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| {{update}}
| | Firefox and Thunderbird Add-ons can be uninstalled using the Add-ons dialog. |
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| ==Extension Manager==
| | # Tools -> Add-ons |
| Extensions and themes can be uninstalled in Firefox and Thunderbird using the Extension Manager, accessed via "Tools -> Extensions" and "Tools -> Themes". Starting in Firefox 2, both extensions and themes are accessed via "Tools -> Add-ons".
| | # Click on the Extensions or Themes button on the top. |
| | # Click on the Extension or Theme you want to uninstall. |
| | # Click Uninstall. |
| | # Restart Firefox or Thunderbird. |
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| If you can't uninstall an extension, then one of the following has occurred:
| | Uninstalling an extension might not completely remove all of the extension's data. For example, if you reinstall the extension, then you might find that it still uses its previous settings. There is no general way to remove all of an extension's data. |
| * You did not completely close the application and restart it. To completely close an application, use its File menu and select "Exit" to ensure that it closes all its windows. Check your system tray and task list to ensure that no part of the application is still running. (See [[kill application]] for some more details.)
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| * The uninstall button and menu item are disabled. This means that the extension is ''locked''. (For example, the default theme is locked.) To uninstall a locked extension, you'll first have to unlock it via [[Safe Mode]].
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| * The extension is listed with a red "generic" icon, or is not listed at all. Older versions of Firefox (0.9 and below) and Thunderbird (0.7 and below) used an older version of the Extension Manager; the problematic extension was not packaged for the new Extension Manager. You'll have to uninstall it manually or use an extension uninstaller (see below). The general recommendation is to [[Profile Manager | create a new profile]] for Firefox or Thunderbird and only install repackaged extensions in it.
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| * The extension repeatedly shows "This item will be uninstalled after you restart Firefox" even after restarting. In this case, do not use the uninstaller extensions. Either [[Profile Manager | create a new profile]] or try uninstalling manually (see below).
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| '''Note: ''' Uninstalling an extension might not completely remove all of the extension's data, even if you remove the extension manually. For example, if you reinstall the extension, then you might find that it still uses its previous settings. There is no general way to remove all of an extension's data. This is because it might store data in a variety of places. If this causes you a problem, try contacting the extension's author or other users of the extension.
| | ==Troubleshooting== |
| | | If you have trouble uninstalling an add-on: |
| ===Using Safe Mode===
| | * Make sure you completely closed the application after clicking Uninstall by using the File menu and selecting "Exit". You can even restart your system to make absolutely sure. |
| | | * If something's wrong with your Firefox or Thunderbird that prevents you from accessing the Add-ons dialog, you can start it in [[Safe Mode]] to uninstall the extension. |
| If you have a broken extension that makes it impossible to access the Extension Manager, you can start the application in [[Safe Mode]]. Once there, you can mark the offending extensions for uninstall, exit the application, and restart in normal mode to complete the uninstall.
| | * If the uninstall button and menu item are disabled, the add-on is ''locked''. To uninstall a locked extension, you'll first have to unlock it via [[Safe Mode]]. |
| | | * The extension repeatedly shows "This item will be uninstalled after you restart Firefox" even after restarting. In this case, do not use the uninstaller extensions. Either [[Profile Manager | create a new profile]] or try uninstalling manually. |
| ==Uninstaller extensions==
| | * If you're using Firefox or Thunderbird 1.5 and you have an entry that ends in ".xpi" and does nothing when clicking on it, delete the following files from your [[profile folder]][http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=341929][https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=319022]: |
| These extensions are useful for [[Firefox]] (pre-0.9), [[Thunderbird]] (pre-0.7), and [[Mozilla Suite]] users.
| | **<tt>extensions.cache</tt> |
| | | **<tt>extensions.ini</tt> |
| ''Do not use these extensions if you have the "This item will be uninstalled after you restart Firefox" message in the extension manager! Either [[Profile Manager | create a new profile]] or see the section below on performing a manual uninstall.''
| | **<tt>extensions.rdf</tt> |
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| *[http://mozmonkey.com/extuninstaller/ Extension Uninstaller] by [http://jgillick.nettripper.com/ Jeremy Gillick], an extension built from the ground up to uninstall extensions. ([http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=78407 Discuss] this in the forums.) [http://update.mozilla.org/ Mozilla Update] links: [http://update.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=203&vid=451] [http://update.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=202&vid=449] | |
| *Uninstaller (''discontinued'') by [http://chrispederick.myacen.com/work/firefox/ Chris Pederick]. An extension which also automates this task. ([http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=53890 Discuss] this in the forums.) | |
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| ==Uninstalling manually==
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| You can uninstall extensions manually, but the procedures are different in recent versions (Firefox 1.5, Thunderbird 1.5, Sunbird 0.3) and in other versions of Mozilla applications (Firefox 1.0.x, Thunderbird 1.0.x, Sunbird 0.2, Mozilla Suite, SeaMonkey).
