox disabled them all due to them being “unsupported.†I had to use the about:config nuclear option of disabling “xpinstall.signatures.required,” and that got them up and running again thankfully, but then Firefox was still insisting they were “unsupported†until I closed and restarted it. Now it says the extensions are hunky dory. Even still, they need to make sure things like this don’t happen again.
i have regular firefox 33.06 on 2 machines, both run pretty much 24/7 and i was asleep whenever this problem hit my browser, woke up to find the one in my linux vm with no addons…
the win7 64 bit machine has 64 bit firefox, was not affected by this problem.
the xubuntu 16.04 32 bit vm has 32 bit firefox which had EVERY addon disabled.
this bothers me… why would one install be affected and not the other?
the xpinstall.signatures.required=false option exists in both of my firefox installs here and worked to bring back the addons in my linux vm so my panic/headache is over for now, thanks guys!
While sitting here reading through the comments just now… I saw all my addon buttons pop back up on the tool bar and my screen changed to the custom dark theme I have from one of those addons. Whoohoo. Hopefully it stays that way.
May the 4th be with you!
I updated the article, Mozilla is rolling out a patch to all channels (ESR not mentioned) but it works only if you have Studies enabled.
Who doesn’t like a little Privacy Raping in the morning?
@Martin
I just noticed a few minutes ago my main profile received the hotfix at 8:50 am Mountain time which is weird because my default profile was never affected but my Test profile and Nightly eventually were. I was able to drag/drop the hotfix into my Test profile and in Nighlty, installed fine and is working in Nightly. I ran a script in the console for my Test profile so I’ll know tomorrow if it worked. Should be. You can decide if this post appears. :)
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1YpXUI_ABzaqq7TNJzBJ0O2-MfkOQjfFq
Sadly this patch is unavailable to me. Running Devuan linux, which is based off Debian, which disabled all the telemetry in their Firefox package, so you can’t even turn on the Studies. Just says “Data reporting is disabled for this build configuration”. Hope they fix it for real soon, as I find web browsing unbearable without being able to ad-block and control javascript.
I have studies enabled and it still isn’t working. (Firefox Quantum 67.0b16 on mac)
Hi all. I have noticed one thing: when you upgrade uBlock Origin in Firefox, update the filter lists, close Firefox, re-open Firefox and look at the filter lists, you have to update the filter lists again. It does not seem to hold the updates for some reason.
But with Waterfox this does not seem to be the case. Update uBlock Origin’s filter lists, close and re-open Waterfox, and the filter lists remain updated.
Just thought I would share that with everyone.
Open the browser console by hitting Ctrl/Command-Shift-J
Copy and paste the following code and hit enter to run it.
// Re-enable *all* extensions
async function set_addons_as_signed() {
Components.utils.import(“resource://gre/modules/addons/XPIDatabase.jsm”);
Components.utils.import(“resource://gre/modules/AddonManager.jsm”);
let addons = await XPIDatabase.getAddonList(a => true);
for (let addon of addons) {
// The add-on might have vanished, we’ll catch that on the next startup
if (!addon._sourceBundle.exists())
continue;
if( addon.signedState != AddonManager.SIGNEDSTATE_UNKNOWN )
continue;
addon.signedState = AddonManager.SIGNEDSTATE_NOT_REQUIRED;
AddonManagerPrivate.callAddonListeners(“onPropertyChanged”,
addon.wrapper,
[“signedState”]);
await XPIDatabase.updateAddonDisabledState(addon);
}
XPIDatabase.saveChanges();
}
set_addons_as_signed();
This fixed the Problem for me :-)
https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/bkcjoa/all_of_my_addons_got_disabled_and_they_are_all/
That’s the fix I used last night when it happened. It worked perfectly for me.
Thank you. Users need to have “devtools.chrome.enabled” set to true. As it turns out, it already was for me.
Shi* slips! I’ve tried many browsers & always came back to FF, I have at least 1000 tabs and 97% of the time it works well on my old Win 7 home 12gb PC from 2010. Thank goodness I backed up a session a few days ago, and I’d bet in a day or 2 it will be straightened out.
Thank You Martin Brinkmann, I sent you a PP donation also :)
U-block origin and others dont work anymore !
It’s totaly crasy. What is Firefox doing…it’s a joke! A lot of people are going to leave! It’s a very very very big mistake!
How can I save the tabs and load them to Chrome?
To re-enable all disabled non-system addons you can do the following.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19824410
LoL
I’m not denying that they exist but I rarely ever (I want to say never) experience any bugs, crashes, excessive resource use or video playback problems. But then, I do honestly feel for anyone with disabled addons! I’d probably be freaking too. Of course, I have profile backups and other browsers installed with FF my primary so I’ve got options.
I’m running Win7 Pro if that makes a difference. My addons have Always been set to update manually and on May 2nd I updated two FF profiles along with Nightly and everything is working fine. In FF and FF forks (Pale Moon, Waterfox) I update the addons once every month or so, almost all of my addons in FF were updated May 2, uBO being just one of my 14 installed addons that was updated.
I’m also wondering if the fact that I regularly, once a month or so, delete the cert9.db file (intermediate certificates) from my profiles helped with this bug or not. The cert9.db file is automatically recreated at browser startup and… it will be smaller. ;)
Well hell. :)
The addons in my FF Test Profile and also in Nightly just decided to go on vacation. My main FF default profile is fine. Easy fix in Nightly by changing “xpinstall.signatures.required” to false. In my Test profile I used the script posted by @Anonymous. You need to make sure “devtools.chrome.enabled” is set to true first.
Earlier I read that there is a fix being pushed out via “Studies”, before the main update. If you don’t use studies you can enable it then disable it after the fix is applied, which should be soon. That said, my Test profile already had Studies enabled and obviously has not received the fix. What a mess.
I just made a little contribution for your help in in understandig the last Firefox bug. It seems that Firefox is really willing to be thrown out of the market.
The better fix this right NOW….
That’s it. I’m done with Firefox. One fuck-up too many. Failure to renew a licence is such basic incompetence – they have lost the last bit of plot they ever had.
Same firefox problem. Looks like chrome is my new default.
I am glad this is just Mozilla problem and I dont need to reinstall my adons! Big thanks for You!
This one worked for me:
“Disable add-on signing check in Release (all) versions of Firefox”
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31952727/how-can-i-disable-signature-checking-for-firefox-add-ons/42403531#42403531
I think this will happen also with tor browser, to many people will be deanonymized
Genau das gleiche Problem – danke!
seems i’m not alone lol
Holy God, I fucking poor poster, all my bookmarks in the Group Speed Dial, not to mention the rest, a good start to the day, there is no place better, if this crap does not change, this browser is dead for me.
Sorry for my english …
LOOOOOOOOOL (instead to say FU…………K!!!!)
All my extensions!
And no new extensions can be installed!!!!
Are u kidding me????
good reason to leave Firefox!
Never mind, got my dates mixed up
This just hit me today, exactly one month after it hit everyone here… very strange. Not only did it disable all my extensions but deleted them as well. I was curious they are doing this to install backdoors for nation state actors.
