You can't use user_Pref (should actually be user_pref) in mozilla.cfg

You can use these functions in mozilla.cfg:

defaultPref();  // set new default value
pref();         // set pref, but allow changes in current session
lockPref();     // lock pref, disallow changes

Thanks. I knew something was wrong. So what is the difference in using pref vs defaultPref in this instance. Won't setting prefs set the default settings a user will get as well?

We want to lock a few settings down but set a default for others while still allowing the user to change as desired.

The defaultPref() function applies if there isn't a user setting (it only changes the current default value), but doesn't have effect if the user already has changed the default. The pref function is always issued if you start a new session, but the user can override that for the current session only and changes are lost. Prefs that are locked via lockPref() can't be changed at all.

Aha. Thanks you so much for explaining the defaultPref cs Pref. That helped immensely.

I now have this as my config but get an error

# Mozilla Global Preferences

/* This file is to set and lock default preferences.
 *
 * Locate the settings in the prefs.js you want to make global and
 * copy them here. To lock the setting change the Pref to
 * lockPref.
 */

//

lockPref("accessibility.browsewithcaret", false); //dont' use cursor keys to navigate within pages
defaultPref("accessibility.typeaheadfind", true); //Search for text when I start typing
defaultPref("accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar", 0); //don’t flash toolbar when text is found
lockPref("general.autoScroll", false); //don't use autoscrolling
lockPref("app.update.auto", false); //disable automatic update
lockPref("app.update.enabled", false); //disable updating Firefox
lockPref("browser.bookmarks.restore_default_bookmarks", false); //restore default firefox bookmarks
defaultPref("browser.cache.disk.capacity", 1048576); //cached settings
defaultPref("browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run", false); //cached settings
defaultPref("browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value", 1048576); //cached settings
lockPref("browser.download.useDownloadDir", false); //don't use download directory-always ask
defaultPref("browser.download.manager.retention", 0); //remember downloads
lockPref("browser.feeds.showFirstRunUI", false); //disable initial RSS intro
defaultPref("browser.formfill.enable", true); //don't remember forms and search bar
lockPref("browser.fullscreen.autohide", false); //always show URL and tab bar
lockPref("browser.history_expire_days", 30); //clear history after 30 days
lockPref("browser.history_expire_days_min", 30); //minimum 30 days to keep history
lockPref("browser.link.open_external", 1); // open pages in new tab
lockPref("browser.link.open_newwindow", 1); // open pages in new tab
lockPref("browser.places.importBookmarksHTML", false); //don't import bookmarks
lockPref("browser.places.importDefaults", false); //don't import other default settings
lockPref("browser.rights.3.shown", true); //don't show copyright notice
defaultPref("browser.search.suggest.enabled", true); //disable search suggestions
lockPref("browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser", false); //disable default browser check
lockPref("browser.startup.page", 1); //show homepage at startup
lockPref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://intranet.domain.com"); //home page URL
pref("browser.tabs.autoHide", false); //always show tab bar
defaultPref("browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent", false); //load new tabs last
defaultPref("browser.tabs.loadBookmarksInBackground", true); //new tabs in background
defaultPref("browser.tabs.warnOnClose", false); //Warn when closing multiple tabs
defaultPref("browser.tabs.warnOnOpen", false); //don't warn on opening mult. tabs
lockPref("browser.taskbar.previews.enable", true); //enable taskbar previews
defaultPref("browser.urlbar.autoFill", true); //enable URL autocomplete
lockPref("config.lockdown.disable_themes", true); //disable themes
lockPref("general.smoothScroll", true); //Use smooth scrolling
lockPref("general.warnOnAboutConfig", true); //display warning prompt
defaultPref("layout.spellcheckDefault", 1); //Check my spelling as I type
lockPref("mozilla.widget.raise-on-setfocus"); //disable focus stealing
defaultPref("mozilla.widget.raise-on-setfocus", false); //don't focus new tabs
lockPref("network.automatic-ntlm-auth.trusted-uris", "proxy,domain"); //sites are allowed to automatically authenticate via NTLM
lockPref("network.cookie.lifetimePolicy", 2); //keep cookies until I close Firefox
lockPref("network.cookie.prefsMigrated", true); //don't prompt to migrate cookies
lockPref("network.negotiate-auth.delegation-uris", "proxy");
lockPref("network.negotiate-auth.trusted-uris", "proxy"); //sites that are permitted to engage in SPNEGO authentication with the browser
defaultPref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 32); //sites for which the browser may delegate user authorization to the server
defaultPref("network.http.pipelining", true); //enable HTTP pipelining
defaultPref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 7); //max http requests
defaultPref("network.http.pipelining.ssl", true); //always enable HTTPS pipelining
defaultPref("network.http.proxy.pipelining", true); //enable HTTP pipelining
pref("network.proxy.type", 4); //auto-detect proxy settings
lockPref("pref.privacy.disable_button.view_passwords", true); //Disable the "Show Passwords" Button
lockPref("privacy.donottrackheader.enabled", true); //no targeted ads
lockPref("privacy.item.formdata", true); //clear saved form data
lockPref("privacy.item.offlineApps", true); //clear offline apps data
lockPref("security.enable_ssl3", true); //Use SSL 3.0
lockPref("security.enable_tls", true); //Use TLS 1.0
defaultPref("security.warn_entering_weak", false); //warn when about to view a page that uses low-grade encryption
defaultPref("security.warn_viewing_mixed", true); //warn when about to view an encrypted page that contains some unencrypted information
defaultPref("security.warn_entering_secure", false); //warn when about to view an encrypted page
defaultPref("security.warn_leaving_secure", true); //warn when leave an encrypted page for one that isn't
defaultPref("security.warn_submit_insecure", true); //warn when submit information that's not encrypted
lockPref("signon.rememberSignons", false); //don't remember passwords
lockPref("toolkit.telemetry.prompted", false); //don't show send info to mozilla prompt
defaultPref("view_source.wrap_long_lines", true); //enable line wrapping
lockPref("xpinstall.whitelist.required", true); //Warn when sites try to install add-ons

