How to Group Policy enable Firefox (and other Mozilla apps)

[jaylweb]

10 years later and Firefox still does not natively support GPOs nor provide a MSI installer. We have been using Front Motion CE because we can force the proxy settings via GPO, plus they have a MSI installer. The rest of our settings are done via a configuration file.

Chrome natively supports GPOs, which also applies to the Chrome portable version. I wish Firefox supported GPOs for some of the basic Administrator needs. (i.e., Proxy Settings, Updates, Pop-up Exceptions, Home Page, Download Save location, etc.)

I use GPOs to manage our environment. Any analyst in my dept can easily manage GPOs, even for Classic Shell. Whereas, the Firefox configuration file has a bit of a learning curve (Mike Kaply has some good docs) and is not easy to make a change to multiple devices without using some other deployment tool (SCCM, ZENworks, etc) to push out the updated file. Relying on a "special" Firefox install has no effect if a user downloads/installs Firefox on their own or runs the portable version.

Speaking of deployment tools, why does Firefox not have a MSI installer option? Chrome for Work has a MSI installer.

I have been working in the IT field for over 16 years and have come to learn that there is often a disconnect between developers and system administrators. Firefox looks and runs great, but lacks the admin support required for most large enterprises. Firefox has the potential to pick up more market share by making it easier to deploy/manage for enterprise environments.

[James]

This ancient thread was from Sept 2004. Locked.