[Firefox Tip] Restore Green Padlock Icon for Secure HTTPS Websites in Address bar

SUMMARY: This tutorial will help you in restoring Green padlock icon for secure HTTPS websites in Mozilla Firefox address bar. It’ll also help you in showing Extended Validation (EV) certificate name in address bar if a website provides this information. Also you’ll be able to customize Not Secure icon and text for HTTP websites in Firefox address bar.

Many times our bank, email and other organizations advise us that if we are going to open their official website in our web browser, we should always check for Green padlock icon and HTTPS protocol before their website URL in the address bar. The Green padlock icon and HTTPS protocol indicates a safe and secure connection between our web browser and server.

Green_Padlock_Icon_Secure_HTTPS_Websites_Mozilla_Firefox_Addressbar.png

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Many people have become very used to the green padlock icon for secure HTTPS websites and here the problem occurs.

The new version of Mozilla Firefox web browser comes with a new Gray/Grey padlock icon instead of previous Green padlock icon for secure HTTPS websites in the address bar. Now if you try to open an HTTPS website in Firefox newer versions, you’ll notice a gray color padlock icon in place of green icon in the address bar as shown in following screenshot:

Gray_Padlock_Icon_Secure_HTTPS_Websites_Mozilla_Firefox_Addressbar.png

Although it’s a small color change but many people may not like this change as green padlock icon was more visible in address bar. Fortunately Mozilla developer team has provided a preference/flag to restore classic green padlock icon for secure websites in the address bar.

If you also want to replace new gray padlock icon with old green padlock icon for secure HTTPS websites in Firefox address bar, this tutorial will help you.

Following simple and easy steps will help you in restoring classic green padlock icon for secure HTTPS websites in Firefox web browser:

TIP 1: Restore Green Padlock Icon for Secure HTTPS Websites in Address bar

1. Open Mozilla Firefox and type about:config in the addressbar and press Enter. It’ll show you a warning message, click on “I accept the risk!” button. It’ll open Firefox’s hidden secret advanced configuration page i.e. about:config page.

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2. Now type gray in Search filter box and look for following preference in the window:

security.secure_connection_icon_color_gray

The preference value is set to true by default, which means the new Gray color padlock icon is enabled in Firefox address bar.

Restore_Green_Padlock_Icon_Secure_HTTPS_Websites_Mozilla_Firefox_Addressbar.png

3. To replace new gray padlock icon with classic green padlock icon, double-click on security.secure_connection_icon_color_gray preference and set it to false. Alternatively, you can right-click on the preference and select Toggle option.

That’s it. Firefox will immediately start showing old green padlock icon for secure HTTPS websites in the address bar.

PS: If you decide to restore new gray padlock icon in address bar in future, set the value of above mentioned preference to true.

BONUS TIP 1: Restore Extended Validation Certificate Name in Address bar

Apart from replacing green padlock icon with new gray padlock icon, there are some more changes done by Mozilla team regarding secure and not secure websites appearance in the address bar.

For example, Firefox now no longer shows Extended Validation (EV) certificate name in the address bar. In past, whenever you used to visit a popular company website such as PayPal, etc, you used to see its secure certificate name near green padlock icon as shown in following screenshot:

Extended_Validation_Certificate_Information_Secure_HTTPS_Websites_Mozilla_Firefox_Addressbar.png

It used to help website visitors in easily identifying owner information.

Now Firefox doesn’t show Extended Validation (EV) certificate name for any website in address bar. The EV indicator has been moved to the identity popup which is displayed when you click on the padlock icon. If you also want to restore this functionality, following steps will help you:

1. On about:config page, type extended_validation in Search filter box and look for following preference in the window:

security.identityblock.show_extended_validation

The preference value is set to false by default, which means Extended Validation (EV) certificate name is hidden in Firefox address bar.

Restore_EV_Information_Secure_HTTPS_Websites_Mozilla_Firefox_Addressbar.png

2. To enable and show Extended Validation (EV) certificate name in address bar, double-click on security.identityblock.show_extended_validation preference and set it to true. Alternatively, you can right-click on the preference and select Toggle option.

That’s it. Refresh or re-open the website and Firefox will start showing Extended Validation (EV) certificate name for secure HTTPS websites in the address bar.

PS: If you decide to remove Extended Validation (EV) certificate name in address bar in future, set the value of above mentioned preference to false.

BONUS TIP 2: Replace Crossed out Lock Icon with Info Icon for Not Secure HTTP Websites

If you open a not secure HTTP website in newer versions of Firefox browser, you’ll notice that the padlock icon is crossed out. In past, Firefox used to show Info “i” icon in place of padlock icon for insecure HTTP websites.

Long time back we shared a trick to customize Not Secure text and icon in Firefox address bar and fortunately the same trick still works in newer versions of Firefox browser.

You can replace crossed-out padlock icon with Info icon, show/hide “Not Secure” text for HTTP websites in Firefox address bar as shown in following image:

Insecure_Connection_Icon_Mozilla_Firefox_Addressbar.png

Check out following tutorial to learn details about this trick:

[Firefox Tip] Customize Crossed Out Padlock Icon and Text for Not Secure HTTP Websites in Address Bar

Also Check:

[Tip] Restore HTTPS and WWW in Website URLs in Google Chrome Address bar

Published in: Mozilla Firefox

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  1. Hello sir,
    Many users using 3rd party CD/DVD burn/writer tool to properly burn CDs and DVDs for playing multimedia files such as images, audios, videos and even some old retro games. Most users recommended Nero Burning ROM or Nero Express to write CD and DVD, I never burned a CD and DVD because I have no proper information.
    My question is “Is it possible to properly burn or write any CD or DVD without using 3rd party software in Windows 10? So we can play well CD or DVD in all types of CD or DVD players.”

  2. Thank you for this!
    I found that waterfox still shows the green EV bar by default.
    Any idea how to turn the EV bar back on in chrome?

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