I am trying to install Xmarks on Firefox 12 but get "Xmarks could not be installed because Firefox cannot modify the necessary file." Already reinstalled FF.
Noticed that my wife's laptop (same make and model as mine) appeared different and had no "Reload" icon. Ran FF in Safe Mode and disabled all add-ons and reset toolbars and controls. When that resolved the problem, I made the changes and restarted. Was able to re-install all the other add-ons (WOT, Adblock, No Script, All-in One-Sidebar, Colorful tabs, and IE tab) without any problem. Tried installing Xmarks thru FF and directly from xmarks.com without any luck.
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That message usually means that the extension needs to be unpacked after installing.
Try to force unpacking the extension by setting the Boolean pref extensions.alwaysUnpack to true on the about:config page.
Thanks for trying cor-el. I made the change but it still will not install.
Can you install the extension in Safe mode?
- Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
No, I get a message "Can't install." The only way I ever got it back was by using System Restore. That also brought the original problem back. At that time, I continued in Safe Mode with add-ons disabled and was still missing the reload button. Then ran (in Safe Mode) with "reset toolbars and controls" checked and got the reload button back, so ran it again and selected "Make Changes and Restart." Got the reload back and the same look as on other machines, loaded all other add-ons but Xmarks. Now I cannot get back far enough through System Restore where I had Xmarks working for years.
Thanks again for all your efforts!
It is possible that there is a problem with the file(s) that store the extensions registry.
Delete the files extensions.* (e.g. extensions.sqlite, extensions.ini, extensions.cache) and compatibility.ini in the Firefox profile folder to reset the extensions registry.
New files will be created when required.
See "Corrupt extension files":
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_install_themes_or_extensions
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Unable+to+install+add-ons
If you see disabled, not compatible, extensions in "Tools > Add-ons > Extensions" then click the Tools button at the left side of the Search Bar (or click the "Find Updates" button in older Firefox versions) to check if there is a compatibility update available.
I deleted all of the files except for the extensions.log without success. Looking into using Firefox Sync to see if it will satisfy our need to just keep track of bookmarks on the three pcs on our network. That appears to be an easier solution than taking a friends advice of "Just switch to Chrome like I did."
Will keep reading a little more today (with a clearer head). Thanks again for all your efforts - they are really appreciated!
CZ
You can try to set the Boolean pref extensions.alwaysUnpack to true on the about:config page.
Already did that. I believe it was the first thing we tried.
Hi cor-el,
FINALLY!! When I deleted all the "extension" suggestions you made (along with .rdf that was in KB) and it did not work, I tried to uninstall via CCleaner (without success) and then via the Control Panel (again, without success) and then through the FF "uninstall\helper.exe" - still without success. Had to delete each file one at a time until I got to the corrupt file at the end of the Application Data tree (extensions - chrome - locale - "vi"). Getting rid of that file took some doing, but once accomplished the uninstall was finished. In the process.
Thanks again for the guidance as the problem was a corrupt file in extensions. Too bad it could not be corrected with the easier/faster deletions you suggested.
Will wait before installing FF 13 as the machine is running much faster now and want to give it time to make sure it was FF causing it to be so slow. Have to echo what some others have said about disliking ANY program that does not allow for it to be uninstalled.