So you installed a new version of Firefox or installed an update and now your favorite extension is no longer working. It has been disabled by Firefox. Do you want to re-enable your favorite extension or want to install an incompatible extension in Firefox?
Don't worry! You have come to the right place. This tutorial will help you in making your favorite extensions compatible with Mozilla Firefox and will also help you in installing incompatible extensions.
Many times a few already installed extensions are automatically disabled after updating Firefox version or you can't install a new extension because its not compatible with Firefox version. It happens because the developer didn't update the extension or the developer failed to code the extension compatibility version properly.
Anyway there are a few possible methods, which can be used to make any extension working in Firefox even if it was disabled because of the compatibility issues:
- Using Nightly Tester Tools extension
- Using Add-on Compatibility Reporter extension
- Using Firefox built-in about:config tool
A. Using Nightly Tester Tools Extension:
"Nightly Tester Tools" is a great extension for Mozilla Firefox which can help you in installing an incompatible extension or enabling an already disabled extension.
You can download it from following link:
It also provides many other useful features like:
- Customize Firefox titlebar text
- Copy build tag to clipboard
- Copy list of installed extensions to clipboard
- Open profile folder
- Take screenshot
B. Using Add-on Compatibility Reporter Extension:
Add-on Compatibility Reporter is an official Mozilla Firefox extension developed by Mozilla itself which automatically enables incompatible extensions and let you report them to Mozilla.
This extension allows you to test whether your favorite extensions still work with the version of Firefox that you're using. If you notice that one of your add-ons doesn't seem to be working the same way it did in previous versions of the application, just open the Add-ons Manager and click Compatibility next to that add-on to send a report to Mozilla.
You can download and install it using following link:
Download Add-on Compatibility Reporter
Thanks to our readers "Archy" and "carbonize" for mentioning it...
C. Using Firefox built-in about:config Tool:
1. Type about:config in Firefox addressbar and press Enter. It'll confirm, click on I'll be careful, I promise! button.
2. Now right-click and select "New -> Boolean". Give it name:
extensions.checkCompatibility.3.6 (For Firefox 3.6)
extensions.checkCompatibility.4.0 (For Firefox 4.0)
extensions.checkCompatibility.5.0 (For Firefox 5.0)
extensions.checkCompatibility.6.0 (For Firefox 6.0)
extensions.checkCompatibility.7.0 (For Firefox 7.0)
extensions.checkCompatibility.8.0 (For Firefox 8.0)
extensions.checkCompatibility.9.0 (For Firefox 9.0)
extensions.checkCompatibility.10.0 (For Firefox 10.0)
extensions.checkCompatibility.11.0b (For Firefox 11.0 Beta)
extensions.checkCompatibility.12.0a (For Firefox 12.0 Alpha)
extensions.checkCompatibility.13.0a (For Firefox 13.0 Alpha)
And set its value to false.
3. Again right-click and select "New -> Boolean". Give it name extensions.checkUpdateSecurity and set its value to false.
4. That's it. You have done. Restart your browser and now all disabled extensions will be enabled and you'll be able to install new incompatible extensions as well.
NOTE: You can also change value of extensions.lastAppVersion to the version no which is compatible with your favorite extension. After installing the extension, you can revert back the value. It'll not affect the installed extension.
BONUS TIP: There is another method to hack .rdf file of the extension and change the maxversion value to make the extension compatible. But its a complicated method and is not required or recommended when we have the above mentioned easy methods.
This article was posted by VG in following section: Mozilla Firefox, Troubleshooting.
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Omi Azad
Uhu,
Could not install Google Toolbar on my Minefield. :(
Anmol
i couldn't install mcafee site advisor
khalid4ever
nice tutorial Vishal :)
excuse me VG may i know the name of the theme u r using on Firefox !!
i like so much ;)
best regards
Omi Azad
@khalid4ever
I think it's simple FF3 on Vista. If you are on Vista, you will see windows like that. :)
khalid4ever
^^ tnx Omi for reply ;)
i'm running XP :'(
wish i have a theme liken this on XP :)
VG
Hi Khalid
Omi is right. Its Windows vista and the theme which I'm using is "AeroVG". ;)
Sora
Hi Vishal,
I tried this to enable crawler toolbar on firefox 3 but it made firefox 3 unable to start, i had to disable it in the safe mode but is there anyway to make it compatible with firefox?
VG
^^ It means its not compatible with Firefox 3.0 and you can't do anything except waiting for an update from the extension developer.
Piyush
Hey there looking like that a bug has gotten into my firefox v3.0.1,same like the previous versions due to a crash it has stop working on downloading links,images etc. :?: while it still downloads only ZIP & archives files.Pls. Help out here & when i clicks a link,the throbber in tab circulates but downloading doesn't starts & page suddenly stops loading.I've tried to fix this via reinstalling but it doesn't worked.
VG
^^ Try to run it in safe mode using its safe mode option from start menu and see whether you still face the same problem or not. It might be a problem of an extension.