1307418 - Firefox Uninstalls After Windows Update

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Web Compatibility :: Site Reports, defect)

Description

[Shaquille Ray]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_12_0) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/53.0.2785.116 Safari/537.36

Steps to reproduce:

1. Windows 10 Does Automatic Update during indicated inactive hours.
2. Firefox is uninstalled if it is not the latest version.


Actual results:

When Windows 10 does an Automatic update once Windows 10 Build Version 1607 has been installed. Firefox is uninstalled when the computer reboots.  You are not able to replicate this issue if you're not using Windows 10 Build 1607 or greater.

This removes the Firefox Directory, Associated Register Keys, and Appdata within user userfolder. Firefox just vanishes.

If you ensure Firefox is the latest version before rebooting, firefox does not uninstall. If you reboot your computer for a Windows Update without having the latest Firefox build, Firefox is uninstalled.

(This has been tested in a VM and I have been able to replicate the results)


Expected results:

Windows should not uninstall Firefox without prompt or user request.

Comment 1

[Andrew Overholt [:overholt]]

I'm on 1607 apparently as of 2016-09-30 but I'm not sure I've had an automatic update since then (if I have, Aurora (Firefox Developer Edition) and Beta are still present on my system).

Comment 2

[Marco Castelluccio [:marco]]

Should we ask SoftVision if they can reproduce? If it's really happening to users not on the latest version, then bug 1305787 gets scarier.

Comment 3

[Marco Castelluccio [:marco]]

[Tracking Requested - why for this release]:

Comment 4

[Ryan VanderMeulen [:RyanVM]]

So my understanding for specific steps to try are, for bug 1307413:
1a) Install an older version of Firefox (I guess 48 or older? How old does it need to be?) on Windows 10 with the November Update (build 1511).
2a) Without doing any kind of Firefox updates first, try installing the Windows 10 Anniversary Update (build 1607) and see if Firefox is still there afterwards.

For bug 1307418:
1b) Install an older version of Firefox (I guess 48 or older? How old does it need to be?) on Windows 10 with the Anniversary Update (build 1607).
2b) Without doing any kind of Firefox updates first, try running Windows Update for any new updates and see if Firefox is still there afterwards.

I'm actually not sure we'll be able to easily test the second scenario on a fresh install because my recollection is that the Anniversary Update downloads and installs and subsequent updates as part of its own installation process (i.e. it'll already be up to date when the installation is finished).

Michelle, can your team please poke at this and see what you can find?

Comment 5

[Michelle Funches - QA]

QA Update: We have been unable to reproduce these occurrences.

Comment 6

[Noah (NoahSUMO/SolidSnake) [:Noah]]

I think this problem could be related to one of the Win 10 hotfixes from the Anniversary Update Build Version 1607.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1141482
"The moment I got cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based Systems (KB3194496), it screwed with Firefox by basically have the "NOT RESPONDING" message appear after using it for a few minutes. I am not sure if this was intentional on Microsoft's part, but please fix this."

Followed by:
"I don't use a proxy. I uninstalled the update. Firefox works fine now without any hangups where I have to close out the program. I am trying to delay installing this update by scheduling a restart far out in the future. Hopefully, Mozilla will have an update to deal with this crap from Microsoft."

Comment 7

[Shaquille Ray]

(In reply to Noah (oldtimer) [:Noah] from comment #6)
> I think this problem could be related to one of the Win 10 hotfixes from the
> Anniversary Update Build Version 1607.
> 
> https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1141482
> "The moment I got cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1607 for
> x64-based Systems (KB3194496), it screwed with Firefox by basically have the
> "NOT RESPONDING" message appear after using it for a few minutes. I am not
> sure if this was intentional on Microsoft's part, but please fix this."
> 
> Followed by:
> "I don't use a proxy. I uninstalled the update. Firefox works fine now
> without any hangups where I have to close out the program. I am trying to
> delay installing this update by scheduling a restart far out in the future.
> Hopefully, Mozilla will have an update to deal with this **** from
> Microsoft."

After reviewing my installed updates. It appears in my case KB3194496 fails to install for me. All I have installed is Adobe CS6, Office 2016, OneDrive and Steam. Firefox seemed to of uninstalled again for me last night but it wasn't for the KB3194496 but a Windows Defender Update (which I can't disable).

Comment 8

[Noah (NoahSUMO/SolidSnake) [:Noah]]

Attachment: Fx Win SmartScreen blocked.png

Comment 9

[Noah (NoahSUMO/SolidSnake) [:Noah]]

Attachment: Fx Win SmartScreen - File is corrupt.jpg

Comment 10

[Noah (NoahSUMO/SolidSnake) [:Noah]]

Aha! Thanks for that info! So Windows Defender sounds like the culprit here. A twitter user reported Windows SmartScreen blocking 49.0.1 from installing and throwing a "File is corrupt" error. It could be the file really was corrupted but I doubt it. So are SmartScreen & Defender connected to each other? I imagine they share the same virus definitions db.

https://twitter.com/JeffParkerModHD/status/783152606365388800
^ I attached the 2 images from this tweet above

Comment 11

[Michelle Funches - QA]

Attachment: Windows10_Firefox49.JPG

Still unable to fully reproduce. I have ensured the Windows Build, Defender and Smart Screen settings. What I do see happening is Firefox 49.0.1 successfully starts, however, check Windows Control Panel, it no longer displays Firefox in the program & features listing; ref: screenshot Windows10_Firefox49.JPG

Comment 12

[Andrew Overholt [:overholt]]

Some of our friends at Microsoft are asking for the logs in %windir%\Panther. If we started an email thread, could you provide these to them? They have a theory about why this happened. Thanks!

Comment 14

[Mike Taylor [:miketaylr]]

Let's close as incomplete here.