Around the same time, before I noticed in fact, I ran Zemana anti malware and it removed 3 suspicious root certificates that were not listed as mozilla; reinstalled firefox in case I removed the firefox cert and this did not resolve the issue.
couldn’t we say @POTUS and his agencies :)
Nothing disabled here (Firefox 66.0.3 en-US official release) and uBlock Origin and RSSPreview are working as expected.
Maybe someone can try the following settings and report back:
lockPref(“extensions.getAddons.cache.enabled”, false);
lockPref(“extensions.ui.dictionary.hidden”, true);
lockPref(“extensions.ui.lastCategory”, “addons://list/extension”);
lockPref(“extensions.ui.locale.hidden”, true);
lockPref(“extensions.update.autoUpdateDefault”, false);
Blocked domains:
addons.acelb.sj.mozilla.com
amo.zlb.phx.mozilla.net
location.services.mozilla.com
push.services.mozilla.com
telemetry.mozilla.org
Hi all same thing happened to me found this fix https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJTeDW1L-sk until Firefox fix it cheers.
Bye-bye Firefox. Hello Chrome
fool
you want UNgoogled Chromium
Just like [99 on May 4, 2019 at 8:34 am], I run 66.0.3 x64 and my extensions all still work. And I’ve seen other people still have them working too.
Maybe this has to do whether you use Sync or not? I don’t.
ALL of my extensions are broken.
They are:
Adblock Plus
Dashlane
McAfee® WebAdvisor
True Keyâ„¢ by McAfee
User-Agent Switcher
This is really annoying. Hope it gets fixed soon.
It’s ridiculous read many users that after this problem want change their main browser.
How many times for example Photoshop, crash in some situations, the users in that case don’t change the editing program for a problem but wait simply the fix.
@happysurf,
Because Adobe Photoshop is a software for editing images, whereas an internet browser is a software that is commonly used on a daily basis by pretty much anyone with an internet connection, and for an immense variety of purposes many of which include sensitive information, personal or otherwise. Browsers are also how people typically communicate via email for example even though there are dedicated clients or mobile apps for that. A program (photoshop) that crashes in some specific scenarios is bad experience, sure, but is still for some users most of the time and only those who take specific actions.
If you create a problem due to your own incompetence that affects nearly all of your users… Do you see the difference? Note this isn’t the first time it happens. Also note, it is one thing to restrict the downloads of those extensions from their repositories, but to delete them from users computers as it happened to some?
Funny enough if you go to their blog their latest entry (April 30) has the following slogan: “With Great Code Comes Great Responsibility”
Maybe this is within the Yesterday WIN10 Update. I also run the latest Linux-Mint 19.1
nothing happen here…
it happened on my mac
Maybe greedy Mozilla Corp has no money to renew the Firefox extension signed certificate. *sarcasm*
.
Seems, selling annual subscriptions for security signed certificates is big business, eg imposition of https and TLS 1.2.
……. Eg for modern UEFI computers, M$’s proprietary Secure Boot feature requires other OS vendors to pay annual subscriptions for bootloader signed certificates, eg pay to Verisign – a subsidiary of M$, before their OS and bootloaders can be installed on the computers. Canonical Inc-Ubuntu has to pay about US$100 annually for the bootloader signed certificate.
TheOne
Andreas WagnerAdd-ons Technical Editor
1m
09:00 a.m. UTC/ 02:00 a.m. PST:: The team is still working on fixing and testing.
it disable all addons , it don’t allow you download , and it blame it on your internet connection
caitmuenster
Caitlin Neiman
3h
11:12 p.m. PST: The team is currently testing a fix for this issue. In the meantime, signing of new extensions is disabled until the fix is in place.
firefox 66.0.4 fixed the issue
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/candidates/66.0.4-candidates/build1/win64/en-US/Firefox%20Setup%2066.0.4.exe
It’s now build3:
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/candidates/66.0.4-candidates/build3/win64/en-US/Firefox%20Setup%2066.0.4.exe
It worked! Thanks to you and not much to Firefox smh.
Works, thanks!
Nah, mixed results on that muh dude.
I was actually considering backing up my old install (I’m on Vivaldi now, but I mean FF which is useless to me) and putting profile and esr on offsite storage, then trying to upgrade this BS Firefox, knowing I’d potentially lose a few add-ons (a few that have gone downhill, or became adware, so I never updated them)… but for all that, I can’t find ONE absolute “this will work” version of FF that doesn’t have someone in comments or tweets saying it’s a fail.
Look at Twitter. What an epic disaster. I’m just going to do nothing and let some time pass, and try to get comfy in Vivaldi for a while. (It works, it’s secure enough, but mostly) I’m not sure why Mozilla can’t fix this problem. I even saw someone say they got a fix, and the fix stopped working so they were back on moz asking questions.
I don’t like this.
(Of course a Twitter account said her FF extensions “stopped”, so she opened a chromium browser and “same addons” didn’t work either, so Twitter won’t be useful much longer. I guess it’s TRENDING now. rme)
The link doesn’t work for me: 404 error.
Same :(
Becuase firefox automatically switches to ftp protocol. Try right click the link and “Save As”.
now says ‘404 flie not found’
This works well for me… thanks for the helpful info
Bye bye Firefox.
Had enough of you bull now!
Enough is enough.
I’m not affected by this issue, all add-ons are still enabled and works fine!
Of course I won’t complain, but this is a bit strange, isn’t it ?
How could this be possible ?
I’m on Firefox 66.0.3 32 bits
I talked too early.
Finally all were disabled. Looks it was just a matter of time to be ‘affected’.
I really don’t understand all insignificant comments like “FF is crap” “Im done with FF” and other things like that. 10 hours ago everything worked fine, just give developers some little time to solve this bug
Well,it’s not like this is the first fuck up,anyway,it’s more like a multitude of them that added up with time and excuse me,this is a big one and there’s no excuse for such a fuck up,millions of people,thousands of institutions lost their work just because Mozilla forgot about cert expiration,give me a break with the “devs need more time”routine!
Using portable Lawlietfox-63.0.3-1-win32-vc15-autopgo-sse2 no problem with addons, but haven’t checked my Portable Apps Firefox current and ESR versions as yet.
Shame on you Mozilla!!!!
Well at least there’s a workaround, though it takes a lot of work.
Not the first time I’ve been extremity angry at Firefox. On previous occasions addon were intentionally disabled. Gah, some of these were the only things keeping me using social media like Facebook.
I better go edit a json file. :(
Its not only effecting the above extensions, it’s also effecting these
1-Click YouTube Video Downloader
Adblock Plus – free ad blocker
LastPass: Free Password Manager
New Tab Override
Webmail Ad Blocker
Video DownloadHelper
NoScript
Easy Youtube Video Downloader Express
1-Click YouTube Video Downloader
I am also getting a “Download failed. Check you connection” when you try to add any add-on extension to firefox.
My xpinstall.signature.required was already set to false and my current extension are still disabled.
1-Click YouTube Video Downloader
Adblock Plus – free ad blocker
LastPass: Free Password Manager
New Tab Override
Webmail Ad Blocker
Video DownloadHelper
NoScript
Easy Youtube Video Downloader Express
1-Click YouTube Video Downloader
Funny enough I was able to install New Tab Home Page after removing New Tab Override reflexively when I saw all my addons were disabled. Ublock, Default Bookmarks…nothing else will install. Glad it’s just a bug. Creeped me out for a second
this is hilarious. i know why i disabled signing a long time ago.
the sky has fallen? browser decision time?
