Using Firefox/Installation

Getting Firefox

Firefox can be downloaded from this page. Pressing the large green button will download Firefox. To get a version of Firefox in another language or operating system, see this page.

Installing

Microsoft Windows

Firefox's installer on Windows 10.

The current Windows version of Firefox supports Windows 7 and later, and is distributed as an installer called Firefox Setup (version).exe, where (version) corresponds to the version of Firefox you're installing. You won't need to do this process after Firefox is installed; Firefox checks for updates in the background and installs the update on the next launch.

To install Firefox, double click on the installer and follow the installation instructions. Choosing the standard installation is recommended for most new users. This will install Firefox under Program Files, and create a desktop and start menu shortcut. These can be changed by clicking "Custom installation" instead.

You can run Firefox from the Program Files entry or by double-clicking the Firefox icon on your desktop. The first run of Firefox will give you the option of importing your settings from Microsoft Edge (or any other browser installed on your computer). Choosing 'Yes' will import all your bookmarks (also known as favorites), saved passwords, history and browsing options. After it finishes importing all these settings, the Firefox browser will start up and a dialog box will pop up alerting you that Firefox is not set as the default browser. Selecting 'Yes' will associate Firefox with web related files on your PC and Firefox will also open when links are selected from (most) external applications, such as from an instant messenger.

Firefox should automatically appear on Windows's Start Menu. However, if it doesn't, it can be manually set.

Firefox MacOSX Disc Image

Mac OS X

Double click on the compressed Disk Image to mount it. Drag the Firefox application icon to the "Applications" folder on your hard drive. Do not double-click the Firefox icon inside the Disk Image; doing so can cause a program hang. To make Firefox always appear in the dock, drag the icon from the "Applications" folder to the dock.

Linux distributions

Many distributions include Firefox by default. Check your distribution's documentation for details. There should be a Firefox icon in your desktop environment's program menu.

If your distribution does not come with Firefox pre-installed, it may be in the repository. Go to your package manager and search for firefox. Look for a firefox or sometimes firefox-esr package and install it. The package manager may tell you that the package will require dependencies to install. Once installed, Firefox may appear in the menu. If you are using your OS repository, you may not have access to the latest version, but should be safe and the system will manage the updates for you.

If your distribution does not include or carry Firefox, you can download it from the official Firefox website. Once the download is complete, decompress the file, which can be done usually by opening the file in a file archiver (such as ark or file roller) and extract it to another folder. Alternatively, typing tar -xvzf firefox-<version>.tar.gz or tar -xvzf firefox* at a command line will generate directory named "firefox." This directory can be moved anywhere. Typing ./firefox in the shell from the install directory should launch Firefox. You may need to use chmod +x firefox to give it execution permissions.

Usually, for manual installation you would put the files in the next locations:
Executables: /usr/lib/firefox
If not available: /lib/firefox
Desktop file: /usr/share/applications/firefox.destop
This can also be done with thunderbird, Mozilla's email client.

Your desktop file should look like this (based on Fedora's version):

[Desktop Entry] Version=1.0 Name=Firefox GenericName=Web Browser Comment=Browse the Web Exec=/usr/lib/firefox/firefox %u Icon=firefox Terminal=false Type=Application MimeType=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml;text/mml;x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https; StartupNotify=true Categories=Network;WebBrowser; Keywords=web;browser;internet; Actions=new-window;new-private-window;profile-manager-window; X-Desktop-File-Install-Version=0.24 [Desktop Action new-window] Name=Open a New Window Exec=/usr/lib/firefox/firefox --new-window %u [Desktop Action new-private-window] Name=Open a New Private Window Exec=/usr/lib/firefox/firefox --private-window %u [Desktop Action profile-manager-window] Name=Open the Profile Manager Exec=/usr/lib/firefox/firefox --ProfileManager

Flatpak

There also is available a Flatpak version of Firefox. You can install it by running on your terminal sudo flatpak install flathub org.mozilla.firefox . You will need the flathub repository for this. You can add it via sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo . If you have not Flatpak you can get setup here: https://www.flatpak.org/setup/ .
There also is an snap version. You can install it via: sudo snap install firefox.

Those options will always keep you up to date.

Mobile Phones

Android

Firefox 89 for Android.

Firefox for Android can be installed from the Google Play store. It can also be installed on open source android repos like F-Droid.

Unlike many mobile browsers, Firefox for Android supports installing add-ons, allowing you to customize your mobile browsing experience.

iOS

iOS can be installed from the official app store. While Firefox on iOS is somewhat different from other versions, it still supports many features and syncing with Firefox for other platforms.

Other Operating Systems

Since the Mozilla Foundation makes the Firefox source code available, users can also compile and run Firefox on a variety of other architectures and operating systems. Building source code can be hard if you are a beginner in informatics, it will require building dependence packages and a compiler. Operating systems not supported by Firefox, but known to run the browser include:

• Solaris (x86 and SPARC)
• OS/2
• AIX
• FreeBSD
• PC-BSD
• NetBSD
• BeOS
• SkyOS
• RISC OS (ARM)
• OpenBSD