Does it help if you remove the comment lines at the start and have the line with // as the first line?

Does it work with the starting like // and only a few lockPPref lines?

Just a few remarks about some of the prefs.

Prefs like these are no longer used in Firefox 4+

lockPref("browser.history_expire_days", 30); //clear history after 30 days
lockPref("browser.history_expire_days_min", 30); //minimum 30 days to keep history

lockPref("browser.link.open_external", 1); // open pages in new tab

• https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/tabs-open-relative-modified/

I'm not sure why you want to enable http pipelining by default. Not all servers may support that feature and if not you may encounter problems like missing or wrong images showing.

A value of 1 opens a link in the current tab, to open in a new tab you need to use 3

lockPref("browser.link.open_newwindow", 1); // open pages in new tab

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/browser.link.open_newwindow
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction

Is there an equivalent setting for the history? We need to ensure we keep the history for 30days.

As for pipe-lining, I pulled the settings off my browser which I've tweaked a bit. It's good you mentioned it, I'll pull them out for the corporate version.

Thanks for catching the newwindow setting.

You're welcome

There is no time limit in Firefox 4+ versions for the history.
Firefox determines automatically how many pages can be kept without affecting the performance.
You can see the current value via the reads-only pref places.history.expiration.transient_max_pages on the about:config page.

See:

• http://blog.bonardo.net/2010/01/20/places-got-async-expiration

Thanks. So I got rid of the pipelining, history and corrected the open tab settings and I still get the error. Here is the current config.

# Mozilla Global Preferences

/* This file is to set and lock default preferences.

