Firefox Help: How to fix 'Updates Disabled by your system administrator'

[endalldisease]

Hey there,
I noticed in firefox Settings/Help/About firefox it says "updates disabled by your system administrator."
I AM the system administrator and I'd like to enable updates for Firefox but don't know how.

I looked up how to do this on duckduckgo but I'm a beginner and the solutions were either too complex or didn't work.

What's the simplest way to enable updates?

[spamegg]

You don't have to do anything. Read here: https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=4259

[MikeNovember]

Hi,

If you use Firefox found in Mint distribution, it is a deb package; it will be automatically updated by the update manager, and cannot update itself.

If you want a Firefox version with self automatic update, use Firefox downloaded from Mozilla website.

Regards,

MN

[karlchen]

If you use Firefox found in Mint distribution, it is a deb package; it will be automatically updated by the update manager, and cannot update itself

Correct! This has been so for ages. Update Manager has kept Firefox up to date.
Firefox could not use its internal updater, because it had been disabled. (simple setting under about:config)

Only: Firefox had not announced that it could not do self-updating.
Now it foolishly does & displays; 'Updates Disabled by your system administrator'.
This will terrify all those users, who do not know that this statement will not prevent Update Manager from keeping Firefox up to date, as it has always done.

So threads like this one are false problem reports, where a non-existent problem will be reported and solutions will be searched for the non-existent problem.
This can only lead to real problems in the end.

Therefore, please, do not tell inexperiencd users

If you want a Firefox version with self automatic update, use Firefox downloaded from Mozilla website.

Given to an inexperienced user, such a piece of advice will be the road to hell.

Instead let us do what spamegg had already done, point to Clem's blog post: Updating to Firefox 96.
Let me add: the answer is specifically in the paragraph titled "Warning messages".

[karlchen]

Summary:
Issue:
Firefox Help: How to fix 'Updates Disabled by your system administrator'

Solution:
There is no problem. There is only a confusing statement displayed by Firefox.
The explanation can be found in Clem's blog post: Updating to Firefox 96, section "Warning messages".
No user action required.

[MikeNovember]

To karlchen: the use of Firefox for Linux as downloaded from Mozilla website is a perfectly working and legit solution, such as Firefox flatpak, issued by Mozilla, is.

It is not because Firefox is included in Linux Mint that users should be obliged to use it.

The changes done by Mint in the distro version of Firefox have induced a lot of discussions, despite it has been announced on the blog.

This is an example of what distros should not do: change something in a program before to include it in the distro. It has caused discusses in the past, because of home page and search engines changes, it causes discusses now because of change in users habits.

I always prefer to use "original" programs to the distros ones.

Regards,

MN

[karlchen]

Hi, MikeNovember.

I am not trying to prevent anyone, who knows what (s)he is doing from using
+ the genuine Mozilla Firefox installed from the genuine Mozilla Firefox .tar.bz2 file
+ Firefox, installed as a Flatpak
instead of the fully functional Firefox version, which comes pre-installed with Linux Mint from the Linux Mint software repository.

My line of logic is this:
The message 'Updates Disabled by your system administrator' inside Firefox is
a) a red herring
b) no reason to change the way how you install and keep your Firefox up-to-date
c) a non-existent problem. Read spamegg's post above and my "summary" above.
No corrective action is required at all from user side.

Cheers,
Karl

[rene]

c) a non-existent problem. Read spamegg's post above and my "summary" above.

I rather agree and am very, very sure we will be seeing this same thread over and over again with Mozilla's current wording. Wonder if it could be made part of the agreement between Mozilla and Mint to have the Mozilla-sides updater setting grow an additional value that has it rather than say "Updates disabled" -- which they are not -- say "Updates managed by the system" or something very close to that.

Lefebvre is not PM-able; if you (karlchen) can easily contact him and feel it a possibly worthwhile suggestion, please relay. Otherwise perhaps xenopeek can/does.

[EDIT] Oh, never mind; just in fact read that blog post;

https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=4259

These messages can be quite confusing, especially the first one. Please ignore them for now. We’ll be reporting the issue to get it fixed upstream.

[endalldisease]

Thanks everyone for explaining!
So the built-in Linux software updater will update firefox, despite it saying 'updates have been disabled by system administrator' in the browser.

We need to find a way to get Mozilla to say something different or people will be asking this question forever.

[LittleScriptMan]

Perhaps we could agree on :
Updates (directly from Mozilla) Disabled by your system administrator (Linux Mint, because he does the job himself)

And this must be positively seen for the extra security layer given because I can't think of an administrator not checking an update before proposing it to basic users and in our case these admins are the dev team.

[solarpanel6]

Thank you all for your replies, but none of this has been helpful. Can anyone explain step by step, in layman's terms how to fix the "Updates disabled by your system administrator" problem?

