You are using a very convoluted system for updates. The Firefox internal updater works very well and you shouldn't need an overly complicated system. Simply applying the updates using the internal updater is enough.

Thanks for reply. Yep, I was open in describing the process. How it is done doesn't explain the changes I have seen.

We know that it can be good to have a (recent) backup of the profile. I could of course rely on disk images, other backups, but think it is a rather good time to create a small dedicated backup (zip file) when doing major upgrades. Also, if anything goes wrong with an upgrade (any upgrade of software), we know that it can be good to have the install file.

Yes, I could very well just click OK to any upgrade notification in the browser (or let it search via the About dialog), just as I do with minor upgrades (using the "internal updater").

That's the background; that said, Fx upgrades have been working all OK for a long time, hence my question why it was asking for a profile, after upgrading from 65.0.2 to 66.0.1, and why the minor upgrade to 66.0.2 started without any notification.

At first start of Fx I was confronted with the Profile manager asking for a profile. I selected the default one, and had to check the box to always use this profile. (There is only one. Something wrong with profile.ini?)

Perhaps the new Firefox installation was offering to create a new Profile for use with the new installation?

I gotta agree with Tyler that your method of updating Firefox is convoluted. If you didn't uninstall Firefox before installing a newer version, perhaps that is why you saw what you saw about "Profiles". And that is why I suspect the message you did see was more along the lines of creating an additional Profile that would be "tied" to the 2nd version you just installed. Pure speculation about that though.

I can't find it in my browser history, but in the last week I do recall reading something about a change in the Firefox installer; where when the user goes to install a 2nd / different version of Firefox the changed installer will offer to create a new Profile so that the user can run both versions of Firefox, each with its own unique Profile. That has been an option in Nightly and Beta / Developer versions for quite awhile now, where the user has the option to have two separate Profiles to allow the user to also run a Release version with its own Profile. Also, the multiple Profiles are available thru about:profiles . My vague recollection has that new feature as coming in Firefox 67, not in 66 - but that is a vague recollection so maybe it's in 66 already.

I can't verify what you saw with how you installed Firefox just now. I have many different versions of Firefox installed, but the Quantum version I have always allowed to automatically update when it "felt the need to update". And from what I have posted in this fora the ability to disable updates altogether was removed in either Firefox 63 or Fx64 when the "Never check for updates" was removed from Options and from about:config .

Also, with today's update to Firefox 66.0.2 the "door hanger" appeared in the top, right section of the UI, and I accepted the update; no notification that the update was installed and no message to restart Firefox, which was the norm in Firefox 65 and before. When I did restart Firefox a few minutes later there was no message that the update had been installed via the restart; when I looked in about:support it did show 66.0.2 for the version. And the start up time seemed to be a lot quicker than before Firefox 66 was installed on the 19th. So, IMO there was a big change in that regard with Firefox 66 over Firefox 65 and before.

The profiles.ini file shows the Profile which the user has created; if there's only one Profile listed there, that's all that has been created for the Logon User Account in the operating system.

You can still make a backup of the Firefox profile without your entire convoluted system. Simple copy the entire Firefox "Profiles" folder and store a copy somewhere else. Do this after you close Firefox and before you open it with the new update. This is all that's needed to make a backup of your data and still be able to use the internal updater.

Have you been using the setting

"Check for updates but let you choose to install them"

which historically corresponds to the preference

app.update.auto

Starting in Firefox 66, I think, this preference has moved! It is no longer stored in prefs.js and exposed in about:config. Instead, it is stored on disk under

C:\ProgramData\Mozilla\updates\{STRING}\update-config.json

I don't know how the {STRING} is determined. I have a different one for the release version and the developer edition.

It's possible that a new installation via the installer gets its own folder, and in that case, your custom auto-update setting would not be applied and update behavior would revert to default. Can you tell whether you are accumulating folders there for each manual install?

the-edmeister said

Perhaps the new Firefox installation was offering to create a new Profile for use with the new installation? [...]

Tyler Downer said

You can still make a backup of the Firefox profile without your entire convoluted system. [...]

Thanks for replies.

