Windows 7 vs. Windows 10 Compatibility (Solved)

[John Liebson]

I have updated two computers to Firefox 43.0, and found some inconsistencies between Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 in terms of extensions working in the former, not in the latter.

The most important such is Cookie Monster 1.2.5.1--signed, which works under Windows 7, but not under Windows 10, where it is labeled as incompatible. I was able to reinstall it under Windows 10, but it remained disabled, and there is no 'Enable' button present.

There are a few more such problems, but as this is the only one I consider to be important, I will limit this thread to this one extension. Any idea(s) as to why this situation exists, and, if so, how it/they might be overridden?

[Brummelchen]

if something is marked as incompatible you should get a newer version or uninstall. its not windows 10, its the extension.

win8 - test - installation successful, working fine (clean profile) - next stop win10
https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/a ... e-monster/

There are a few more such problems

those are?
i use same profile(s) on several windows without any trouble. (only cosmetics which are made by win10)

not sure if your request is right in this section. if it concerns special extension please find the proper thread.

[John Liebson]

if something is marked as incompatible you should get a newer version or uninstall. its not windows 10, its the extension.

win8 - test - installation successful, working fine (clean profile) - next stop win10 ;)
https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/a ... e-monster/

There are a few more such problems

those are?
i use same profile(s) on several windows without any trouble. (only cosmetics which are made by win10)

not sure if your request is right in this section. if it concerns special extension please find the proper thread.

That makes no sense: For example, Cookie Manager is the exact same release on both computers, and is the latest version.

I did fix Free Download Manager on the Windows 10 computer, as a newer version is available; curiously, it uses the same Fx extension as the slightly older version.

Again, I am going to limit this to Cookie Manager, as it is the critical one--and I have not had the time yet to see if the others that don't work for our Windows 10 computer do need updating, which I doubt, given that no update notifications have appeared in Fx for any of those others.

As for where I posted this thread, that was, and remains, my choice, especially as I do have concerns about those other extensions, so I did not choose to psst in a specific extension-related thread.

[John Liebson]

I may be on to something that might help others, odd though it is: I deleted Cookie Monster and reinstalled it. It continues to have a text warning that it is incompatible and has been disabled. Despite that, it appears to be working properly.

I continue to suspect that this is a Windows 10 artifact. Do I know that to be correct? Most assuredly, no, I do not; rather, I suspect it given that it is true to Windows 10, but not for Windows 7, on our two machines.

[Brummelchen]

i am right now on win10 - exactly same profile as windows 8 - working proper. so must be something in your profile or some stupid software from "outside" (3rd-party-cleaner, antivirus) is interrupting. can not say other. reset your profile or create a new profile. did you?

[John Liebson]

You keep writing about Win8, but I am using Win7, so there may be no connection between what you are finding and what I am finding. As is usual, that is nothing more than a guess on my part, as I have no actual knowledge of the possibility.

That aside, the clue given in viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2979005 appears to have fixed the problem for both my Win7 and Win10 computers: On both, the extensions that were marked as incompatible with Fx43--along with the oddity with Cookie Monster on the Win10 computer--have been enabled. In all cases, on both machines, the extensions affected by that configuration change now have a warning that they cannot be verified for use with Fx, and the user should be cautious.

I wrote "appears to have fixed the problem" intentionally, as I have no idea whatsoever as to the possibility that making that configuration change may in fact expose my computers to possible harm. If it can be shown that this is dangerous, then I will have to try to find other solutions, especially for the Win10 computer. A new Fx profile may be needed, even though the current one, only a few months old, has shown no problems until the update to Fx 43.

It would be reasonable for me to state that this situation is quite different from anything else I have ever encountered in regards to extensions and Win 7 vs Win10, so, as it ought to be obvious, I am working with no firm comprehension about that which I am now faced. In other words, I make no claims that I understand the situation.

[Reflective]

I have updated two computers to Firefox 43.0, and found some inconsistencies between Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 in terms of extensions working in the former, not in the latter.

The most important such is Cookie Monster 1.2.5.1--signed, which works under Windows 7, but not under Windows 10, where it is labeled as incompatible. I was able to reinstall it under Windows 10, but it remained disabled, and there is no 'Enable' button present.

There are a few more such problems, but as this is the only one I consider to be important, I will limit this thread to this one extension. Any idea(s) as to why this situation exists, and, if so, how it/they might be overridden?

Maybe Windows 10 isn't identifying it properly and has confused it with this one since it has the same name: http://systemexplorer.net/file-database ... onster-exe

[patrickjdempsey]

You keep writing about Win8, but I am using Win7, so there may be no connection between what you are finding and what I am finding.

You are correct there. Windows 10 is nothing more than Windows 8.2 with an inflated name for marketing purposes.

As far as your extensions installation problems go, the work-around suggested in that thread will only work in Firefox 43, when Firefox 44 comes around, it will stop working because that preference will be removed. So you have the choice of dealing with the problem now or encountering it all over again in a month or so.

If you do decide to go ahead and deal with it now, listing all of the extensions you are having trouble with might actually help us put together a pattern. I am an extension author and in my experience there's absolutely nothing that would prevent an extension from installing on a certain version of an OS. It's possible to upload versions specifically for Windows, OSX and Linux, but these do not have OS version restrictions.