*
* Locate the settings in the prefs.js you want to make global and
* copy them here. To lock the setting change the Pref to
* lockPref.
*/

//

lockPref("accessibility.browsewithcaret", false); //dont' use cursor keys to navigate within pages
defaultPref("accessibility.typeaheadfind", true); //Search for text when I start typing
defaultPref("accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar", 0); //don’t flash toolbar when text is found
lockPref("general.autoScroll", false); //don't use autoscrolling
lockPref("app.update.auto", false); //disable automatic update
lockPref("app.update.enabled", false); //disable updating Firefox
lockPref("browser.bookmarks.restore_default_bookmarks", false); //restore default firefox bookmarks
defaultPref("browser.cache.disk.capacity", 1048576); //cached settings
defaultPref("browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run", false); //cached settings
defaultPref("browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value", 1048576); //cached settings
lockPref("browser.download.useDownloadDir", false); //don't use download directory-always ask
defaultPref("browser.download.manager.retention", 0); //remember downloads
lockPref("browser.feeds.showFirstRunUI", false); //disable initial RSS intro
defaultPref("browser.formfill.enable", true); //don't remember forms and search bar
lockPref("browser.fullscreen.autohide", false); //always show URL and tab bar
lockPref("browser.link.open_external", 3); // open pages in new tab
lockPref("browser.link.open_newwindow", 3); // open pages in new tab
lockPref("browser.places.importBookmarksHTML", false); //don't import bookmarks
lockPref("browser.places.importDefaults", false); //don't import other default settings
lockPref("browser.rights.3.shown", true); //don't show copyright notice
defaultPref("browser.search.suggest.enabled", true); //disable search suggestions
lockPref("browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser", false); //disable default browser check
lockPref("browser.startup.page", 1); //show homepage at startup
lockPref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://intranet.domain.com"); //home page URL
pref("browser.tabs.autoHide", false); //always show tab bar
defaultPref("browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent", false); //load new tabs last
defaultPref("browser.tabs.loadBookmarksInBackground", true); //new tabs in background
defaultPref("browser.tabs.warnOnClose", false); //Warn when closing multiple tabs
defaultPref("browser.tabs.warnOnOpen", false); //don't warn on opening multiple tabs
lockPref("browser.taskbar.previews.enable", true); //enable taskbar previews
defaultPref("browser.urlbar.autoFill", true); //enable URL autocomplete
lockPref("config.lockdown.disable_themes", true); //disable themes
lockPref("general.smoothScroll", true); //Use smooth scrolling
lockPref("general.warnOnAboutConfig", true); //display warning prompt
defaultPref("layout.spellcheckDefault", 1); //Check my spelling as I type
lockPref("mozilla.widget.raise-on-setfocus"); //disable focus stealing
defaultPref("mozilla.widget.raise-on-setfocus", false); //don't focus new tabs
lockPref("network.automatic-ntlm-auth.trusted-uris", "proxy,domain"); //sites that are allowed to automatically authenticate via NTLM
lockPref("network.cookie.lifetimePolicy", 2); //keep cookies until I close Firefox
lockPref("network.cookie.prefsMigrated", true); //don't prompt to migrate cookies
lockPref("network.negotiate-auth.delegation-uris", "proxy");
lockPref("network.negotiate-auth.trusted-uris", "proxy"); //sites that are permitted to engage in SPNEGO authentication with the browser
defaultPref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 32); //sites for which the browser may delegate user authorization to the server
pref("network.proxy.type", 4); //auto-detect proxy settings
lockPref("pref.privacy.disable_button.view_passwords", true); //Disable the Show Passwords Button
lockPref("privacy.donottrackheader.enabled", true); //no targeted ads
lockPref("privacy.item.formdata", true); //clear saved form data
lockPref("privacy.item.offlineApps", true); //clear offline apps data
lockPref("security.enable_ssl3", true); //Use SSL 3.0
lockPref("security.enable_tls", true); //Use TLS 1.0
defaultPref("security.warn_entering_weak", false); //warn when about to view a page that uses low-grade encryption
defaultPref("security.warn_viewing_mixed", true); //warn when about to view an encrypted page that contains some unencrypted information
defaultPref("security.warn_entering_secure", false); //warn when about to view an encrypted page
defaultPref("security.warn_leaving_secure", true); //warn when leave an encrypted page for one that isn't
defaultPref("security.warn_submit_insecure", true); //warn when submit information that's not encrypted
lockPref("signon.rememberSignons", false); //don't remember passwords
lockPref("toolkit.telemetry.prompted", false); //don't show send info to mozilla prompt
defaultPref("view_source.wrap_long_lines", true); //enable line wrapping
lockPref("xpinstall.whitelist.required", true); //Warn when sites try to install add-ons