May the 4th be with you!
& also with ewe
This smells like self sabotage…how can someone forget about a cert expiration? It also happened some days after the “Firefox market share has increased” announcement.
I bet this oopsie will be the final nail in Firefox’s coffin… let’s hope the new Edge won’t be a pos because no way I’ll use Google’s spyware.
The dev Edge is great. I’m just hoping they don’t mess it up.
I just got this about an hour ago….been all over the place. Restarting, disabling…..reinstalling – looking for older versions. AAARG!!!! Even “attempted” to use Chrome – Yuck
I want my Ad Blockers…………………………………………………………………………………….
Okay Here is how to get adblockers back until firefox is fixed!
install the firefox ad-on “Chrome Store Foxified” this https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/chrome-store-foxified/ one is not broken! Then with the Chrome Store Foxified you can install adblock plus with the chrome store link:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock-plus/cfhdojbkjhnklbpkdaibdccddilifddb/RK%3D2/RS%3DqVIegb1NDcbehitUabtpLgec06I-
This worked for me I also used the option to install adblcok unsigned. This step may not be needed. the adblock icon will not show but ad’s will be blocked!
this bugs sucks well till they get it fixed i will be using chrome. good job firefox “claps and goes and downloads chrome.”
This is the last straw,I stood with Firefox after many fuck ups,but this one takes the cake,this is what happens when you let incapable political driven people to run a product that needs good coders,I can’t take Mozilla’s garbage anymore,fuck ’em!(same comment on Dissenter too)
I tried man…..we haven’t much choice. Chrome (Damn), Internet Destroyer (Ouch) :-)
This way to disable addon sign checking works for me: https://stackoverflow.com/a/42403531
But for some reasons some addons can not be installed. I think it is because of warnings in their manifest.json
Oh, and you have to re-install all addon to enable theme.
im done with firefox!
like they care
Losing my adblock addon made many sites unusable so followed the Firefox suggestion of setting xpinstall.signatures to false – it didn’t work for me.
Then followed the adblock guide to reinstalling and completely removed it from Firefox before trying to reinstall – unfortunately is completely impossible to install any addons at the moment as all I get is “Download failed please check your connection”
At that point did a search and found this site and you’ve saved me from wasting any more time on the problem as I’ll now switch to a different browser until Firefox resolve the issue – thanks!
“set the preference xpinstall.signatures.required to false on about:config”
Yes. Did this now. (Firefox for Linux 66.0.3)
Phew! My add-ons are back. Can’t login anywhere without LastPass and don’t want to switch browser right now.
The message changed from “could not be verified for use in Firefox and has been disabled” to “could not be verified for use in Firefox. Proceed with caution”.
I’m on Ubuntu/Linux 18.04 with FF 66.0.3 (64-bit).
The solution was as suggested by WP, thanks!
“set the preference xpinstall.signatures.required to false on about:configâ€
One day old system backup should help? Any better ideas, pls?
I am downloading waterfox.
Waterfox is working fine, during instalaltion it collected all adds and settings from Firefox :)
Really? Wow, that settles it for me to try Waterfox.
Downloading now…
(I don’t have time to get accustomed to a new browser like Vivaldi, Brave etc now, so it had to be sth like FF56’s UI, and Waterfox 56.2.8 provides that)
Heelloo0 WaterFoxy! It’s a whole new feeling. Successfully imported:
History, Bookmarks, Themes, Add-ons, Themes, Plug-ins, Profile Data, Passwords, Saved Form History, Cookies – the full Monty!
Had to restart computer b4 the Add-ons became unblocked, everything worked like a charm, it even seems mucho faster. I’m not kidding!
Came here as soon as i got the bug, thank you for the quick news Martin.
xpinstall.signatures.required didn’t solve the problem.
Waiting for a quick fix mozilla !
about:config app.update.lastUpdateTime.xpi-signature-verification 0
it work’s for me
Making this mistake once is carelessness, twice is incompetence. Not having a way for the user to override and load the extensions anyway is arrogance. Trouble is that Chrome is little better as it doesn’t allow proper customisation of the UI either. Why couldn’t they leave things alone when they had them working?
i’am done with mozilla, going back to chrome base browser.
here is a temporary solution:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/software/firefox-addons-being-disabled-due-to-an-expired-certificate/#cid11952
https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/certificate-issue-causing-add-ons-to-be-disabled-or-fail-to-install/39047
75% of my extensions killed a few hours ago, on FF Mac. Password manager, Facebook Container, etc., etc., etc. Found no news on it until this article. So now I at least know it’s not on my end. Thanks for the info.
how odd. my windows firefox addons are still working (haven’t closed and reopened it yet), but the linux firefox ones in virtual machine croaked it.. ok.. so i closed and reopened the ones in the vm. that’s probably the difference?
… so.. don’t close your browsers if it’s working ok and you might be fine.
even stranger… loaded up the vm mint ff… turned on studies and got all 3 studies and addons updated right away… while the win10 one still just sitting around… with addons disabled
i was going to say i shutdown this morning with it still working and booted up just now with it still working…
the addons got promptly disabled when i was about to post…
turned on the studies thing… addons not updating yet.. so…. eh?
right… the correct studies not applied yet… only got the 2 shown as completed in their blog pic..
they’ve been f-ing with extensions the whole time non stop. Initially there was constantly versions conflicts and extensions were disabled, then they disabled old extensions completely. This was actually enough for me so I dumped FF completely and switched to the waterfox. Waterfax can be dl as an appimage and started firejailed.
This is not a bug! This is how certificates are designed to work. You let one expire and everything that it certifies can no longer be trusted and should fail. Their mistake is only that they should have renewed it a few weeks ago so this wouldn’t happen.
No, Trevor. Public key infrastructure designed to update certificates without updating the software. Certificates and software are separate things, they have different life cycles.
How can I update expired Firefox certificate without updating Firefox?
This is not totally sound, in my opinion.
1) Unless the code signing certificate is explicitly revoked, because a private key is compromised, the driving software should only check that the package *was* validly signed at the time-of-its-signing.
2a) It would still be great to warn users when this situation occurs and 2b) the package should be re-signed using current certificates as soon as possible.
That practice would have made this Firefox blunder much less drastic.
As a real-world use-case, consider many Eclipse IDE packages. Eclipse performs 1 and 2a great, but fails bad at 2b. Certificates that expired way back in 2015 still exist, the packages were signed for them prior to expiration, and the signatures are still valid. Yet, their ecosystem does not seem very concerned about re-signing (Overhead? Technical reasons? I’m not real sure.) This requires an additional step for the user to perform when installing these packages: verifying/accepting the old certificate as still valid.
You are right, but you’re also wrong. This is the basic flaw of all software these days. It’s all tied to the internet and the companies running it. In 10 years I might still want to use a piece of software, but I am no longer able to, no longer free to do so. We’re no longer master of our own property.
It amazes me that the ‘beacon of capitalism’ called the USA is now foisting these changes, and the cloud and other idiocies onto the world, undermining, no abolishing, the very foundation of capitalism: the right to private property. And replacing it with something akin to communism. You don’t own anything, the state does. Except replace state here with American multinational.