To give as much info as possible, related to the question whether anything how updates/upgrades are done have changed (with Fx 66), I described my current MO, i.e. something that has not changed, while I noticed a difference in what Fx did. If one would like to call that a "convoluted system", fine, but what I do with major upgrades/updates are:

- Close the browser. Duh. - Clean the cache (don't want that in backups). - A simple zip file creation of the profile saved somewhere else.

(Then some might see it as a really unnecessary step to install the upgrade via a downloaded file, but these upgrades have been working all OK for a long time, i.e. the install notice that Fx is installed and offer an upgrade. As mentioned, I could very well do major upgrades as I do minor (no backups): click on a notification, if any, or "search" for them via the About dialog.)

If Fx is going to do updates without notifications as soon as you start the browser then it's a bit late to take a backup (unless one click no to the OS' security prompt (Do you want to run ...).

So, I was a bit surprised to see the Profile manager when I clicked on Fx's icon post upgrade. And I was also surprised that closing the browser and starting it again triggered an upgrade.

As we know a lot has changed in Fx's settings over time. I usually check them after major upgrades, or if anything has been mentioned in release notes or similar. As one might guess during use, over time, most changes are on the "security" tab, related to cookies etc. I very rarely touch the General tab. I now notice that it was set to check for updates automatically (recommended) ... That wasn't the setting I have been using. Might explain why it went from 66.0.1 to 66.0.2 without it asking or notification.

Sorry that I didn't check this setting before posting (tells you something about how sure I was it hadn't changed).

Still don't understand why Fx 66.0.1 asked for a profile post update though.

(Guess that if I want this level of info/knowledge about changes, if indeed any are the cause of abovementioned, I shouldn't rely on release notes, but some developer forum.)

jscher2000 said

Have you been using the setting "Check for updates but let you choose to install them"

Thanks for reply.

I thought I did.

The updates folder (in ProgramData\Mozilla\) was created when I went from Fx 64.0.2 to Fx 65 in January (as well as parent folder Mozilla). The {STRING} folder was created during/after update from Fx 65.0.2 to Fx 66.0.1 (i.e. the major update I mentioned).

(I wouldn't know when these changes occurred, if it wasn't for my backups (zip files) of profile when doing major updates. :-) I.e. comparing dates.)

I didn't know this, since I very rarely dive into ProgramData folders, so can't say if there was another string folder there during Fx 65. There is only one such folder {STRING} now.

As mentioned above, I now notice Fx was set to auto (recommended), post last minor update to 66.0.2; I didn't look at those settings after last major 65.0.2-66.0.1. Sorry about that.

Thanks for checking that. As far as I can tell, the value in

C:\ProgramData\Mozilla\updates\{STRING}\update-config.json

is stable through regular updates, but perhaps using the full installer resets it? I guess you can study that as new releases become available.

atria said

...A minor version upgrade, Fx 66.0.2 arrived... I was confronted with the question if I would like to run the upgrade. It was already there. So what has changed?

FIreFox 66.0.2 Fixes.

~Pj

whoops, a "senior moment" - EDIT with a not

If one would like to call that a "convoluted system", fine, but what I do with major upgrades/updates are: - Close the browser. Duh. - Clean the cache (don't want that in backups). - A simple zip file creation of the profile saved somewhere else.

The cache is not in the Roaming folder where the Firefox Profile is located, it's in the secondary folder in Local; so your Profile folder backup wouldn't include the cache.

Pj said

FIreFox 66.0.2 Fixes.

Thanks for your time.

My question isn't answered with release notes (if you read the whole first post).

(As it seems, for some reason the setting for updates was changed when going from 65.0.2 to 66.0.1 (as mentioned earlier, I skipped Fx 66.0 since the minor ver. came close after) from "Check for updates but let me choose" to auto download and install. That's how Fx 66.0.2 arrived. Before that, say minor update 65.0.2 I got a notification, and have been since they were included in Fx. That's one part of the question, the other one, the first, was that when I updated to 66.0.1 it asked for a profile, something it has never done, unless I have created another profile.)

sorry about that error in my answer yesterday

No problem at all. (But removing a reply?)

Anyhow, I'll add what I did earlier; a senior moment here as well, sort of: Unnecessary step in this case (for backups), yes; old habit, yes. What I should have said, was that I don't want old cache (if any) around when trying a major upgrade.