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Force install of an Add-ons

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We have to public computers in our staff area. They are both locked down via GP. We have set them up to auto-login to guest accounts when you switch the machine on. Each time you start the machine it resets the local profile to blank. So nothing can be saved locally. I have modified the pref.js file to clear cookies, history etc etc on browser shutdown.

Anyway, I found an add-on called Public fox. (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/public-fox/). It's a pretty cool add-on and it's ideal for our set up. However, we want Public fox to be installed on Firefox all the time. Is there a way to modify a file(not locally) which installs the add-on.

We have to public computers in our staff area. They are both locked down via GP. We have set them up to auto-login to guest accounts when you switch the machine on. Each time you start the machine it resets the local profile to blank. So nothing can be saved locally. I have modified the pref.js file to clear cookies, history etc etc on browser shutdown. Anyway, I found an add-on called Public fox. (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/public-fox/). It's a pretty cool add-on and it's ideal for our set up. However, we want Public fox to be installed on Firefox all the time. Is there a way to modify a file(not locally) which installs the add-on.

Chosen solution

You could try installing it to the shared extensions folder in the Firefox programs folder. On Windows 7 x64, that would be here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\browser\extensions

It's possible the guest user will get a prompt to approve this, since it's not already in the add-ons database; I haven't checked that.

Firefox also checks the registry for external extensions (e.g., the kind added by security software). On Windows 7 x64 I find those here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Mozilla\Firefox\Extensions

Do either of those approaches work in your environment?

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All Replies (5)

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Chosen Solution

You could try installing it to the shared extensions folder in the Firefox programs folder. On Windows 7 x64, that would be here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\browser\extensions

It's possible the guest user will get a prompt to approve this, since it's not already in the add-ons database; I haven't checked that.

Firefox also checks the registry for external extensions (e.g., the kind added by security software). On Windows 7 x64 I find those here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Mozilla\Firefox\Extensions

Do either of those approaches work in your environment?

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I will try your solutions. However, how do you get the installation file? So I can put it in that folder?

Thanks

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If you have installed the extension normally, you will find a folder or an archive (.xpi) file in your own Firefox profile folder, within the extensions folder. To isolate it, since the name is seldom obvious, you could install the extension into a new profile.

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Excellent, I have got it working! Do you know if there is a way to disable "allow this installation" page when you start Firefox?

Thanks

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Hi samc55, I do not know if there is a way to suppress the "allow this installation" page.