There *is* a new version of Cookie Monster you might try as well:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... /versions/

[patrickjdempsey]

Maybe Windows 10 isn't identifying it properly and has confused it with this one since it has the same name: http://systemexplorer.net/file-database ... onster-exe

That has nothing to do with nothing. Firefox extensions are not executables and the OS has absolutely no part of determining if an extension will install into Firefox.

[Brummelchen]

@John get some new glasses - i wrote:

i am right now on win10 - exactly same profile as windows 8 - working proper.

see also my system signature while writing that answer

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; rv:43.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/43.0

not sure what you trying to tell us - either lies or bullshit. in your linked thread it was pointed out that CM is working functional.


/offtopic

Windows 10 is nothing more than Windows 8.2 with an inflated name for marketing purposes.

in common bevavior there is not much difference, but under the hood there are ofc changes, in parts extreme changes, thats why people have such different experience and problems. the latest big update TH2 solves some but also create new problems. not the right place to discuss it.
concerning firefox there are obviously cosmetic changes. nevertheless i use same profile for 4 different windows here and in most parts it behave identical on other computers (portable use).

your hint about the exe-file, no, windows dont know firefox extensions so it do not care about. but exe <> xpi file
cookie-moster XPI is pure XUL+JS and uses firefox api.

[John Liebson]

As far as your extensions installation problems go, the work-around suggested in that thread will only work in Firefox 43, when Firefox 44 comes around, it will stop working because that preference will be removed. So you have the choice of dealing with the problem now or encountering it all over again in a month or so.

If you do decide to go ahead and deal with it now, listing all of the extensions you are having trouble with might actually help us put together a pattern. I am an extension author and in my experience there's absolutely nothing that would prevent an extension from installing on a certain version of an OS. It's possible to upload versions specifically for Windows, OSX and Linux, but these do not have OS version restrictions.

There *is* a new version of Cookie Monster you might try as well:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... /versions/

1. I am aware that the workaround will not work when Fx 44 is released, but that it does work with Fx 43 gives me time to create/test a new profile, rather than having to do it immediately in order to get Cookie Monster to work.

2. I don't have a list of problematic extensions, as I've not started to create a new profile, and as the workaround that enabled Cookie Monster has also worked on all the other problematic ones, I believe. (Once again, the problems are all on my wife's computer, which I often don't touch for several days.)

3. As I have written, I am using Cookie Monster 1.2.5.1., which is the newest one shown in its versions list.

[patrickjdempsey]

3. As I have written, I am using Cookie Monster 1.2.5.1., which is the newest one shown in its versions list.

No it's not. And it wasn't even the newest version when you originally made this thread. Which is why I mentioned it.

[John Liebson]

3. As I have written, I am using Cookie Monster 1.2.5.1., which is the newest one shown in its versions list.

No it's not. And it wasn't even the newest version when you originally made this thread. Which is why I mentioned it.

Yes it is in the version list, as I wrote,) but yes, there is a newer version, which I did not see as i did not go to the Version History; my fault, clearly caused by my being tired from moving firewood from the storage pile to the rack outside the house and then splitting some kindling. (Now, I shall wait for someone on mozillaZine to compile a complete list of all forum members who have used that excuse....).

Thanks for pointing me to the actual newest version; curious that it does not show in the version list, which is why I did not see it, given that it appears to be a released version. Sort of like a want ad that appeared in the local newspaper for four days, with a job description but no indication of any sort at to who was looking for an employee nor any way to apply; finally, today's issue added that apparently insignificant information.

A few minutes later: Confusion is rampant. When you go to the version history, it shows that the latest version of Cookie Monster was released, but at the top of the page is the standard warning about using unreleased versions (or whatever it says.) Having noticed that, I tried to download it, which brought up stern warning that it cannot be downloaded for Fx 43. I gave up upon seeing that, and have reverted to my assertion that the version I am using is, at least as far as i know, the latest version.

[John Liebson]

Now that I have got the reindeer of of the roof, here is what I have found about extensions on my wife's computer, the one running Windows 10, and as of a few minutes ago, Fx 43.0.3:

1. In her in-use profile, Cookie Monster 1.2.5.1-signed and Disable Anti-Adblock 3.1.1-signed are working with the config entry to ignore signing; however, both of them carry a warning that they cannot be verified for use with Fx.

2. In a new profile, which I have not modified by copying any of the files from the in-use profile, the same two extensions are running without the ignore signing change, and do not carry any warning notices.

I recognize that the test with the new profile may not be conclusive, given that it could be something in the various folders from the in-use profile that are causing the warnings in that profile. However, if anyone has any clues as to why the warning exist for the signed extensions, and perhaps how to remove the warnings, I am sure that my appreciation is expressed tacitly.

Meanwhile, as I have the time (which should be read as "have the interest in doing this,") I will start copying from the in-use to the new profile to ascertain if so doing will cause the warning to appear in the new profile.

[patrickjdempsey]

Have you tried the latest version of Cookie Monster? 1.3.0.0. Uploaded 3 weeks ago.

Also, it is not advised to copy extensions-related files around in different profiles or computers as those contain path-specific data.