Uninstalling add-ons
Firefox Extension Manager
Extension Manager in Firefox 0.9 and above is capable of uninstalling extensions. It is available as Tools -> Extensions menu item.
If you can't uninstall an extension with the EM in Firefox 0.9 or later, it means that:
- The extension in question is "locked" (the uninstall button/menu item is disabled). An example of such extension is DOM Inspector. You'll have to unlock it before uninstalling.
- The extension was not packaged for Firefox 0.9 or later (it has a red "generic" icon or not listed in the EM at all). You'll have to uninstall it manually or using an extension uninstaller (see the sections below). The general recommendation is: create a new profile for 0.9 and only install repackaged extensions in it.
- Or you've got bitten by a bug in the Extension Manager ("This item will be uninstalled after you restart Firefox" forever) and/or the extension in question was poorly packaged. Do not use uninstaller extensions in this case. Either start a new profile or try uninstalling manually (see section below).
Uninstalling manually
Until the uninstall feature for extensions is implemented (bug 170006), use this procedure to uninstall extensions:
- Exit Mozilla Firefox.
- Browse to the "chrome" directory of your Mozilla Firefox application directory.
- Delete "chrome.rdf" and the "overlayinfo" directory (they will regenerated on next Firefox startup).
- Delete [extensionname].jar (or the [extensionname] directory, if it has one).
- Remove every line with a reference to [extensionname] from "installed-chrome.txt". Usually there are two: one to the content and one to the locale.
- A few extensions might use additional files. TBE, for examplem has a "tabextensions.js" in "[/path/to/firefox]/defaults/pref/" to store its defaults in. Search through your application dir for such files and delete them.
- Restart Mozilla Firefox.
It's probably a good idea to make backups of the files/directories before deleting/changing anything to be able to restore the status quo in case anything goes wrong.
Note: The procedure above applies only to extensions that are installed in the application directory. To remove extensions from the profile, your safest course of action is to create a new profile and transfer over files from the previous one.
Extensions
Do not use these extensions if you get the "This item will be uninstalled after you restart Firefox" message (after uninstalling and restarting Firefox) in extension manager! Start a new profile or follow the steps in "Uninstalling manually" section instead.
- Extension Uninstaller by Jeremy Gillick, an extension built from the ground up to uninstall extensions. Discuss this in the forums. Update.mozilla.org links: [1] [2]
- Uninstaller (discontinued) by Chris Pederick, an extension, automates this task. Discuss this in the forums.