The error refers to a lockPref on line 109 but I don't have that many lines. So it's down to theses settings:

lockPref("accessibility.browsewithcaret", false); //dont' use cursor keys to navigate within pages
lockPref("app.update.auto", false); //disable automatic update
lockPref("app.update.enabled", false); //disable updating Firefox
lockPref("browser.bookmarks.restore_default_bookmarks", false); //restore default firefox bookmarks
lockPref("browser.download.useDownloadDir", false); //don't use download directory-always ask
lockPref("browser.feeds.showFirstRunUI", false); //disable initial RSS intro
lockPref("browser.fullscreen.autohide", false); //always show URL and tab bar
lockPref("browser.link.open_external", 3); // open pages in new tab
lockPref("browser.link.open_newwindow", 3); // open pages in new tab
lockPref("browser.places.importBookmarksHTML", false); //don't import bookmarks
lockPref("browser.places.importDefaults", false); //don't import other default settings
lockPref("browser.rights.3.shown", true); //don't show copyright notice
lockPref("browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser", false); //disable default browser check
lockPref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://intranet.domain.com"); //home page URL
lockPref("browser.startup.page", 1); //show homepage at startup
lockPref("browser.taskbar.previews.enable", true); //enable taskbar previews
lockPref("config.lockdown.disable_themes", true); //disable themes
lockPref("general.autoScroll", false); //don't use autoscrolling
lockPref("general.smoothScroll", true); //Use smooth scrolling
lockPref("general.warnOnAboutConfig", true); //display warning prompt
lockPref("mozilla.widget.raise-on-setfocus"); //disable focus stealing
lockPref("network.automatic-ntlm-auth.trusted-uris", "proxyserver1,proxyserver2,domain.com"); //sites that are allowed to automatically authenticate via NTLM
lockPref("network.cookie.lifetimePolicy", 2); //keep cookies until I close Firefox
lockPref("network.cookie.prefsMigrated", true); //don't prompt to migrate cookies
lockPref("network.negotiate-auth.delegation-uris", "proxyserver1,proxyserver2"); //sites that browser may delegate user authorization to the server
lockPref("network.negotiate-auth.trusted-uris", "proxyserver1,proxyserver2"); //sites that are permitted to engage in SPNEGO authentication with the browser
lockPref("pref.privacy.disable_button.view_passwords", true); //Disable the Show Passwords Button
lockPref("privacy.donottrackheader.enabled", true); //no targeted ads
lockPref("privacy.item.formdata", true); //clear saved form data
lockPref("privacy.item.offlineApps", true); //clear offline apps data
lockPref("security.enable_ssl3", true); //Use SSL 3.0
lockPref("security.enable_tls", true); //Use TLS 1.0
lockPref("signon.rememberSignons", false); //don't remember passwords
lockPref("toolkit.telemetry.prompted", true); //don't show send info to mozilla prompt
lockPref("xpinstall.whitelist.required", true); //Warn when sites try to install add-ons

The problem seems to be this line:

lockPref("mozilla.widget.raise-on-setfocus"); //disable focus stealing

If I comment it out then it works.

Don't you just love end users. I posted before I started commenting out the settings to check. You were more correct than you know. Somehow I had lockPref("mozilla.widget.raise-on-setfocus"); //disable focus stealing defaultPref("mozilla.widget.raise-on-setfocus", false); //don't focus new tabs duplicating the setting one of which (you pointed out) had incorrect parameters.

All is working now. Thanks for all of your help. You are wiser than Jor-el. I'd call you Brainiac 5.

You're welcome