Search engine plugins in FF 21

[Wayne]

I lost my many custom search plugins when upgrading. I tried
removing the search.* files to no avail. I then discovered that
the searchplugins folder in the installation location (on my
Windows 7 system, that's C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins)
is NOW IGNORED.

By moving all the xml files from there to the searchplugins folder
under my profile, they reappeared. (I also removed the search.json
and the search-metadata.json files, but I don't know if that was necessary.)

Thought I should post this in case others had the same problem.

--
Wayne

[Christian Riechers]

Some folder locations have changed in Firefox 21. One of them is
searchplugins -> browser/searchplugins
http://www.ghacks.net/2013/05/15/why-you-may-have-lost-access-to-plugins-or-extensions-in-firefox-21/

--
Christian

[Wayne]

Thanks. But why didn't the installer move them? Seems like a bug to me?

--
Wayne

[Peter Holsberg]

Christian Riechers has written on 5/22/2013 5:00 PM:

> On 05/22/2013 10:49 PM, Wayne wrote:
>> I lost my many custom search plugins when upgrading. I tried
>> removing the search.* files to no avail. I then discovered that
>> the searchplugins folder in the installation location (on my
>> Windows 7 system, that's C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins)
>> is NOW IGNORED.
>>
>> By moving all the xml files from there to the searchplugins folder
>> under my profile, they reappeared. (I also removed the search.json
>> and the search-metadata.json files, but I don't know if that was necessary.)
>>
>> Thought I should post this in case others had the same problem.
>
> Some folder locations have changed in Firefox 21. One of them is
> searchplugins -> browser/searchplugins

What is the full pathname of browser/searchplugins?

Thanks.

I see that I have both Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Firefox.bak under
C:\Program Files (x86).

[Christian Riechers]

On 05/23/2013 01:27 AM, Peter Holsberg wrote:
> Christian Riechers has written on 5/22/2013 5:00 PM:
>> On 05/22/2013 10:49 PM, Wayne wrote:
>>> I lost my many custom search plugins when upgrading. I tried
>>> removing the search.* files to no avail. I then discovered that
>>> the searchplugins folder in the installation location (on my
>>> Windows 7 system, that's C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins)
>>> is NOW IGNORED.
>>>
>>> By moving all the xml files from there to the searchplugins folder
>>> under my profile, they reappeared. (I also removed the search.json
>>> and the search-metadata.json files, but I don't know if that was necessary.)
>>>
>>> Thought I should post this in case others had the same problem.
>>
>> Some folder locations have changed in Firefox 21. One of them is
>> searchplugins -> browser/searchplugins
>
> What is the full pathname of browser/searchplugins?

It's the installation directory, what ever directory that is on your system.

> I see that I have both Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Firefox.bak under
> C:\Program Files (x86).

I'd assume the .bak one is redundant and can be deleted.

--
Christian

[Christian Riechers]

Good point. It certainly did work fine here. You may want to search
Bugzilla for such bug report(s).

--
Christian

[Peter Holsberg]

Christian Riechers has written on 5/24/2013 1:39 PM:

Thanks but you know what they say about assumptions! :-)

[Christian Riechers]

On 05/24/2013 08:01 PM, Peter Holsberg wrote:
> Christian Riechers has written on 5/24/2013 1:39 PM:
>> On 05/23/2013 01:27 AM, Peter Holsberg wrote:
>>> Christian Riechers has written on 5/22/2013 5:00 PM:
>>>> On 05/22/2013 10:49 PM, Wayne wrote:
>>>>> I lost my many custom search plugins when upgrading. I tried
>>>>> removing the search.* files to no avail. I then discovered that
>>>>> the searchplugins folder in the installation location (on my
>>>>> Windows 7 system, that's C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins)
>>>>> is NOW IGNORED.
>>>>>
>>>>> By moving all the xml files from there to the searchplugins folder
>>>>> under my profile, they reappeared. (I also removed the search.json
>>>>> and the search-metadata.json files, but I don't know if that was necessary.)
>>>>>
>>>>> Thought I should post this in case others had the same problem.
>>>>
>>>> Some folder locations have changed in Firefox 21. One of them is
>>>> searchplugins -> browser/searchplugins
>>>
>>> What is the full pathname of browser/searchplugins?
>>
>> It's the installation directory, what ever directory that is on your system.
>
> C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\

If you see browser/searchplugins in C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla
Firefox, then this is the correct one.

>>> I see that I have both Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Firefox.bak under
>>> C:\Program Files (x86).
>>
>> I'd assume the .bak one is redundant and can be deleted.
>
> Thanks but you know what they say about assumptions! :-)

Yes, I know. If you want to be on the safe side, uninstall Firefox and
see what directory is left. That's the redundant one. Then re-install
Firefox. Your profile will be kept.
I doesn't hurt to have a full profile backup though.

--
Christian