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| ===Uninstalling in recent versions===
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| These instructions apply to Firefox 1.5, Thunderbird 1.5 and Sunbird 0.3 (including alphas, betas and later releases).
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| | ==Uninstalling an extension manually (Advanced)== |
| [[kill application | Exit your Mozilla application]], go to your [[profile folder]] and open the <tt>extensions</tt> 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 <tt>extensions</tt> directory) | | [[kill application | Exit your Mozilla application]], go to your [[profile folder]] and open the <tt>extensions</tt> 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 <tt>extensions</tt> directory) |
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| If an extension directory there does not have a meaningful name, look inside it for its <tt>install.rdf</tt> file. Open that file in a text editor (such as Notepad) to see which extension the directory contains. Alternatively, in the parent folder <tt>extensions.rdf</tt> contains a list of extensions, their names and corresponding extension GUIDs. | | If an extension directory there does not have a meaningful name, look inside it for its <tt>install.rdf</tt> file. Open that file in a text editor (such as Notepad) to see which extension the directory contains. Alternatively, in the parent folder <tt>extensions.rdf</tt> contains a list of extensions, their names and corresponding extension GUIDs. |
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| ====Global extensions====
| | ==Global extensions== |
| In rare cases, an extension may be [[Installing extensions#Global_installation | installed globally]] so that it can be used from any profile. The extension is placed inside the <tt>extensions</tt> 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 [http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/extensions/commandlineoptions.html]). To manually uninstall a global extension, open the application directory's <tt>extensions</tt> directory (for example, open <tt>C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\extensions</tt>) and remove the directory that corresponds to the extension you want to uninstall [http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=1977486#1977486] (see above). | | In rare cases, an extension may be [[Installing extensions#Global_installation | installed globally]]. Installing an extension globally is something an administrator might do so that the extension can be used by any user on the machine. To manually uninstall a global extension, open the extensions directory in the [[installation directory]]'s and remove the directory that corresponds to the extension you want to uninstall.[http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=1977486#1977486] |
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| ====Problems uninstalling in recent versions====
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| In rare cases, an extension does not completely uninstall when you remove its directory.
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| First check that you really closed the Mozilla application completely. (See [[kill application]] for some more details.) It normally cleans up its Extensions window automatically when restarted. If that does not work, close your Mozilla application and go to your [[profile folder]]. Delete the files:
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| :<tt>extensions.cache</tt><br><tt>extensions.ini</tt><br><tt>extensions.rdf</tt>
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| '''Note:''' If you are just trying to remove a non-functioning "xxxxxxxx.xpi" entry from the Extension Manager, you can also delete these three files, or simply delete the file <tt>extensions.rdf</tt> from the profile folder [http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=341929] ([https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=319022 bug 319022]).
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| Restart your Mozilla application. It should rebuild the files that you deleted.
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| If you continue to have problems, go to your [[profile folder]], make a backup copy of the <tt>[[prefs.js]]</tt> file (as a precaution) and then use [[about:config]] to search for and reset any preferences that may be related to the uninstalled extension.
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| If even that does not work, use the [[Profile Manager]] to create a new profile.
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| ===Uninstalling in other versions===
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| These instructions apply to Firefox 1.0.x, Thunderbird 1.0.x, Sunbird 0.2, Mozilla Suite and SeaMonkey
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| In these other versions, it is strongly recommended that you [[Profile Manager | create a new profile]] instead of uninstalling manually due to the risks and tedium involved in the manual procedure.
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| It's a good idea to [[Profile backup | make backups of your profile folder]] before deleting or changing anything in case something goes wrong.
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| ====Removing profile-installed extensions====
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| You'll need to know the internal "short name" of the extension you're uninstalling. You can find it by searching for the full name in the <tt><profile folder>/chrome/chrome.rdf</tt> file. These instructions do not apply to Firefox 1.5 and Thunderbird 1.5.
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| <ol>
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| <li>Exit the application (Firefox, Thunderbird, or Mozilla Suite) and make sure it is [[kill application | not listed in your process list]].
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| <li>Browse to your [[profile folder]].
