Score:-3

Ubuntu

Lost Firefox with upgrade to latest Ubuntu version

Rpare

11/30/23, 7:35 PM

Upgraded to the latest Ubuntu version today, but have lost Firefox ( I'm on a different computer while typing this). I need complete instruction on how to get it back.

154

1 + 8

firefox

mook765

11/30/23, 7:47 PM

Please be more specific, from which version to which version did you upgrade? The word "latest" is often misleading.

Rpare

11/30/23, 7:55 PM

Wish I could say which, but I didn't write them down. The "latest version" is what ever Ubuntu has asked me to upgrade to for a few weeks now. How do I find on the desktop the current installed version? The only other thing I remember during its installation is something about Firefox would now be a "snap" version, or at least something to do with "snap", whatever that is.

user535733

11/30/23, 7:58 PM

Try `sudo snap install firefox`. If it returns an error, then edit your question to show us the accurate, complete error message.

Rpare

11/30/23, 8:11 PM

Looks like 22.04.1 version. OK. Typed in your command. It came back with : [sudo] password for richard: Tried to type in my password, but it would not display

Rpare

11/30/23, 8:26 PM

After 3 tries at entering my password, I entered "sudo snap install firefox" again, and this time it accepted my password. It now says [snap] "firefox" is already installed, see 'snap help refresh' Typed that in, and it came up with a long list of things that say nothing about firefox! I do actually have the firefox icon in the Activities column, but when I click on it, it comes up with "Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. it may be missing or inaccessible"

Rpare

11/30/23, 9:52 PM

Yes, it is the 22.01.1LTS version from April of this year. with code name jammy. Tried the/var/log/apt/history.log command, but it comes back with "Permission denied" !

user535733

11/30/23, 11:08 PM

See https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-run-firefox-when-profile-missing-inaccessible . You can try to recover your old Firefox profile, or not -- it's up to you. At this point, your problem has nothing to do with upgrades nor snaps. You simply have a moderately simple Firefox profile problem, and that link will tell you how to fix it.

Rpare

12/1/23, 12:04 AM

What link are you referring to?

Score:0

Ubuntu

wb4alm

12/3/23, 3:26 PM

The SNAP version of FIREFOX installed with UBUNTU 22.04.1 --DOES NOT ACCESS-- your old profile correctly, when you upgrade from UBUNTU 20.04 (At least it did not for me.)

IT CAN NOT, because SNAP software versions are sandboxed, and the install process does not take this into proper consideration. It appears that some folks who only use LTS versions, and do not use the bleeding edge software updates on a constant basis are the ones that have had problems with the recent forced SNAP implementations.

As an FYI, your previous firefox profile is either under ~/.mozilla/firefox or ~/.mozilla-firefox/firefox depending on when you first installed firefox.

A second issue is that if you are using a locally designed and maintained HTML file (not directly displayed by an HTML server) as your FIREFOX home page, the snap version cannot properly access the profile or homepage unless they are actually inside the sandboxed directory.

I have not researched where the sandbox is really located, as I do not use the SNAP version of FIREFOX.

How do I know this? I have (or had) both of those problems. However, a warning: if you do as I did, and follow the instructions to install the ".deb" version of Firefox may lead into other problems such as delayed updates to FIREFOX, or constant reminders that say

Update Available. 

Firefox couldn't update automatically. Download the new
 version - you won't lose saved information or customizations.

However, Using the suggested download button accomplishes nothing, and I have not found a resolution to this new problem...

** @rapre I believe this is the instructions that I followed to install firefox as a ".deb" rather than as a snap.

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/04/how-to-install-firefox-deb-apt-ubuntu-22-04

+ 3

Rpare

12/4/23, 6:17 PM

Thanks - will try that later today. Anyone know how to backgrade to an older version? Since I use that computer solely for internet work, the older versions were way more than adequate.

wb4alm

12/4/23, 7:24 PM

It is not advised to run older versions of Internet browsers. Too many "bad actors" know how to exploit the security issues. See the last paragraph in my answer response for instructions on how to install FIREFOX as a ".deb" and not as a snap.

Rpare

12/5/23, 8:33 PM

Sorry - meant going back to an older version of Ubuntu, not Firefox.

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: Lost Firefox with upgrade to latest Ubuntu version

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.