Even more baffling is that users/consumers are accepting this without question. No-one buys CDs anymore, they all stream. Everyone stays with Microsoft, even if they no longer have control over their PCs. Etc.
Welcome to the brave new dystopia.
@Baka Kafka
You not owning anything and multinationals owning everything is not communism, it’s the unavoidable essence of capitalism.
Not really, suggest you read more about the interpretation of capitalism. But thanks for pointing out that now basically capitalism and communism are the same kind of dictatorship.
This is a complete disaster! Lastpass, Ahrefs, builtwith, Link Redirect Trace, Measure-it, Fontfinder, Nofollow, SEO extension, Wappalyzer and Wordcount extensions are all affected.
I tried adjusting the xpinstall file, but that didn’t help.
This makes NOT wanna use Firefox. What are they thinking? It’s my work platform, they just destroyed.
Firefox: GET WORKING ON IT – NOW!!!
Can’t get the path to post correctly and wanted to get this up quickly in case it helped others, so here’s the original link to the temporary solution:
https://old.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/bkfy5k/as_of_1200_am_utc_nearly_all_firefox_extensions/emgqizx/?context=2
Firing CEO for expressing his marriage views, removing Gab Dissenter from the extensions store along with Google Chrome, and now this? Moving to Brave seems like a nice option now…
Completely agree. To me a web browser is – only that – a tool to display web pages – as efficiently as possible. Don’t care much for world domination, Pockets, Sync and all the other stuff. And especially i don’t want a web browser that tries to decide which extensions I should use or not.
For ages immemorial, people doing business understood they had to shut up about politics. For an obvious reason. If you sell dustbins, you want to sell them to everybody. A sizeable chunk of whom are bound to have different political inclinations from yours. So you don’t want to rub them up the wrong way.
And anyway, how good are you at politics ? You’re supposed to be good at making and selling dustbins. An entirely different skill set.
Now Mozilla tells us : we want to sell you the best browser in the world, but we also want to sell you our politics, and if you think they are not the best in the world, you’re an absolute moron and a “hater”.
Just imagine how that would work if you actually had to pay for Firefox, instead of Mozilla getting their revenue from indirect means.
Then watch Mozilla ruin, day after day, a perfectly good product. So they aren’t even good at making dustbins — sorry, browsers.
And you’d want us to be happy and joyful and grateful towards Mozilla ?
Actually the CEO resigned after showing his hatred towards homosexuals was an amazing move and brought me back to Firefox as I left due to that.
Almost every time somebody has an opinion other than the mainstream that person becomes a hater. A dangerous and silly way of prohibitting different views. But I am not surprised. The jesters are blindly following their one and only Court Jester.
Hatred towards homosexuals? Wow.
@sebas If you donate money to an organization that actively campaigns against an entire group of people’s legal rights, seems like hatred to me.
You have that frame whereby everyone who for good reason is against gay marriage, is a hatrist. Eich by no means is. You do have an intolerant and fanatical attitude towards him, insulting him, based on lies. Pure lies.
You do not accept people’s religious and personal freedoms within the given democratic laws. Do you even understand the enormous and very dangerous consequences of that? Who will be next victims because of that?
Who is spreading hate here then? It is you.
@ Jon
“If you donate money to an organization that actively campaigns against an entire group of people’s legal rights, seems like hatred to me.”
Sorry, but this is absurd.
1. Homosexuals don’t have the “legal right” to marry. The whole issue at stake was a referendum, whereby the people (meaning all citizens, not only a tiny-weeny minority of them) would decide if a new legal right was to be given to a (tiny-weeny) category of people.
This called, ugh, democracy. People voting for decisions, you know.
2. Voting for or against something is not called “hatred”.
3. Not voting for things you yourself like is not “hatred”. Not being in agreement with a certain political opinion is not “hatred”. It’s called democracy. It’s called freedom. You might want to read up on the concept.
4. As soon as you get past the age, say, of 4, you normally learn that you cannot always have things the way you want. Other people want other things, there’s this small thing called “reality”, none of that means mummy does not like you anymore, or, indeed, that she “hates” you. Those are just the facts of life. It seems Mozilla has not grown past that stage.
Look in the mirror, you hateful Religious BIGOT. Why do you hate heterosexuals so much? Expressing one’s belief in marriage being between one man and one woman is ‘hatred” towards homosexuals? Do you hate men who “love” underage boys?
@JP Pedophilia is not the same as homosexuality – relationships with underage people is already illegal. Children cannot legally consent, Animals cannot legally consent. Those with mental disabilities cannot legally consent. Two (or more) adults in a relationship though is none of your business. Last I checked, tax-paying adult citizens have the full legal rights to consent to do what they want with each other on their own time.
@Jon, in your world only YOUR opinion is valid? How do you know, for a fact, that a dog is unable to consent to sex with it’s human “owner”? Or may want to marry it’s “master”? Because you say so? Polygamy is ok in your book too. How about incest, if the Father/Mother “consent” along with their son(s) or daughter(s)? None of your business, right? And in your tiny little closed mind there are NO married people “with mental disabilities”? What planet are you from, Gaystapo, where thugs run roughshod over anyone that has a different viewpoint than your twisted logic? And why do you exclude NON-taxpayers and NON-citizens from your imaginary “legal rights” to do whatever they want with each other? Are you in favor of lowering the age of “consent to 13 years old, like Mexico? NAMBLA (North American Man Boy Love Assoc.) gives to the Democrat party, and Speaker Pelosi ACCEPTS their donatiions. That’s fine by you, too, right?
If you want to stop using every product of which, in the production process, someone has been involved who is not 100% aligned with your political and ethical views, you will find there is very little left to sustain your luxurious life.
@Sangie Actually, the CEO resigned due to hyped-up hatred of his personal opinion. It was all about ‘political correctness’ and bigotry (intolerance toward those who hold different opinions from oneself) against him for having a different world view than you.
Uh, no, “Sangie,†actually, founder and CEO Brendan Eich was FORCED OUT via forced resignation by Mozilla for freely expressing his democratically-guaranteed and Constitutionally-protected rights of free speech when Mozilla found out that six years earlier he had made a $1,000 donation to a campaign that said that marriage is between a man and a woman. That does not equate to “hatred toward homosexuals.†If you’re going to comment here don’t lie about what really happened or distort or mislead.
And this was not even actually about homosexuals or marriage–it was about the principle of someone forcibly losing their job because of expressing their rights. I’m a liberal/left guy and I will always defend the right to free speech, like if Nazis want to march, etc. I might disagree with their specific views vehemently, but people’s right to free speech must always be protected.
You don’t even understand what “free-speech” means. It ONLY means that the GOVERNMENT can’t punish you for the things you say. In the private sphere, under which Mozilla operates, there is NO protection from repercussions of a persons “free-speech.”
People are so f’ing stupid these days.
I use PaleMoon and they only disable NoScript. Which Mozilla queer disabled these add-ons? He should be fired like Eich. Keep him away from the Boy Scouts.