[xenopeek]

Thank you all for your replies, but none of this has been helpful. Can anyone explain step by step, in layman's terms how to fix the "Updates disabled by your system administrator" problem?

Nothing is wrong or not working. The wording can be confusing but you get updates for Firefox through Update Manager as normal. This was explained in the post linked to above: https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=4259 (see the heading "Warnings", where it explains this confusing wording). It has zero impact on you.

[lazarus_long]

I was getting annoyed with the constant nags to update, I found these notes with instructions on disabling it. The result is the message "your browser is managed by your organization". Maybe undoing the outlined steps will revert it?

https://superuser.com/questions/1325421 ... ifications

[SMG]

I was getting annoyed with the constant nags to update, I found these notes with instructions on disabling it. The result is the message "your browser is managed by your organization". Maybe undoing the outlined steps will revert it?

https://superuser.com/questions/1325421 ... ifications

It sounds like you have a different issue and should create a new topic for it. Firefox is updated through Update Manager and you should not be getting "nags to update".

[lazarus_long]

I was getting annoyed with the constant nags to update, I found these notes with instructions on disabling it. The result is the message "your browser is managed by your organization". Maybe undoing the outlined steps will revert it?

https://superuser.com/questions/1325421 ... ifications

It sounds like you have a different issue and should create a new topic for it. Firefox is updated through Update Manager and you should not be getting "nags to update".

I think it might have been Firefox on macOS that was nagging me. On linux it is managed by the update manager.

[pocketrocket]

I agree with the person who said the existing wording can create nightmares for people new to Linux but not new to Firefox and system administration. I came across this message as well, and was about to dive into "about:config" changes, when I realized... I didn't install this Firefox. It came "pre-installed" when I installed Linux Mint. Logically, if someone or something other than me installed it, then maybe that entity is updating it. I checked around and found that, indeed, the system itself will update it. The details of how that happens are not clear to me. I assume they'll become obvious when it's time for an update.

The current wording was very unsettling for me. It is very misleading. I have a lot of MS Windows experience. I am the system administrator, and I'm not part of any "organization."
* Updates disabled by your system administrator
* Your browser is being managed by your organization

Better wording: "Updates will be performed by your Linux package manager. Apply Linux updates regularly"
My suggestion is probably not ideal, but as the sys admin, I need to know how I should be behaving differently. I want to be sure to get Firefox updates in a timely fashion. Without experiencing the angst the existing wording produced.

Thank you all for bringing this up. I less isolated knowing I'm not alone in wondering 'what on earth?' when I encounter something like this, as a new Linux user.

Have a great day!

[XP-refugee]

If LM is supplying a a doctored version of Firefox then new naive users need to be clearly informed of what basic things have been changed.

If you in response point at some blog post or documentation that contains this information please also cite the research showing that a vast majority of low-skilled and new users read that blog or documentation.

if I'd come up against this problem, I imagine having a Firefox start page that explains the update situation would have worked for me and would have stopped me wasting an hour or so trying to figure out what was wrong.

[SMG]

If LM is supplying a a doctored version of Firefox then new naive users need to be clearly informed of what basic things have been changed.

If you in response point at some blog post or documentation that contains this information please also cite the research showing that a vast majority of low-skilled and new users read that blog or documentation.

It appears you did not read the blog post or you would know it is not "some blog post". The purpose of the official Mint Blog posted by the Linux Mint project manager which is linked from the official Linux Mint website is to pass along correct information about the product.

All the Linux Mint team can do is provide the information. They can not force you or anyone else to read it.

if I'd come up against this problem, I imagine having a Firefox start page that explains the update situation would have worked for me and would have stopped me wasting an hour or so trying to figure out what was wrong.

You are apparently under the false impression this is a custom Firefox version. It is a standard Firefox version which Mozilla provides to organizations. That is why there is no custom start page explaining the update situation.

[Cosmo.]

If LM is supplying a a doctored version of Firefox then new naive users need to be clearly informed of what basic things have been changed.

Regardless, if you believe that the version is "doctored" (it is only a believe, not a fact), there is always the usual way: Hamburger menu -> help -> about -> new and changed. This was always there and is also in other programs the usual way and it is put there by Mozilla.

if I'd come up against this problem, I imagine having a Firefox start page that explains the update situation would have worked for me and would have stopped me wasting an hour or so trying to figure out what was wrong.

You wasted time, because you did not use the usual way (as shown above), which is present in other greater programs equally.

I know, that not everybody finds things on the usual places. But creating out of this difficulty a rumor about "doctored versions" does not help, the least you. Simply asking would be the right - and btw also an usual - way.

[XP-refugee]

I get it people.

Low skilled users are always wrong.