Firefox Win32 installer is no good

Kylotan · Post by **Kylotan** » February 9th, 2004, 11:19 am

Problem 1) No way of creating a new directory. This means that if I want a different location to 'Program Files/Mozilla Firefox' (or whatever the default is), then it has to be an existing folder. Even typing a new directory name in there would have no effect. At best this was gonna end up throwing the Firefox files into a directory I didn't want them in, and at worst it would end up deleting everything already in there as reported by people testing the installer before. I'm told that on WinXP there is always the option to create a new folder, but on 98SE there is no 'new folder' button on the 'Browse for folder' window.

Problem 2) The installer creates an 'install_wizard.log' file during the install which it can't uninstall. This means that it can't uninstall properly without asking the user if they want to delete a directory that isn't empty. I expect most novice users - the people we're trying to help with an installer - won't be comfortable saying 'yes' to this question since they have no idea what else it might be deleting.

Is there a Zip of Firefox anywhere so I can test other features without having to use the installer?

michaell522 · Post by **michaell522** » February 9th, 2004, 11:23 am

Kylotan wrote:Is there a Zip of Firefox anywhere so I can test other features without having to use the installer?

Yes, there's a zip build linked from http://mozillanews.org/?article_date=20 ... 9+01-56-09

Alternatively, check the firefox builds forum here.

ajhubble · Post by **ajhubble** » February 9th, 2004, 7:50 pm

I agree. The Win installer could be better. If you don't want to put the Firefox folder in the 'standard' place (which I never do - my hard drive is actually well organised), then changing directories is impossible without manually browsing in that little folder-choosing window, manually clicking 'New Folder' and manually entering a new name in. It should be more streamlined.

IoN_PuLse · Post by **IoN_PuLse** » February 9th, 2004, 8:09 pm

Couldn't they just use NSIS

xuejm1225 · Post by **xuejm1225** » February 9th, 2004, 8:23 pm

I downloaded the zipped version and extracted them into a folder, but it did not work. Is there any additional step to do?

I have mozilla1.6 installed.

Post by **old Neil Parks** » February 9th, 2004, 8:39 pm

xuejm1225 wrote:I downloaded the zipped version and extracted them into a folder, but it did not work. Is there any additional step to do?

Did you preserve the directory tree structure when you unzipped?

Spewey · Post by **Spewey** » February 9th, 2004, 8:43 pm

This thread is marked OP=idiot. I could create the folder.

The zipped build is not official. No checksum, no guarantees.

Kylotan · Post by **Kylotan** » February 10th, 2004, 5:11 am

Spewey, you misread the marker; it actually says "this thread is marked Spewey = closed-minded fool".

And people here wonder why Firefox is considered unfriendly to newbies - it's idiots like you on the forums insulting people for having problems just because it works for you.

Firefox installer on XP: note important 'new folder' button.
<img src="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ben.sizer/firefox_xp.jpg">

Firefox installer on 98SE: note total lack of important 'new folder' button.
<img src="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ben.sizer/firefox_98se.jpg">

andr3a · Post by **andr3a** » February 10th, 2004, 5:30 am

Kylotan wrote:And people here wonder why Firefox is considered unfriendly to newbies - it's idiots like you on the forums insulting people for having problems just because it works for you.

johnleemk · Post by **johnleemk** » February 10th, 2004, 5:36 am

Is that the "custom install" option? I think the custom install option has it. That's just what I think, though, as I haven't actually used the installer yet. IIRC, this was put in there to avoid a nasty bug that could delete everything in your program files.

ajhubble · Post by **ajhubble** » February 10th, 2004, 5:39 am

If we get a modern installer for 0.9 (i.e. more usable), then that will be great.

michaell522 · Post by **michaell522** » February 10th, 2004, 5:56 am

johnleemk wrote:Is that the "custom install" option? I think the custom install option has it. That's just what I think, though, as I haven't actually used the installer yet. IIRC, this was put in there to avoid a nasty bug that could delete everything in your program files.

Yes, that is the stuff that comes up with the custom install. I don't have a Windows 98 here to test with (and I guess not many people do, hence the problem), but this means the custom install is pretty useless on Win98 (and presumably Win95 as well).

Kylotan · Post by **Kylotan** » February 10th, 2004, 5:58 am

Both the above are from the custom install option. And andr3a, I'm not sure what your message is saying; if you're pointing out the hypocrisy of me insulting someone for being insulting, that's fair enough.

I'm just fed up of the "it works for me - therefore you must be a moron" attitude some people show.

jwilde · Post by **jwilde** » February 10th, 2004, 6:14 am

I used the installer under Windows XP but after installing firefox wouldn't run. Actually it runs and shows up in the Task Manager but does not open its main window and just hangs there. Uninstalled it and used the zipped version - it worked.

Worstje · Post by **Worstje** » February 10th, 2004, 7:40 am

I can recommend the following OPEN SOURCE installer for 0.9. I have used it often and it is very customizable. For as far I can see there would be no problems with the license either.

Inno Setup

Firefox Win32 installer is no good

Firefox Win32 installer is no good

Re: Firefox Win32 installer is no good