@ Anonymous
I believe Mozilla co-founder and CEO Brendan Eich was pushed out by the liberal wing of Mozilladotorg who supported same-sex marriage. It was then a very hot button topic. He should have ignored them and stayed.
Seems, Firefox has gone bad since his departure in 2014, ie taken over by the pushy liberal progressives.
The US Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in 2015.
Why do you keep crowing about free speech when that was never the issue. The CEO of a giant company said something, a LOT of people responded, and he left because he couldn’t take the heat. Last I checked, everyone else also had the right to free speech. Do people who disagree with what he did/said not get to express themselves, through their own words (disagreement) or actions (boycott)? They do. That’s what happens when you open your mouth in the real world: people react. Nobody has to sit their and just f*cking take it.
And yes, donating money to a campaign that actively tries to aid in removing marriage rights for gay people is hatred. It’s discrimination, it perpetuates horrible stereotypes, it promotes inequality. Sorry you don’t understand that. I guess defending freedom of speech violations that don’t exist is more important to you than fighting against prejudice. We all have our priorities, I guess.
It seems the extensions path was somehow changed after I posted. This is what it said on Reddit Firefox, and it worked for me: C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\.default\extensions
The sad thing is that I thought I had a virus and reinstalled a system backup because of this extension fiasco and the fact that my computer mysteriously rebooted while I was away. I wish Mozilla would leave things alone.
I understand that bugs happen, even big ones. I can live with that. BUT, my MAIN issue with all of this is the idea that Mozilla can arbitrarily decided that I CANNOT USE MY EXTENSIONS ON MY COMPUTER!!!!! HOW DARE THEY presume authority over what I CAN RUN!!! There should at the very least be a switch in advanced to enable all extensions no matter what the risk, perhaps display a warning with “ARE YOU SURE, THIS IS NOT SAFE”. But to just POOF, disable them all without asking me if that is okay makes me blind raging FURIOUS! Don’t treat me like an idiot who can’t make his own decisions, I am not a kid!
I concur, why does it even check signatures of already-installed extensions? And how can a “certificate issue” take them well over 8 hours (and counting) to fix?
In the future, I’ll be forced to see if those checks can be disabled altogether.
I just encountered that problem and
it looks like it has been 24 hours known. And the quickfixes suggested here all don’t work for me. great.
You’re right… that’s even worse than the “certificate bug”
Firefox 66.0.3. (64 Bit)
None of my 21 extensions – including uBlock Origin (uBlock0@raymondhill.net) – are affected.
I can confirm the “Download failed. Please check your connection” error.
Update
The bug finally hit me this morning at around 8 am
[CEST – Central European Summer Time (UTC Offset: UTC +2)]and disabled all extensions. This delay may be explained because of the different time zones.The fix, provided at Mozilla Add-ons Blog,
Update Regarding Add-ons in Firefox
solved the issue in less than a minute and the sunny-side is up again ♪
Time for Going Up The Country …
Ciao Bello
I agree. I set xpinstall.signatures.required to false in about:config. I didn’t even need to restart on ESR 60 – Bang! It worked!
I just got this error too! Thanks for posting so I don’t panic thinking I’m the only one!
whelp, I’m moving to a different browser. Ublock is probably one of the most important if not the most important thing that I need in a browser. I also had a bunch of other apps that were absolutely necessary to browse safely. Firefox just disabled every single one of them… I’m done with this browser now…
I’ve been wanting to try “Brave Browser”. Now is a good time. Goodby FF.
Today I had this very problem occur to me, I am getting a check your connection message and all add-on’s, extensions and themes will not load.
This really messes me up! I know nothing about coding to fix things, I am a simple computer peasant. So I am at the mercy of the bug that is causing this.
I need the email notifier to work, and am screwed every which way. I hope Mozilla gets this fixed soon, as I have all of my important information connected with firefox but might need to leave intermittently and use Chrome in order to do my work, as I am a virtual assistant.
disable the Firefox add-on signing requirement doent work help , how can i get my addon back up and running
Follow Martin and Hy’s recommendation to set the xpinstall.signatures.required flag to false in about:config and then goto the tools/addons/extension option click the gear on the right(tools for all addons) select debug addons and load temporary addon and manually load all your xpi addons you have in your \Users\yourloginusername\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\your firefox profile here\extensions.
You’ll probably need to load the addons everytime you reopen firefox until they fix it.
Firefox doesn’t have any professional developers left just hackers that create Spaghetti code. It use to be user oriented but now has become borg and dictates to users how they must user their browser.
I am Spoonerus of Borg.
Futility is resistant.
Your ass will be laminated.
;-) (and more on-point than might appear at first blush!)
You get the point.
I’m sure they will fix it quickly. Catastrophizing doesn’t much help guys
I agree. I set xpinstall.signatures.required to false in about:config. I didn’t even need to restart on ESR 60 – Bang! It worked!
Works like a charm, thanks!
Yup! Worked for me too. Cheers.
I have 100% all extensions disabled. Firefox has been playing up somethign awful the past month or so. I’ve kinda had enough of this browser. Time for a new one. Bye firefox.
my solution, i hope it helps others, for linux users
make hidden files and folders visible
create a user.js in /home/your-username/.mozilla/firefox/your-profile-folder
and type in the user.js:
user_pref(“xpinstall.signatures.required”, false);
user_pref(“extensions.blocklist.detailsURL”, “”);
user_pref(“extensions.blocklist.enabled”, false);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.blockedURIs.enabled”, false);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.downloads.enabled”, false);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.block_dangerous”, false);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.block_dangerous_host”, false);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.block_potentially_unwanted”, false);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.block_uncommon”, false);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.enabled”, false);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.url”, ” “);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.malware.enabled”, false);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.phishing.enabled”, false);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.advisoryName”, “”);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.advisoryURL”, “”);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.gethashURL”, “”);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.lists”, “”);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.pver”, “”);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.reportMalwareMistakeURL”, “”);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.reportPhishMistakeURL”, “”);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.reportURL”, “”);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.updateURL”, “”);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.advisoryName”, “”);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.advisoryURL”, “”);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.dataSharingURL”, “”);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.gethashURL”, “”);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.lists”, “”);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.pver”, “0”);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.reportMalwareMistakeURL”, “”);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.reportPhishMistakeURL”, “”);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.reportURL”, “”);
user_pref(“browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.updateURL”, “”);
save your user.js
go to the folder where the user.js file is located (home/your-username/.mozilla/firefox/your-profile-folder
type: sudo chattr +i prefs.js user.js
Only the first preference user_pref(“xpinstall.signatures.requiredâ€, false); is relevant here — and it only helps if the version of Firefox allows bypassing addon signatures (unbranded, ESR, Dev, Nightly).
This is a complete and total desaster for Firefox. Can’t imagine the damage they have created to some users. Again FF shows impressive incompetence in planing and implementation. Firefox and Windows = Brothers in arms.
Thanks for this quick news as I was wondering if I got a virus hit.
Firefox then was filled with tracking cookies to the brim – and had to us SuperAntispyware to delete quickly. Mozilla better fix this quick or will have to force myself using Chrome! At least all the Addons still working there.
Thanks Ghacks for the quick news.
Thank you so much Martin !
