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Duplicate Firefox Installations

Hi everyone,

Every other month or so, we'll get some vulnerability alerts saying that some machines have an outdated version of Firefox installed. We'll go in to the systems to see why the patching may have failed only to find that there are two installations of Firefox, one in the "Program Files" folder and one in the "Program Files (x86)" folder. One of them is updated to the newest version, but the other is lagging behind and no longer updated, hence the alert.

I have gone through manually and removed the second out-of-date version on some occasions, made scripts to clean out the offending out-of-date folder and even wiped and reinstalled Firefox completely off of some machines, only to have some pop back up in the alerts for the same reason a few months later.

I was curious if anyone else had this issue at any point, what you did to fix it and what is the cause/how to trace the cause. Thanks.

EDIT: Also, I'm just realizing now, but I should've mentioned that even though we are ending up with an install in both the Program Files (x86) and Program Files folders, both installs are the 64-bit version of Firefox


4 Comments   [ + ] Show comments
  • Are either of the installs the "ESR" version of Firefox? Are you using the Patching module to patch Firefox? Is the non-updating version of Firefox always in the same folder? - JasonEgg 4 years ago
    • Neither are ESR, KACE is taking care of the updates and it's never the same folder across the board.

      As a side note, since FF requires you to open it to apply the newest patch, regardless of which FF is actually set as the default, if the user has a desktop shortcut or pinned item that is connected to one or the other, that one will always be the one that is up-to-date. - nscelza 4 years ago
  • Which version of KACE are you on? Can you post your patch subscription settings and a sample patch schedule that should update Firefox? - JasonEgg 4 years ago
    • We are on the newest version (10.0.290) and this has been happening for over a year now.

      Not sure how to share a screenshot on here, but our subscription settings are pretty straightforward for our workstations since we only use Windows 10 and 7.

      Our schedule has the SMA go and do a detect on our systems throughout the day on Wednesday and then does a deploy throughout the day on Thursday.

      Also, I'm just realizing now, but I should've mentioned that even though we are ending up with an install in both the Program Files (x86) and Program Files folders, both installs are the 64-bit version of Firefox - nscelza 4 years ago
  • In Subscription settings, what is the enable/disable status of these: "Activate New Patches," "Inactivate Superseded Patches," & "Detect Disabled Patches"

    Are your patch download settings "All subscribed files" or "Files detected as missing"? Do you install FF on all computers? If so, by what method? - JasonEgg 4 years ago
  • "Activate New Patches," "Inactivate Superseded Patches," & "Detect Disabled Patches" are all checked.

    Download settings are "Files Detected as missing"

    Firefox is installed on all computers as part of a Post-Installation Task, but there is also a Managed Install in case it errors out while installing or is deleted at some point. - nscelza 4 years ago

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