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Is Firefox unusable in an enviroment where one MUST use "Auto-detect settings for this network"?

  • 6 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 64 views
  • Paskiausią atsakymą parašė cor-el

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Hi

I have expressed this concern in another post that I noted as early in version 29, but there has been no response.

Firefox, even freshly installed does not save those connection settings for long & after a few minutes, you have to again go to connection settings & select auto-detect settings for this network & save because u get repeatedly disconnected!

I am quite sure this was not a problem in earlier versions, because Firefox has always been my browser of choice for my laptop (Win 8.1) & for a portable version from portableapps.com, that I use on different PCs in 2 separate unconnected networks, that however require using specific proxies.

So I am forced either to use Google Chrome, which has no problem saving the proxy settings - or NOT to use my portable version whenever I am on these 2 networks.

In the process of writing this very post, I noted in a separate tab, that there was no longer a connection & I have to go 2, 3 times & select auto-detect proxies again, in order to send THIS post! Each, no radio box shows what was selected before as all are unselected!!!

I do request developers to look into this.

This is no a local problem, because I have also completely uninstalled my Firefox/all data deleted, downloaded v.30 + a portable version, same problem.

Where no special proxy settings are required there is no issue.

Regards

Hi I have expressed this concern in another post that I noted as early in version 29, but there has been no response. Firefox, even freshly installed does not save those connection settings for long & after a few minutes, you have to again go to connection settings & select auto-detect settings for this network & save because u get repeatedly disconnected! I am quite sure this was not a problem in earlier versions, because Firefox has always been my browser of choice for my laptop (Win 8.1) & for a portable version from portableapps.com, that I use on different PCs in 2 separate unconnected networks, that however require using specific proxies. So I am forced either to use Google Chrome, which has no problem saving the proxy settings - or NOT to use my portable version whenever I am on these 2 networks. In the process of writing this very post, I noted in a separate tab, that there was no longer a connection & I have to go 2, 3 times & select auto-detect proxies again, in order to send THIS post! Each, no radio box shows what was selected before as all are unselected!!! I do request developers to look into this. This is no a local problem, because I have also completely uninstalled my Firefox/all data deleted, downloaded v.30 + a portable version, same problem. Where no special proxy settings are required there is no issue. Regards

All Replies (6)

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Hmm, does Internet Explorer work? I think Firefox's default setting of "Use system proxy settings" piggybacks on your LAN setting for Windows (Internet Explorer). So I would expect that if you have that working on your network, Firefox also should work. But I don't have any way of testing that hypothesis and perhaps you are confirming that it does NOT work that way.

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Hi there

Thank you for the responses. I think Firefox does not use IE's or system settings, because I noted Internet Explorer, Chrome, Opera & in fact Safari (for Windows), all latest versions once the proxy login settings are entered, that they save them & one does NOT get disconnected, however long a session is. If you start the browsers, only Firefox requires as first step, selecting & saving the "Use system proxy settings" & as said, after a few minutes, no internet, requiring repeating this.

I made some observation the other day, though. Whereas the problems above happen on my Win 8.1 laptop, the other day, I used a friend's Win 7 notebook with Firefox & did not have the problem of repeated disconnections! For the whole 3 hours session, I did not have any problem. This is how Firefox used to be in the past when I never had such issues at all at these same locations!

So may be there's some connection!

I am yet to look into the solution above "How to fix preferences that won't save".

Thank you & regards

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Do you need to use a proxy to connect?


In Firefox 30 and later NTLMv1 auth has been disabled, NTLM support on non-Windows platforms is now deprecated In Firefox 31 support for NTLMv1 auth has been restored for secure connections only (Bug 1023748).

  • network.negotiate-auth.allow-insecure-ntlm-v1 = false
  • network.negotiate-auth.allow-insecure-ntlm-v1-https = true
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Hi cor-el

Thank you for the response, but it is more or less Chinese to an amateur like me. ;)

The only thing I seem to get is "Do you need to use a proxy to connect?".

I use my notebook with Firefox in different environments, most of which do not require any specific proxy settings.

It is only at 2 places, one a university campus which generally uses particular proxy settings for ALL its internet connections. For the desktop PCs there, you have to set those settings in the browser once & they work, BUT, if I am not mistaken, most big institutes at least here ion Germany use a special version of Firefox, which is several versions behind.

The problem is all folks I know with laptops, which certainly use up-to-date versions of FF - it is not usable when they are at this institute for the same reason & all use Chrome or alternative browsers like opera & IE.

In another department on a different university campus, which also happens to use particular proxy settings, a PORTABLE version of Firefox (up-to-date version) on my USB drive used on these Win 7 PCs only works for a few minutes and one has to enter settings again.

Right now as I am writing this email, I am using a portable FF version on a USB drive, which requires no specific settings. If went to one of the 2 mentioned institutes with it, it would be problematic so I stopped using it there.

In older versions of Firefox, this was never a problem for YEARS as I used my same portable version. I first noticed the problem with FF Version 28, although it could have started a bit earlier.

Regards

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You can consider to use an extension to switch the connection (proxy) settings and leave them generally at the default or at no proxy.