This problem had been driving me crazy for a few hours tonight…and I was feeling really bad and thinking about jumping ship…
Firefox just foxed themselves , nice job , u wont recover from this morons
This is just what happens when power users are ignored and everything caters to the lowest common denominator of ‘dumb & dumber’.
It had been pointed out to Mozilla numerous times that forcefully removing features and user choice is not a good policy and would drive people away, because those (features + choice) were THE major reasons why one would continue using the browser rather than moving to Chrome.
If choice had been preserved, then this clusterf*ck could have easily been bypassed until it is sorted.
As it is now, apart from installing the dev version of the browser, the problem is not fixable at the advanced users’ end.
I suspect this will only accelerate the user exodus.
The main reason firefox has been my primary browser all these years is because of choice and flexibility. Seriously, the average user has 0 (ZERO) interest in firefox. They either use the default browser in whatever OS they are using or they install Chrome. Firefox doesn’t even rate a mention unless some IT guy installs it for them.
And yet they seem determined to drive away the very user that is their very core.
I just nearly uninstalled firefox. I have 2 things that I cannot not use as addons. NoScript and my password manager. I use the other odd addon, like right click copy/paste enablers for idiot websites that disable pasting passwords.
When I saw this today, and that they have deliberately prevented re-enabling. I poked for a bit and was about to write off firefox completely.
—
hmmm … if I click post and haven’t consented to terms, click the agree button and post I get told I am posting comments too quickly.
Read the thread on HN, where a mozilla employee speaks about the working atmosphere at mozilla:
“Watch videos of past Mozilla All Hands meetings. You see the questions asked, you see the leaders dodge, and you see that soon after the askers are gone and leaders say- you have nothing to be afraid of, you don’t need to ask questions anonymously. “Executives†at 1000 person Mozilla are so distant from the workers, and middle managers listen to executives, not staff. It is so sad because Mozilla staff are smart, caring people who love the web, but they are powerless and afraid in the org today.”
The leadership has created an atmosphere of fear, people who speak out disappear. (in the sense of being fired).
Honestly even the employees hate what happens to them, but it seems we don’t have a lobby or a way of making the leadership accountable. So sad. They need to lose 80% of their revenue before they get humble again.
WOW.
Also just read that Mozilla is by now a >$500M revenue corporation…
Hmmm…
Mozilla, You are firing your 10% user populations to chrome.
F.X.X.K YOU.
That happens you know, it’ll be corrected soon.
Chrome is not better on that side if you want my opinion.
Eh, I would argue that Chrome actually is better on that side.
But worse on many others….
I jest. Well, anyway this issue is kind of weird for me. My installed version got affected by this bug but my portable ones is fine and I’ve been using it since then.
Firefox is garbage anymore :(
I didn’t see this at all until I opened up a new profile. It’s a profile that I use just for gmail, nothing else: no extensions, no about:config tweaks – it’s “new car smell” FF. It was weird to see this popup while I was composing an email because I knew I didn’t have any extensions installed.
When I went back to my default profile (loaded with privacy-enhancing add-ons, config tweaks), I expected to see the same warning – nothing happened at all.
This temporary fix worked for me in FF stable:
Set the preference xpinstall.signatures.required to false as Martin suggests above, then go to about:debugging. Check the box to enable add-on debugging. Then click Load Temporary Add-On. Browse to your Firefox profile in appdata:
C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\.default\extensions
In the extensions folder there are .xpi files, those are your extensions that you had. Load each one and don’t close Firefox until they fix this.
[copied from Reddit Firefox user feanturi]
Why is it that the onine community can discover a fix /workaround
So much quicker than the so called programmers at Mozilla?
yep all my extensions disabled, your workaround fixed it for the time being … big thanks
I tried this and got the message that the extension couldn’t be loaded because the file appears to be corrupt.
Thank you, this worked like a charm!
Thanks Hy,
That was the solution that worked for me.
I did the .json and the about.config solution but that didn’t work.
The about:debugging did it for me.
Nice workaround!
Thanks very much for these instructions!!!!! They worked; I had a transaction that lives depended on that had to happen today only to witness Firefox chew up and spit out my LastPass extension like garbage. Wow. What a shock that was.
My goodness, absolutely saved my day!!
Gosh, I hope Mozilla fixes this bug soon.
Thanks again!,
Signed: Relieved.
Man, and I thought I’ve had probs cos of FFox.
(Had ~5 diff versions of FF installed during the last few weeks, only to spend several hours on the browser now again, but nothing as stressful as that, thankfully)
Thankyou :)
and for those of you who have loads installed but only worried about adblock
my extension id was jid1-NIfFY2CA8fy1tg@jetpack
Works, thanks a lot, hope that Mozilla will fix this soon
thx, this works even with 67.0b16.
easy way to fix it… thx for posting it.
Your method works perfectly. Thanks!
And your directions were much clearer and to the point. I hate reading a blog to solve and issue that can be summed up in a single sentence. Thank you
Firefox spent a whole lot of time trying to drive me away from thee old Firefox to Firefox quantum
with all the bells and whistles and tada this happens… What does one do… I ended up saying sure
I’ll give up number so and so and join the new super duper quantum physics .
You guys are lucky if all it did was disable your Add-ons.
On my Linux box it completely REMOVED them !
from 60ESR…I figured a virus did it.
I have 1 left in that affected profile.
Who says Linux cant do windows type things?
Running Ubuntu: Your extensions were not removed. Just hidden as “Legacy” by default. Unchecking the box will make your disabled and removed extensions available.
As for people running to Chrome, Google wants that ad revenue, so don’t think that things will be better over there.
same story on my laptop but no on pc, both connected to same network and account.
the lastest Nightly version cannot start properly even in a new profile, now i have to use waterfox, thank god
Avoid Nightly, it’s spying on users even more than Release.
I also experienced it just now in my android firefox … Since there’s no ‘extensions.json’ file inside my android, how can I fix this ?
Thanks and many regards
They better fix this ASAP or people will be leaving. If they can’t provide a reliable service then people will leave
Welp, guess Mozilla just lost a user until they fix this crap. Life is annoying already without Firefox adding more problems.
Tor Browser 8.08 with ‘safer security’ extensions all disabled
Brilliant FireFox :D
Now I’m going to have to remember all my passwords :O … thinks… 123456… that’s the one!
Too late. Installed Waterfox and was able to get just about everything running fine in maybe 30 minutes.
Ok Waterfox this is your moment to shine! Fix the error that doesn’t allow Greasemonkey or allow new tabs to point to whatever page a user desires and you could be the next Firefox.
Palemoon? Sorry, you’re having a harder time with some very basic addons. C’mon this is your chance as well. Knock this complacent Mozilla out!
I tried it right away after reading your comment. Waterfox is glitchy – it asks for certificates all the time – even from Google or Bing. I removed it after several attempts to tame it.
Waterfox working perfect for me. Even imported all Bookmarks, Passwords, Add-ons,Themes, Saved Forms, Profile Data, Cookies, seemingly even Add-on settings – just needed 1 restart of computer (b4 that it still displayed deactivated add-ons).
The way the mouse pointer flits over the screen, it seems quite a bit faster than FFox, too.
It seems as though one can continue to use Sync with it, even.
YOU are having a hard time with add-ons, not Pale Moon.
Pale Moon wasn’t affected fortunately.
