Firefox Extension and Themes Don't Show Up Post-Install

January 28, 2005 11:07 AM

FireFoxExtension/Theme Filter
I have been using FireFox for a while now and prefer it to other browser offerings but am having a recurring issue that I can't seem to find any help on. Everytime I try to download and install a new theme or extension, it downloads, FireFox asks me if I want to install it, it appears to install it but the extension or theme never shows up in the relevant window. Did I change some setting to break the extensions? (MI)

Somehow, some of the extensions actually seem to be usable, like the BugMeNot one. But it still doesn't show up in the window. And none of the themes show up at all ever.

Also, somehow, FireFox is no longer digesting Java properly even with all the requisite check boxes checked. I've tried reinstalling it but it doesn't make any difference.

posted by fenriq to computers & internet (6 comments total)

Which version of Firefox are you on? I had the same issue with a previous version (on OS X), but everything is perfect with the latest release.
posted by fionab at 11:26 AM on January 28, 2005

Themes and extensions that are not compatible with the version of Firefox you are using will do that sometimes: appear to install but then disappear. Check if they are the latest versions.

That said, if you are having many different problems, or if you are sure that the extensions are compatible, you may have a corrupt profile. Try and create a new profile and install an extension or two. See if it fixes the problem. If it does, copy over your passwords and cookies and reinstall the rest of your extensions.
posted by sic at 11:26 AM on January 28, 2005

What sic said. There seems to be a lot of extensions that have been broken by the latest Firefox releases. If the author hasn't updated the extension in a while, it often appears to install without throwing an error, but fails to appear or be usable. Check your version of Firefox against any extension you download. Hopefully the Firefox folk will implement some kind of version compatibility check in future releases. Now that they're beyond 1.0, perhaps things will stabilize a bit, anyhow.
posted by normy at 11:44 AM on January 28, 2005

The beta 0.7 release ran like a top, super fast, never crashed and never burped on digesting Java.

When I upgraded to the 1.0 Release is when the problems began.

I will try sic's suggestion on the profiles and see how that goes.

Thanks for your thoughts, folks!
posted by fenriq at 11:48 AM on January 28, 2005

The weird and annoying aspect of this is that many extensions are compatible with 1.0 but the authors haven't gotten around to updating them to indicate it. I've found it helpful to check the author's website, if they have one, rather than the Mozilla site, for updates.
posted by tommasz at 12:39 PM on January 28, 2005

Update: sic wins! A new profile solved all of the issues and it just took a little time to get the bookmarks imported and I've got a whole new, super fast browser again.

Thanks for the help!
posted by fenriq at 10:17 AM on January 31, 2005