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After uninstalling Firefox and downloading a fresh copy, I keep getting "Your computer must be restarted to complete a previous UNINSTALL of Firefox."

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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Tried to update to Firefox 10 from 5, kept getting "Your computer must be restarted to complete a previous upgrade of Firefox." I tried a few suggestions here including deleting certain files and uninstalling Firefox. I managed to uninstall Firefox, and download a fresh copy, but now I keep getting "Your computer must be restarted to complete a previous UNINSTALL of Firefox." I am at my wits' end. Thank you.

Tried to update to Firefox 10 from 5, kept getting "Your computer must be restarted to complete a previous upgrade of Firefox." I tried a few suggestions here including deleting certain files and uninstalling Firefox. I managed to uninstall Firefox, and download a fresh copy, but now I keep getting "Your computer must be restarted to complete a previous UNINSTALL of Firefox." I am at my wits' end. Thank you.

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Which Operating System are you using?

Try to run the Firefox program once as Administrator (right-click firefox.exe: Run as Administrator).
If that doesn't solve the problem then remove the Firefox program folder (C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\) to do a clean reinstall.


If files already have been downloaded then remove the files in the updates and updates\0 folder.
You can also delete active-update.xml and possibly updates.xml (stores the update history).

XP:

C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Mozilla Firefox\updates
(%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Mozilla Firefox)

Vista/Windows 7:

C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Mozilla Firefox\updates
(%LOCALAPPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Mozilla Firefox)

Do a clean (re)install and delete the Firefox program folder (C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\).

Download a fresh Firefox copy and save the file to the desktop.

Uninstall your current Firefox version, if possible.

  • Do NOT remove personal data when you uninstall the current version or you lose your bookmarks and other data because all profile folders will be removed.

Remove the Firefox program folder before installing that newly downloaded copy of the Firefox installer.

Your bookmarks and other profile data are stored elsewhere in the Firefox Profile Folder and won't be affected by a reinstall, but make sure that you do not select to remove personal data if you uninstall Firefox.