That feature has been removed.

• Bug 659972 – Remove channel switching UI

• http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/channel/

Thanks, cor-el. But does this mean I'm stuck on the beta channel? Is there no way to get back to the release channel?

You can install the Firefox 5 release version if you want to go back to the release channel or you can edit the file channel-prefs.js in the defaults\pref folder or change the pref app.update.channel to release and try to update. Don't know if the latter will work.

• Firefox 5.0.x: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all.html

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Testing_pre-release_versions
• http://mozilla.github.com/process-releases/draft/development_specifics/

my update channel is

pref("app.update.channel", "release"); 

in defaults\pref\channel-prefs.js but when I want to update It find Firefox 6 beta. how can I change this?

app.update.channel is old and no longer used. A easy way to get back to release channel is to install Firefox 5.0 as cor-el mentioned.

http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/5.0/

There are no new Firefox release updates at moment if you are using Windows or Linux anyways as the 5.0.1 and 3.6.19 was just to have a couple workarounds for Mac OSX 10.5 and 10.7 users.

Uninstalling and reinstalling a program is the "easy" solution? What a joke. Why was this feature removed with no corresponding UI update to explain how to switch channels?

When is the Mozilla knowledge base article going to be updated? https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/how-do-i-switch-update-channels

Way to drop the ball here Mozilla.

It says This article is no longer maintained, so its content might be out of date.

This burned me, as I was on the aurora channel. There had to be a better way of handling this - at least I'm not alone in wishing there was a clear, user-facing message to give users alternate approaches or a one-time option to switch back to a release channel. The ease of switching to dev channels made it a lot easier for a non-technically minded user to take the plunge, thinking their altruism would help the developer community.

Stranding those users and telling them they have to reinstall their browsers doesn't reward the desired behavior, right?

Sorry to be so blunt, but "non-technically minded user"s have no business using pre-release builds, if they aren't up to dealing with changes like that. "Altruism" is a road block to development, IMO - if you ain't helping, you're holding up progress.

In the time it took you to register here and post, you could have downloaded and installed a release version.

James: Why has this been disabled? I would find it extremely helpful to easily be able to switch update channels.

IMHO, the easiest way is to edit <installation directory>\defaults\pref\channel-prefs.js (open the editor as administrator in Win 7). There's also an add-on (Update Channel Changer) but I haven't used it.

What finally did it for me (getting back to the release channel on a Mac) was deleting the file: /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/defaults/pref/channel-prefs.js using Show Package Contents on the Fx app.

Phew! And thanks!

filbert's answer "edit <installation directory>\defaults\pref\channel-prefs.js" works for me. Quick and easy. Thanks for that!

I also tried "type 'about:config' in address box and change 'app.update.channel' from 'beta' to 'release'", but without luck. As James said, maybe this option is no longer in use. (why it is still there...)

I think the main reason users want to switch back to release channel is that various handy add-ons get disabled/dysfunctioned (e.g., TMP) after beta updates...

I registered just to say I have re-installed Firefox using the release channel three separate times and I have also deleted the channel-prefs.js file and I STILL am stuck on the beta channel.

I wanted to run both versions of Firefox on my computer to test a plugin I was making a year ago but because of this bug I have been unable to use Firefox for anything for at least 6 months.

It is changes like these that are killing the browser. Stop making things more difficult in the name of ease of use.

In response to edmeister, that is an ignorant statement. If 'non technically minded' people are not supposed to use the beta channel, where is the advise to people when they do go to sign up for the beta channel? Where is the definition of 'non technically minded'?

A customer oriented person would be glad to get feedback on how their application/user interface is working. They would be happy that someone actually took the time to provide the feedback.

To be blunt, your response makes you sound like the stereotype developer who knows what's best for everyone and if they don't like it, they are just too dumb or confused to understand.

The download page does have a button that then provides this information:

1. Test Features
Try out the latest performance, customization and security enhancements almost ready for prime time.

2. Refine & Polish
File bugs to help us put the final tweaks on performance and functionality in a stable environment.

That does make it clear that the version is still in testing, and the reference to filing bugs may well serve as a reminder that problems could be expected. In my opinion the more users that can use Firefox Beta the better, as it improves the chances of problems being reported. I would have thought that only the more experienced and advanced users would be interested in using this and getting involved in testing.

There is probably a degree of self selection for advanced users, novices possibly do not accidentally stumble upon Beta downloads.

The feature for swapping channels from the User Interface was tested, and found to be problematic, so unfortunately that was removed.

It may be inconvenient to have to reinstall Firefox in order to revert to the Release channel, but I do not think that is an onerous task, and I would hope users contemplating Beta use would be up to completing such a task. For anyone doing that please note you should NOT use any options from Firefox or Windows that mention removing personal information, because that is likely to destroy bookmarks and passwords.

AFAIK this forum does not officially support Beta use, although in practice I suspect there is a good likelihood of questions about Firefox beta being answered. (There is the possibility of a new forum being opened )The forum also does not support use of multiple versions and multiple profiles however that is a concept many advanced users will be familiar with.

See also

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Using_multiple_profiles_-_Firefox
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Command_line_arguments
• and note the mozillazine forums do deal with more advanced concepts, and support of other Firefox channels http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewforum.php?f=23