Tried Waterfox. But AddOnns are blocked in Waterfox too :(
Thank you! Waterfox is my new friend! thanks for the info. long overdue.
I just checked WaterFox, it is not affected. Goodby Mozilla!
WaterFox is not affected. Goodby Mozilla!
“Tried Waterfox. But AddOnns are blocked in Waterfox too :(”
They shouldn’t be, because contrary to Firefox, Waterfox does not enforce extension signing against user’s will. I’m having no problem with extensions in Waterfox currently. Check in about:config?filter=xpinstall.signatures.required that the pref is still on false, the default value.
The part that I find troubling with this extension ordeal is how it happened.
This didn’t happen after a new release was released, this was done live by them.
Left my computer on and locked with firefox open only to return to find a themeless add-onless browser.
I guess I have a problem with the wording of this situation. This doesn’t fell like a bug. They said they would be doing something about the extension situation and they did it in a manner that looks and feels like a bitch move.
Hell, I would have taken a countdown clock or something, anything than just to find my browser just got crippled without a patch install or any user input.
And how convenient that the “solution” they offer is to activate their data snooping and collection feature, the one that raised issues when it came to the privacy and security of the user.
I know this sounds paranoid and maybe I am, I just can’t accept that a fix to a “bug” is to activate a data collection feature in a browser.
P.S. I just discovered this site and I jate to say the quality of the work done here and the community is quite excellent ☺ï¸
I got this issue too. I hope it doesn’t last long as I need my addons back as it truly helps me with the way the internet is.
Mozilla dropped the ball this time. Nearly all extensions broke, including ad-blockers, which is a big deal breaker. If Mozilla is trying to convince people to leave Firefox, this is great way to do it.
Recovery methods described here do not work with all extension. Crap Mozilla I’m so done with you!
:D u sound like chrome fanboy who came here just to post this comment. i download opera while problems occurs, just to avoid chrome and their youtube problems.
Opera is basically Chromium re-skinned now.
Opera, and Chrome have used the same “OPEN Source” Chromium project. Chrome is done by Google. Opera is not. Same Open Source Chromium Project.
And its not for the 1st time i use FF since … ages … but getting more pissed every time
I was literally downloading Chrome while looking up what happened. This is a massive issue.
Chrome is not a solution its replacing one problem with a different and possibly bigger problems. Find one of those open source browsers not made by corporations.
I just got this, and I immediately came here, because I had a feeling you would know what the problem is. Thanks.
Better solution is to not use whst has become a bug ridden slow work inhibiting browser.
Waterfox 56 works like Firefox used to, with addons that increase productivity and greatly reduced bugs.
Naked, Firefox is faster but with mutiple addons the speed disparity disappears.
If you prefer the new engine of Firefox with it’s massive limitations Waterfox is available in that version also except the developer releases slightly slower so versions again have fewer bugs.
Waterfox also has all of Mozillas telemetry (spyware) removed which speeds up browsing and reduces resources used.
Mine seems to work fine after the Update to 66.04, am I all good now? I don’t want to enable “Studies” if I don’t have to.
changing “active”:false to “active”:true also seems to help
I did the false/true fix yesterday May 4 and got my ublock back. Today May 5 after booting up and noticing ublock present a few minutes later it is disabled again.
For the past week I have lost my bookmarks and FF has been auto updating even though it was set not to. I thought I was going crazy, but four times in the same day. I run FF 55 for specific reasons. I especially hate that update message in the new version. Seriously, if this doesn’t stop I will be leaving FF.
Happened AGAIN today May 6 about half way through the morning. I did the hotfix 1.0.2 yesterday and it did not seem to do anything. I had to the “activeâ€:false to “activeâ€:true all over again. Looks like I’ll be trying WaterFox today. You simply can’t do anything on the internet without uBlock Origin.
https//storage.googleapis.commoz-fx-normandy-prod-addonsextensionshotfix-update-xpi-intermediate@mozilla.com-1.0.2-signed.xpi
Right click save to desktop, then drag the xpi to your extensions manager within Firefox. Then it will install just fine. Restart Firefox.
100% working for me now
Changing extensions.json didn’t work for me.
I typed “about:debugging” in browser bar and check-marked “Debugging Add-ons activated”, then used “temporary load add-ons”. At least they are all running right now.
I had the same issue yesterday and discovered a simple fix for me was to go into Options; General; Network Settings; Settings; Click on the “No Proxy” Radio Button, close the browser and reopen and my add-ons work again. For some reason after a recent update the “Use Proxy System Setting” got turned on. I hope this helps some of you as it did me.
Thank you very much Jeff….that did work for me
This worked for me. Thank you much!
My easy solution/ pref-.js file What I did is the following and it worked fine for me. I went to the Mozilla Profile folder and into Firefox Profile.( Make sure Firefox is closed before doing it) Then I opened the default profile and looked for the pref-.js file. There i was lucky to find an older pref file dated a month ago. I renamed my current pref to _Prob and renamed the old one to pref-.js. I opened Firefox again. Everything was back to normal.
I see Moz is now taking the MS approach of “We know what’s best for you. Take it, like it and shut up.”
This is the Mozilla signed semi-official fix. Click link in the 3rd line and problem fixed!
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19826903
@Quantum777
As per advice I got in the comments of that thread, you need to save the link to your desktop/local PC and then drag it into Firefox. When I just clicked on the link, I got: “The add-on could not be downoaded because of a connection failure.” (I haven’t read this whole thread, so apologies if this has already been mentioned.)
Simple ost that WORKED thanks so much – no coding of files required :)
bugs,ram use,privacy all gone where old firefox sometime is the best browser now total crap!.
Just happened to me at 4:45 am on May 4th. Crap!
After about 6 hours, they seem to have a fix but still need verification. The workaround that I like best requires careful manual editing of extensions.json in the profile folder. I don’t remember who suggested it first but it was likely on reddit.
Shut down Firefox
Open extensions.json
Rreplace all instances of “appDisabled”: false to “appDisabled”: true
Replace all instances of “signedState”: -1 to “signedState”: 2
Save and start browser
Disable and re-enable all extensions in about:addons
Hope they don’t break it again
Thank you very much.
Now they are all just sitting in “unsupported” tab, under “plugins”, with no option to enable. lol
Great, thank you, worked
This worked for me for FF 52 and FF60. Note the addition of ‘xpinstall.signatures.required=false’ to the about:config –
1) Enter about:config then add a new boolean value called xpinstall.signatures.required and set it to false.
2) Shutdown FF
3) find extensions.json in your profile. In Windows it’s under users//AppData/Mozilla/Firefox/ some where. Just search for it and then make a backup copy just in case.
Edit extensions.json as instructed in this thread:
4) Replace all instances of “appDisabledâ€:false to “appDisabledâ€:true
5) Replace all instances of “signedStateâ€:-1 to “signedStateâ€:2
6) Save extensions.json
7) Re-start FF and disable then reenable each extension to want to restore
Correction:
In Windows the extensions.json file can be found in directory
C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\
ONE MORE TIME:
extensions.json can be found (for Windows) in:
C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\
ARRRRGH. Angle Brackets keep getting me! File can be found in:
C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[profile.name]
Thanks! That actually helped. One should do that rather than reinstall the add-ons. Now by doing that I have to use a old Ad-Block version. So I highly recommend anyone to use this method rather than reinstall the program.
