/    Sign up×
Community /Pin to ProfileBookmark

Can’t uninstall an obsolete extension in firefox

Copy linkTweet thisAlerts:
Aug 09.2006

I have the Customize Google extension. Quite a while back I upgraded to a newer version of the extension, and the extension menu now has two copies of it. I tried uninstalling the new one to see if both went away, but it only got rid of the new. The old was still there, but only as a shadow: it was in the list, but the uninstall and options buttons were disabled, as was the context menu. I reinstalled the new version ans let it be for a while.

I tried to get rid of the old one again today. I looked in the extensions folder, but it only seems to have one Customize Google manifest folder.

I recently upgraded to the latest version of firefox and now it says that the old version is disabled because it is obsolete, and gives me the same message for one of the installed themes. In neither case does it allow me to uninstall the obsolete item.

Does anyone know what’s going on here?

to post a comment
Full-stack Developer

2 Comments(s) ↴

Copy linkTweet thisAlerts:
@PineSolPirateAug 09.2006 — Never hit upon that problem myself, but here's a link I found.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_:_FAQs_:_Uninstall_Extensions

Most useful bit (I think) there is:
These instructions apply to Firefox 1.5, Thunderbird 1.5 and Sunbird 0.3 (including alphas, betas and later releases).

Exit your Mozilla application, go to your profile folder and open the extensions directory. Each directory there is an extension. Remove the directory that corresponds to the extension you want to uninstall. (To uninstall ALL extensions, remove the entire extensions directory)

If an extension directory there does not have a meaningful name, look inside it for its install.rdf file. Open that file in a text editor (such as Notepad) to see which extension the directory contains. Alternatively, in the parent folder extensions.rdf contains a list of extensions, their names and corresponding extension GUIDs.

[edit]

Global extensions

In rare cases, an extension may be installed globally so that it can be used from any profile. The extension is placed inside the extensions directory of the application directory (installation directory) rather than within the profile folder (this process is normally intended to be used by administrators on multi-user systems [3]). To manually uninstall a global extension, open the application directory's extensions directory (for example, open C:Program FilesMozilla Firefoxextensions) and remove the directory that corresponds to the extension you want to uninstall [4] (see above).[/QUOTE]
Copy linkTweet thisAlerts:
@aaronbdavisauthorAug 10.2006 — Blah. I tried that already before and again last night just in case. Didn't work. Oh well... It isn't that big a deal. Just didn't want my extension list junked up with stuff that isn't there, but it is only 2 for now.

I do find it rather disconcerting though, that the official solution from mozilla is create a new profile and reinstall all your extensions. If they don't know where the info is kept, how are we supposed to figure it out.
×

Success!

Help @aaronbdavis spread the word by sharing this article on Twitter...

Tweet This
Sign in
Forgot password?
Sign in with TwitchSign in with GithubCreate Account
about: ({
version: 0.1.9 — BETA 5.18,
whats_new: community page,
up_next: more Davinci•003 tasks,
coming_soon: events calendar,
social: @webDeveloperHQ
});

legal: ({
terms: of use,
privacy: policy
});
changelog: (
version: 0.1.9,
notes: added community page

version: 0.1.8,
notes: added Davinci•003

version: 0.1.7,
notes: upvote answers to bounties

version: 0.1.6,
notes: article editor refresh
)...
recent_tips: (
tipper: @AriseFacilitySolutions09,
tipped: article
amount: 1000 SATS,

tipper: @Yussuf4331,
tipped: article
amount: 1000 SATS,

tipper: @darkwebsites540,
tipped: article
amount: 10 SATS,
)...