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When I click on Firefox it opens with a box that says "Foxfire is installing your updates and will start in a few moments…. " then it says "Software Update Failed (in blue) with an exclamation mark inside a yellow triangle) The update could not be install

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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When I click on Firefox the first time it says "Foxfire is installing your updates and will start in a few moments…. (with a green bar)" then it says "Software Update Failed (in blue) with an exclamation mark inside a yellow triangle) The update could not be installed. Please make sure there are no other copies of Firefox running on your computer, and then restart Firefox to try again." When I click the ok, Firefox opens up. If I open another Firefox window with the previous one still running, it doesn't give me any of these messages, it just opens normally.


This happened

Every time Firefox opened

When I click on Firefox the first time it says "Foxfire is installing your updates and will start in a few moments…. (with a green bar)" then it says "Software Update Failed (in blue) with an exclamation mark inside a yellow triangle) The update could not be installed. Please make sure there are no other copies of Firefox running on your computer, and then restart Firefox to try again." When I click the ok, Firefox opens up. If I open another Firefox window with the previous one still running, it doesn't give me any of these messages, it just opens normally. == This happened == Every time Firefox opened

Chosen solution

Becky, the following should fix this problem:

After closing Firefox, Remove the files in the updates and updates\0 folder: C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Mozilla Firefox\ C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\updates\

(Replacing <user> with your Windows user name.)


If that doesn't work, try downloading the Firefox installer from http://www.firefox.com/all-older.html and running it, after exiting Firefox. Your settings won't be lost with this upgrade install.

See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Software_Update (Software Update not working properly)

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Chosen Solution

Becky, the following should fix this problem:

After closing Firefox, Remove the files in the updates and updates\0 folder: C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Mozilla Firefox\ C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\updates\

(Replacing <user> with your Windows user name.)


If that doesn't work, try downloading the Firefox installer from http://www.firefox.com/all-older.html and running it, after exiting Firefox. Your settings won't be lost with this upgrade install.

See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Software_Update (Software Update not working properly)

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I've tried all the recommended solutions for this problem apart from ending processes from fear of not being able to restart them. I also tried downloading another version on top of the existing one but I continue to be asked to close Firefox. I do not want to revert to IE but I'm stuck with it at the moment. Help please.

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If you can't install on top of the current installation then you need to delete or rename the current Firefox program folder to do a clean install.

It is possible that your security software is using or locking files, so you can try to temporarily disable that software during the installation.