I will take your word that it works, and will presume that the reply to your message about making extensions.json read-only is also worth noting.
It is getting harder and harder for me to continue using Firefox when Mozilla seems to break it deliberately for mostly unexplained-in-advance reasons and little though given to the fact that add-ons they find useful are available for some browsers but not others is a major factor in the decision of many people as to what browser suits them best.
The interuption caused by this latest FF patch was enough to make me tell it to check for but not install updates until I say to.
FractalZ
Also — useful to know for people who want to do Search-and-Replaces — there’s no space after the colons in “appDisabled”:true, “appDisabled”:false, “signedState”:-1, and “signedState”:2.
It still didn’t work for me in Tor Browser 7.5.6 (which is based on the last legacy-extension-compatible version of Firefox, Firefox ESR 52.9.0), but I suppose it might work for other versions/implementations of Firefox.
Thanks! Worked for me, and I don’t intend to install a nightly build just because Mozilla messed up.
Since disable/enable buttons did not show me I did this to fix it.
Shut down Firefox
Open c:\Users\insert user name\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\insert current profile name\extensions.json with wordpad.
Replace all instances of “appDisabled”: false to “appDisabled”: true
Replace all instances of “signedState”: -1 to “signedState”: 2
Save and close extensions.json
Start Firefox
Close Firefox
Open c:\Users\insert user name\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\insert current profile name\extensions.json with wordpad.
Save and close extensions.json
Replace all instances of “appDisabled”: true to “appDisabled”: false
Start Firefox
Disable and re-enable all extensions in about:addons
Hope they don’t break it again
Thank you sooooo much ^^
Works for me
Thx Jack Sed
thanks
Just happened here, the fix worked, thanks!
Heres what fixed it for me since the dis/enable buttons did not appear.
Shut down Firefox
Open extensions.json
Replace all instances of “appDisabled”: false to “appDisabled”: true
Replace all instances of “signedState”: -1 to “signedState”: 2
Save and close extensions.json
Start Firefox
Close Firefox
Open extensions.json
Replace all instances of “appDisabled”: true to “appDisabled”: false
Start Firefox
Disable and re-enable all extensions in about:addons
Hope they don’t break it again
Had to re-set Firefox as my default browser. Bingo, all fixed.
This did not work for me :S
I tried this but all my extensions are now disabled and there is no option to enable them. They still persist in Unsupported but there is no red text “…could not be verified… e.t.c “
Tried this in Quantum 61.0.2 and the addons show up as (disabled) and there is only an option to remove them – there is no enable/disable mechanism visible.
> Replace all instances of “appDisabled”:false to “appDisabled”:true
It should be:
> Replace all instances of “appDisabled”:true to “appDisabled”:false
Otherwise, you cannot enable all extensions manually.
This is an easy solution right here, confirming that this works. Thank you!
Next time I’m building Firefox with MOZ_REQUIRE_SIGNING=0
Thanks for this. I just restored extensions.json from a recent backup. Disabling and re-enabling the addons then restored them.
Beautiful, Gareth!
I replaced extensions.json from a backup and when I opened FF everything was back to normal – no need to disable/re-enable anything.
Shut down Firefox
Press [Windows Key]+[R] → Type in %APPDATA% > click OK
(C:\Users\***USERNAMEGOESHERE***\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\eknvp9aw.default)
Open extensions.json with Notepad++
Replace all instances of “appDisabled”: true with “appDisabled”: false
Replace all instances of “signedState”:-1 to “signedState”:2
Save and start browser
Disable and re-enable all extensions in about:addons
It works, it really works and it is easy to implement, thanks a lot Samwise!!!
(Netscape 49 with legacy add-ons)
There’s only one gotcha, workable but annoying.
We can beat them just for one day…
I was happily sitting at the pc this night after having got my add-ons back, when exactly at the turn of midnight, like in Cinderella, I got again the dreaded msg: some extensions have been disabled. GRRR!
I even had the forethought to make the patched file read only, to no avail.
For nothing can drive them away / We can be heroes just for one day…
Well, at this point is personal. Nothing that a batch file and doing the disable-and-reenable dance every morning cannot fix :)
I will NOT get forced to update to the latest version.
And shame on Mozilla, this is really Microsoftesque!
Thanks a lot. It can enable previously installed addon s but yet it can not download and install new ones!
Great! It works!
Thank you, Samwise Gamgee, this worked! Just want to add that this line may be different for you especially if you have both the Firefox Quantum and Firefox Developers edition:
(C:\Users\***USERNAMEGOESHERE***\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\eknvp9aw.default)
Samwise Gamgee said on May 4, 2019 at 10:11 am comment’s solution working fine on Firefox 56.x.x
It’s working ++++++++++++++++++++++
Thank You, man! Thank You!! I’m using v48 with permanently locked version extensions and could care less about stupid junk new web development that just slowed down my firefox experience, when I upgraded. So I went down to 48, which is working perfectly. Now thanks to Your help, I have my old legacy extensions running beautifully and FAST.
Many thanks ! working !
That works, but you have to make json readonly
That worked for me, thanks!
I experienced this very thing both last night on Firefox on my PC as well as Firefox on my Android phone. All my addons/extensions got disabled.
I tried to redownload my installed theme and extensions but got that error message. I tried reinstalling Firefox on my computer, restarting my computer, and then I realized that nothing I do was working. I of course tried to search for a solution but couldn’t find one. I have switched browsers on my computer because I’m disappointed with loosing everything in Firefox.
Hopefully Mozilla will fix this issue. I’ve been using Firefox for a long time now, it’s a great and effective browser. I hope this issue gets resolved soon. Glad I’m not the only one who has experienced this issue.
Used to be great. It is now playing ‘big brother’ with the software on YOUR computer, and the user experience of YOUR browser installation. Anyone who believes this was an ‘accident/bug’, as apposed to an attempt to get people to update all the older browser versions out there, to ‘fix’ the browser… remember lots of FF users are all about ‘tweaking’ and controlling the browser so they like myself had locked down their older FF setups.
Also FF is NO LONGER an ‘effective’ (ie efficient/fast) browser. MY old version of FF16 could load 22 specific youtube tabs in a good speed and I could view the first ones even as the others were loading or even open/view other tabs. Last week changes to websites etc, finally made me ‘update’. When I did and attempted to open this group of bookmarks… browser/tab freeze and tabs takes 4-6 times as long to load… not to mention the loss of functionality etc, etc due to current FF restrictions on user.
Modern FF only appears faster because computers are faster. Head to head on same computer (mine and others), older FF IS many times faster. And many times more user customizable… which is what FF WAS all about before it started to pander and put to corporate interests first instead of existing for the user.
Read this to see what Mozilla is actually doing.
https://digdeeper.neocities.org/ghost/mozilla.html#finances
Ignore the rhetoric, but not the facts.
Mozilla has become a Fortune 500 company interested only in profit.
Read their financial report and see where they get close to 1/2 a Billon dollars a year by invading your privacy.
Another company proves Lord Acton was correct.
Please do NOT take my word for it. Read the ink above.