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| <li>'''Mozilla Suite users''': Remove the <tt><profile folder>/chrome/[shortname].jar</tt> file.<br>'''All other users''': Remove the <tt><profile folder>/extensions/{extension-GUID}</tt> folder. You can find the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID GUID] for the unwanted extension by looking in the <tt><profile folder>/extensions/extensions.rdf</tt> file or by searching for the <tt>[shortname].jar</tt> file in your <tt>extensions</tt> folder. Make note of the GUID as it will be needed again later in this process.
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| <li>Return to the profile folder and delete the <tt>compreg.dat</tt> and <tt>xul.mfl</tt> files. (The latter file may be called something slightly different, such as <tt>XUL.mfasl</tt>).) These files will be recreated when the browser restarts.
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| <li>Edit the files in <tt><profile folder>/chrome/overlayinfo</tt>. Do a text search to find those that contain [shortname] inside them and remove all entries which look like this: <pre><RDF:li>chrome://[shortname]/[path to file]</RDF:li></pre>
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| <li>Edit the <tt><profile folder>/chrome/chrome.rdf</tt> file. Remove all entries referencing the extension. See [[Uninstalling_extensions#The_list_of_possible_chrome.rdf_entries|the list of possible entries]].
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| <li>'''Firefox and Thunderbird users''': Edit <tt><profile folder>/extensions/extensions.rdf</tt>. Remove the entry that looks like this: <pre><RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:mozilla:extension:{[GUID]}"
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| em:name="QuickNote"
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| [more info]>
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| [more info]
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| <em:targetApplication RDF:resource="rdf:[junk]"/>
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| </RDF:Description></pre>
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| <li>'''Firefox and Thunderbird users''': Return to the profile folder and edit <tt>components.ini</tt> and <tt>defaults.ini</tt> and remove any lines which contain the GUID of the extension being uninstalled.
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| <li>Remove extension-related preferences from the [[user.js file]] and prefs.js.
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| </ol>
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| <p>
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| Some extensions also create extra files on your hard drive. For example, [http://menueditor.mozdev.org/ Menu Editor] stores its data in a <tt>menuedit.rdf</tt> file in your [[profile folder]] and [http://piro.sakura.ne.jp/xul/tabextensions/index.html.en TBE] uses <tt>tabextensions.js</tt>. You might want to remove those too.
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| </p>
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| =====The list of possible chrome.rdf entries=====
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| <RDF:li RDF:resource="urn:mozilla:package:[shortname]"/>
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| <RDF:li RDF:resource="urn:mozilla:locale:[locale]:[shortname]"/>
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| <RDF:li RDF:resource="urn:mozilla:skin:[skin]:[shortname]"/>
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| <RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:mozilla:["locale"/"skin"]:[locale/skin]:[shortname]"
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| c:baseURL="[path]">
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| <c:package RDF:resource="urn:mozilla:package:[shortname]"/>
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| </RDF:Description>
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| <RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:mozilla:package:[shortname]"
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| c:baseURL="[path]"
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| [a lot more info]>
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| <c:selectedLocale RDF:resource="urn:mozilla:locale:[locale]:[shortname]"/>
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| <c:selectedSkin RDF:resource="urn:mozilla:skin:[skin]:[shortname]"/>
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| </RDF:Description>
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| ====Removing a globally-installed extension====
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| Firefox 0.9+ and Thunderbird 0.7+, by default, install their extensions into the profile folder, so this section will not apply to those users. Mozilla Suite users are still able to install their extensions globally (that is, in their Mozilla Suite program installation directory and not their profile folder).
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| # Exit Mozilla Suite.
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| # Browse to the "chrome" subfolder of your Mozilla Suite [[installation directory]] (usually <tt>C:\Program Files\mozilla.org\Mozilla\chrome</tt> for Windows users; for Mac users, Ctrl-Click the Mozilla Application folder package and select "Show Package Contents" and browse to <tt> /Applications/Mozilla.app/Contents/MacOS/chrome</tt>).
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| # Modify <tt>chrome.rdf</tt> and the files in your "overlay" folder as described above in the "Optional steps" section.
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| # Delete <tt>[extensionname].jar</tt> (or the [extensionname] directory if it has one).
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| # Remove every line with a reference to the extension's name from <tt>installed-chrome.txt</tt>. Usually there are up to three such lines corresponding to content, locale and skin.
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| # A few extensions might use additional files. [[Commonly_Used_Words#Extensions|TBE]], for example, creates the file <tt>tabextensions.js</tt> in <tt><application folder>/defaults/pref/</tt> in which to store its defaults. Search through your installation directory for such files and delete them.
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| [[Category:Installation and update (Firefox)]] | | [[Category:Installation and update (Firefox)]] |
