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The latest version of Firefox will NOT update on my desktop or laptop, and the "firefox button" is gone. How to fix?

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  • 3 have this problem
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  • Last reply by cor-el

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I have been trying to update Firefox on my desktop since version 33.0 I keep downloading and updating/installing, but nothing changes. Gmail still says the browser isn't supported, and Mozilla says I'm using an older version and need to update. I've downloaded from several different locations - the links provided when it says its outdated and going directly to Mozilla.org to download. I've actually uninstalled Firefox and tried installing instead of updating. That doesn't help. My computer says I have the latest version, but the internet reads an older version. Also my "firefox button" and other add on buttons are missing from the navigation bar, so I can't check "about" to see what version the browser itself says it's running. How do I fix this? I've been using Firefox for years and this is the first problem that I've had that I can't fix.

And....your software check says I'm actually running version 11. So clearly, it's not updating.

I have been trying to update Firefox on my desktop since version 33.0 I keep downloading and updating/installing, but nothing changes. Gmail still says the browser isn't supported, and Mozilla says I'm using an older version and need to update. I've downloaded from several different locations - the links provided when it says its outdated and going directly to Mozilla.org to download. I've actually uninstalled Firefox and tried installing instead of updating. That doesn't help. My computer says I have the latest version, but the internet reads an older version. Also my "firefox button" and other add on buttons are missing from the navigation bar, so I can't check "about" to see what version the browser itself says it's running. How do I fix this? I've been using Firefox for years and this is the first problem that I've had that I can't fix. And....your software check says I'm actually running version 11. So clearly, it's not updating.

Chosen solution

Your useragent is corrupted, is shows that you are using Firefox 11.0. User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:11.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/11.0 WBSMTWB020

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/websites-say-firefox-outdated-or-incompatible

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-reset-default-user-agent-firefox

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Chosen Solution

Your useragent is corrupted, is shows that you are using Firefox 11.0. User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:11.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/11.0 WBSMTWB020

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/websites-say-firefox-outdated-or-incompatible

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-reset-default-user-agent-firefox

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aprilsrose said

I have been trying to update Firefox on my desktop since version 33.0 I keep downloading and updating/installing, but nothing changes. Gmail still says the browser isn't supported, and Mozilla says I'm using an older version and need to update. I've downloaded from several different locations - the links provided when it says its outdated and going directly to Mozilla.org to download. I've actually uninstalled Firefox and tried installing instead of updating. That doesn't help. My computer says I have the latest version, but the internet reads an older version. Also my "firefox button" and other add on buttons are missing from the navigation bar, so I can't check "about" to see what version the browser itself says it's running. How do I fix this? I've been using Firefox for years and this is the first problem that I've had that I can't fix. And....your software check says I'm actually running version 11. So clearly, it's not updating.
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Thank you! I was able to reset the user agent, but I still don't have the firefox button and some other navigation buttons. Thanks again!

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Note that your System Details list shows that you have a user.js file in the profile folder to initialize prefs each time Firefox starts. The user.js file is only present if you or other software has created this file and normally it wouldn't be there.

You can check its content with a plain text editor (right-click: "Open with"; do not double-click). The user.js file is read each time Firefox is started and initializes preferences to the value specified in this file, so preferences set via user.js can only be changed temporarily for the current session.

You can delete the user.js file if you didn't create this file yourself.


In current Firefox releases (29 and later) the orange Firefox menu button has been replaced by the three-bar Firefox Menu button at the far right end of the Navigation Toolbar and this button is always visible whether the Menu Bar is visible or hidden. See also:


Make sure that toolbars like the "Bookmarks Toolbar" are visible.

  • "3-bar" Firefox menu button > Customize > Show/Hide Toolbars
  • View > Toolbars
    Tap the Alt key or press F10 to show the Menu Bar
  • Right-click empty toolbar area

Open the Customize window and set which toolbar items to display.

  • "3-bar" Firefox menu button > Customize
  • check that "Bookmarks Toolbar items" is on the Bookmarks Toolbar
  • if "Bookmarks Toolbar items" is not on the Bookmarks Toolbar then drag it back from the Customize palette into the Customize window to the Bookmarks Toolbar
  • if missing items are in the Customize palette then drag them back from the Customize window on the toolbar
  • if you do not see an item on a toolbar and in the Customize palette then click the Restore Defaults button to restore the default toolbar setup

Modified by cor-el