Is the about:policies page blank now (just "The Enterprise Policies service is inactive."), or are policies still listed?

Besides policy, it's possible that an Autoconfig file could trigger the message on the Settings page. These articles describe other places (besides the Registry) to check for relevant files:

• Customize Firefox using policies.json
• Customize Firefox using AutoConfig

Hello jscher2000

Didn't think I'd be bothering you so soon.  :(

about:policies shows "The Enterprise Policies service is inactive."

I could spend weeks looking at Customizing Firefox Using policies.json

All I want is a policy file that lets me download from PortableApps.com for Win 10 and control when I down load.

a URL example would be nice

thanks Norbert

Hi Norbert, you are using "Portable" Firefox? Its folders are laid out differently than the official build, and I have no idea how its updates work. You can follow up on their separate forum over here:

https://portableapps.com/forums/support/firefox_portable

Hello

I went to portable. Their reply was that everything works by default after install -- NOT.

Please send me what info, files that you have. I'll work it out and give you the results. Right now I got nothing but frustration

thanks Norbert

Does Portable Firefox update if you use the About dialog? This is how it works in regular Firefox: Update Firefox to the latest release.

The ESR version is now controlled by the administrator. See my about below

Sorry, I don't want to install Portable to see how it is set up in case it causes problems with normal Firefox. Hopefully someone who uses Portable has some insight.

I understand why you don't want to mess with your installation. So I tried a test.

I created a 'distribution' folder on my USB stick that has my FF. Firefox64 folder contains Firefox.Exe My shortcut target is "E:\FireFox ESR\FirefoxPortable.exe"

Directory of E:\FireFox ESR\App\Firefox64\distribution

2022 12 01 15:13 65 Policies.json

Contents of Policies.json

{ "policies": { "AppUpdateURL": "http://127.0.0.1/" } }

When I reboot FF the policy is now added to the policies list. I checked in the Win 10 registy, But the policy hasn't been saved (yet). See[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox]

about:policies

Active Policy Name Policy Value DisableAppUpdate false AppAutoUpdate true UseSystemPrintDialog false ManualAppUpdateOnly false AppUpdateURL "http://127.0.0.1/"

The rules in [program folder]\distribution\policies.json are read directly from the file and are not added to the Registry. They work independently from one another. The rules in the Registry likely were pushed by an IT department, or potentially added by third party software.

I'm the one that put those entries in the Registry. With:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox] "DisableAppUpdate"=dword:00000000 "AppAutoUpdate"=dword:00000001 "UseSystemPrintDialog"=dword:00000000 "ManualAppUpdateOnly"=dword:00000000

But, you are correct, FF didn't add the last entry to the Registry.

But you missed the point. I'm looking for a policy file that give FF the ability to do auto updates again. Your earlier post mentioned that you didn't know where FF portable puts the Policies file. I found it!!

Could you please send me a sample ESR policy file. Lets pretend I'm not using the Portable version for a while.  :) Then I will bug Portable for a URL

thanks Norbert

Note that you can't override policies set via GPO by rules in policies.json or autoconfig.cfg, GPO always takes precedence.

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/customizing-firefox-using-group-policy

You can inspect the Mozilla and Firefox keys with the Windows Registry Editor in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and in HKEY_CURRENT_USER with the Windows Registry Editor to see whether GPO policy rules are active.

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\

I'm not aware of any policy needing to exist for normal updating; Firefox is eager to update itself.

There seems to be conflicting advice on how to update Portable Firefox:

• Use the PortableApps Platform Updater: https://portableapps.com/platform/features#updater
• Platform updater vs. Install manually vs. self-update: https://portableapps.com/node/66364

This looks to me like a portable Firefox bug. There should be a channel in that dialog.