Uninstall Firefox from your computer

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This article describes how to uninstall the Firefox application for supported operating systems. If you are planning to uninstall and reinstall Firefox to fix problems you may be having, you should first read Troubleshoot and diagnose Firefox problems.

Uninstall Firefox

To uninstall Firefox, follow these steps:

  1. Close Firefox (if Firefox is open): Click the Firefox menu Fx89menuButton and select Exit.Click the Firefox menu at the top of the screen and select Quit Firefox.Click the Firefox menu Fx89menuButton and select Quit.
  2. Open the Applications folder in Finder.
  3. Drag the Firefox application to the Trash.

Your uninstall of Firefox is finished.

Uninstall Firefox

If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux for details. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder firefox in your home directory to uninstall Firefox.

Remove user data and settings

Uninstalling Firefox does not remove your user profile, which includes personal information such as bookmarks, passwords and cookies. If you also want to remove this information, you should remove the folder that contains your Firefox profile, which is stored in a separate location from the Firefox program.

  1. If you want to preserve your bookmarks, passwords, cookies, and other user data and settings, see Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.
  2. Delete the firefox folder that contains your profile folder and the profiles.ini file Delete the Firefox folder that contains the Profiles folder and the profiles.ini file - see How do I find my profile? for the location.

Uninstall Firefox

To begin the process of uninstalling Firefox, follow these steps:

  1. Close Firefox (if Firefox is open): Click the Firefox menu Fx89menuButton and select Exit.Click the Firefox menu at the top of the screen and select Quit Firefox.Click the Firefox menu Fx89menuButton and select Quit.
  2. Click the Windows Start button and select Control Panel.
    Control Panel - WinXP
  3. In the Control Panel window, click on Add or Remove Programs. The Add or Remove Programs window will open.
  4. From the list of currently installed programs, select Mozilla Firefox.
  5. To begin the uninstall, click the Remove button to the right of Mozilla Firefox.
    If the Uninstall Wizard does not run, you can start it manually by running helper.exe, which is located by default in C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\uninstall\helper.exe.
  6. In the Mozilla Firefox Uninstall Wizard that opens, click Next.
  7. Click Uninstall.
    • If Firefox is still open, you must close Firefox to proceed with the uninstall.
  8. Click Finish.
  9. To remove other files and folders that may not be removed by the uninstall, you must manually delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located by default in C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox.
  1. Close Firefox (if Firefox is open): Click the Firefox menu Fx89menuButton and select Exit.Click the Firefox menu at the top of the screen and select Quit Firefox.Click the Firefox menu Fx89menuButton and select Quit.
  2. Click the Windows Start button or press the Windows key Windows Key.
  3. In the Start Menu, click Control Panel.
    Control Panel - Win7
  4. In the Control Panel window, click the Uninstall a program link under the Programs section.
    Uninstall a program - Win7
  5. From the list of currently installed programs, select Mozilla Firefox.
  6. To begin the uninstall, click the Uninstall button at the top of the list.
    If the Mozilla Firefox Uninstall window does not open, you can start it manually by running helper.exe, which is normally found in one of these locations by default:
    C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\uninstall\helper.exe
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\uninstall\helper.exe
  7. The Mozilla Firefox Uninstall window will open.
  1. Close Firefox (if Firefox is open): Click the Firefox menu Fx89menuButton and select Exit.Click the Firefox menu at the top of the screen and select Quit Firefox.Click the Firefox menu Fx89menuButton and select Quit.
  2. From the Start Screen, click the Desktop tile. The Desktop view will open.
  3. From the Desktop, hover in the lower right-hand corner to access the Charms.
  4. Select Control Panel from the Settings charm. The Control Panel window will open.

    Control Panel - Win8
  5. In the Control Panel window, click the Uninstall a program link under the Programs section.
    Uninstall a program - Win7
  6. From the list of currently installed programs, select Mozilla Firefox.
  7. To begin the uninstall, click the Uninstall button at the top of the list.
    If the Mozilla Firefox Uninstall window does not open, you can start it manually by running helper.exe, which is normally found in one of these locations by default:
    C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\uninstall\helper.exe
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\uninstall\helper.exe
  8. The Mozilla Firefox Uninstall window will open.
  1. Close Firefox (if Firefox is open): Click the Firefox menu Fx89menuButton and select Exit.Click the Firefox menu at the top of the screen and select Quit Firefox.Click the Firefox menu Fx89menuButton and select Quit.
  2. Click the Windows Start button or press the Windows key Windows Key.
  3. In the Start menu, select Settings.
  4. In Settings, select System and then Apps & features.
    Windows 10 apps features
  5. From the list of currently installed programs, select Mozilla Firefox.
  6. To begin the uninstall, click Uninstall.
    If the Mozilla Firefox Uninstall window does not open, you can start it manually by running helper.exe, which is normally found in one of these locations by default:
    C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\uninstall\helper.exe
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\uninstall\helper.exe
  7. The Mozilla Firefox Uninstall window will open.
Fx77UninstallerFx79Uninstaller-Refresh
Note: Instead of uninstalling Firefox, you can try the Refresh Firefox option included in the uninstaller. This can fix many issues by restoring default settings and removing add-ons.

Complete the Mozilla Firefox Uninstall

To continue uninstalling Firefox, follow these steps:

  1. Click Next in the Mozilla Firefox Uninstall window.
    • The next window that opens will show the location of the Firefox program that will be uninstalled.
    Fx79Uninstaller2Fx77Uninstaller2
  2. Click Uninstall.
    • If Firefox is still open, you must close Firefox to proceed with the uninstall.
  3. Click Finish to complete the uninstall.
  4. To remove other files and folders that may not be removed by the uninstall, you must manually delete the Firefox program folder from the location shown in the Uninstall Mozilla Firefox window (normally by default, C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox or C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox).

Remove user data and settings

The uninstaller does not remove any user data such as history or bookmarks. If you wish to completely remove this data, you must manually delete the Firefox folder containing your user profile:

  1. Click the Windows Start button and select Run….
  2. Type in %APPDATA% in the Run prompt then click OK.
  3. Open the Mozilla folder.
  4. Delete the Firefox folder.
  1. Click the Start button or press the Windows key Windows Key to open the Start Menu.
  2. Type %APPDATA% in the search field and press enter to open the hidden Roaming folder.
  3. Open the Mozilla folder.
  4. Delete the Firefox folder.
  1. From the Start Screen, click the Desktop tile. The Desktop view will open.
  2. From the Desktop, hover in the lower right-hand corner to access the Charms.
  3. Select the Search charm. The Search sidebar will open.
  4. Type %APPDATA% in the search field and press enter to open the hidden Roaming folder.
  5. Open the Mozilla folder.
  6. Delete the Firefox folder.
  1. Click the Start button or press the Windows key Windows Key to open the Start Menu.
  2. Type %APPDATA% (when you start typing, a Windows search will start) and press enter to open the hidden Roaming folder.
  3. Open the Mozilla folder.
  4. Delete the Firefox folder.
Alternatively, you can press the Windows key Windows Key+R to open a Run dialog, type in %APPDATA%\Mozilla\ and click OK to open the Mozilla folder, then delete the Firefox folder.



Based on information from Uninstalling Firefox (mozillaZine KB)