1771951 - Pin Firefox to the Windows taskbar during install for all Windows versions (i.e., add Windows 10 and 11)

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox :: Installer, enhancement)

Description

[[e-mail] (:bhearsum)]

We already do this on Windows 7 & 8, and want to do similar for Windows 10 & 11.

We have code for doing this in the installer but it only works on older versions of Windows 10 (<1903). We have code in Firefox pinning on more recent versions, but it has not been ported to the installer yet.

Independent of Windows versions, we need to consider a few install scenarios: stub, full, and MSI installs.

I would recommend that follow what we already do with creating Desktop and Start Menu shortcuts. That is to say:

• In the stub installer, we just pin without presenting any option.
• In the full installer, we should pin by default and allow opt-out through the INI file and the GUI.
• The MSI will not support pinning (because it elevates prior to installation, we are unable to do so -- this is also the case on Windows 7 & 8 currently)

If we decide to try to uplift for this 102, we could punt on the GUI opt-out in the full installer to avoid a late string addition (but include it with 103).

Comment 1

[Nick Alexander :nalexander [he/him]]

This sounds sensible to me.

Comment 2

[[e-mail] (:bhearsum)]

Romain, does this sound good to you as well?

Comment 3

[[e-mail] (:bhearsum)]

Attachment: Bug 1771951: add pin to taskbar support in the installer on Windows 10 & 11 r?mhowell!

This patch starts pinning Firefox to the Taskbar by default on all supported Windows versions. The main addition here is a port of our existing taskbar pinning code for modern Windows 10 & 11 versions to an NSIS plugin (compiled version also included).

I've also adjusted the block that attempts to re-pin Firefox even if it has been attempted once already, which I believe is there because we know we shipped pinning code that didn't work on some Windows 10 versions in the past. This code is no longer behind a pref (because I think we're quite confident in the pinning code we have now).

Comment 4

[[e-mail] (:bhearsum)]

Attachment: Bug 1771951: Add UI to the installer for opting out of Taskbar shortcut creation r?nalexander!

I'm actually not sure if we want this option or not (I was a bit surprised it didn't exist already, given that we have equivalents for the desktop and start menu) - but here it is if we do.

I also removed the now-useless quicklaunch option (which was only used pre-Windows 7).

Depends on D148288

Comment 5

[Betsy Mikel [:betsymi]]

I'll be helping on with strings on this. Can you add any screenshots of where the string(s) will appear?

Comment 6

[[e-mail] (:bhearsum)]

Attachment: taskbar option.png

The string will appear in the full installer if a user chooses a custom installation. Here's a screenshot with a proposed/placeholder string.

I should also highlight some discussion between some other engineers and I on this (from https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D148289):

• Microsoft's own strings have a mix of "on the taskbar" and "in the taskbar" (you can see different strings if you change the search term)
• This Microsoft support article suggests that "On the taskbar" might be the right verbiage - although "in the taskbar" is also found there.

Comment 7

[Betsy Mikel [:betsymi]]

Let's go with the following. I've made some capitalization changes as well.

Create icons for Firefox Nightly:

• On my desktop
• In my Start menu Programs folder
• On my taskbar

Rationale:

"On the taskbar" appears more frequently in Microsoft's own strings, particularly when referring to icons on the taskbar. Start menu is how Microsoft refers to it.

Comment 8

[[e-mail] (:bhearsum)]

(In reply to Betsy Mikel [:betsymi] from comment #7)

Let's go with the following. I've made some capitalization changes as well.

Create icons for Firefox Nightly:

• On my desktop
• In my start menu programs folder
• On my taskbar

"On the taskbar" appears more frequently in Microsoft's own strings, particularly when referring to icons on the taskbar.

Thanks! I just want to double check on the capitalization changes since these strings have been around since Firefox began. I do see that in Microsoft's own strings, "Desktop" is usually capitalized (especially when talking about Shortcuts). Similar for Start Menu and Programs.

For whatever reason, "taskbar" seems to be far less commonly capitalized.

Comment 9

[Betsy Mikel [:betsymi]]

Made a few updates to the comment above.

Comment 10

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/59eac90984cb
add pin to taskbar support in the installer on Windows 10 & 11 r=mhowell
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/3a789d06604f
Add UI to the installer for opting out of Taskbar shortcut creation r=nalexander,flod

Comment 11

[Norisz Fay [:noriszfay]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/59eac90984cb
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/3a789d06604f

Comment 12

[Sandor Molnar[:smolnar]]

Backed out for causing bug 1776170

Backout link: https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/e0778405011fee6a73e12f88125e63e8d03ae33d

Comment 13

[[e-mail] (:bhearsum)]

It turns out the wrong installers were used for testing this. We spoke about this on Slack and decided to wait until 104 development begins next week before relanding, so that QA can have some time to verify on Nightly before we uplift to Beta.

Comment 14

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/9651db4a6e3f
add pin to taskbar support in the installer on Windows 10 & 11 r=mhowell
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/d5dc93904754
Add UI to the installer for opting out of Taskbar shortcut creation r=nalexander,flod

Comment 15

[Cristian Tuns]

Backed out for causing build bustages on makensis.mk

• Backout link
• Push with failures
• Failure Log
• Failure line: gmake[5]: *** [/builds/worker/checkouts/gecko/toolkit/mozapps/installer/windows/nsis/makensis.mk:108: instgen/helper.exe] Error 1

Comment 16

[[e-mail] (:bhearsum)]

(In reply to Cristian Tuns from comment #15)

Backed out for causing build bustages on makensis.mk

• Backout link
• Push with failures
• Failure Log
• Failure line: gmake[5]: *** [/builds/worker/checkouts/gecko/toolkit/mozapps/installer/windows/nsis/makensis.mk:108: instgen/helper.exe] Error 1

Caused by https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1709608

Comment 17

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/f6086aed0041
add pin to taskbar support in the installer on Windows 10 & 11 r=mhowell

Comment 18

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/1345a6f5b47c
Add UI to the installer for opting out of Taskbar shortcut creation r=nalexander,flod

Comment 19

[Iulian Moraru]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/f6086aed0041
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/1345a6f5b47c

Comment 20

[[e-mail] (:bhearsum)]

Comment on attachment 9279634 [details]
Bug 1771951: add pin to taskbar support in the installer on Windows 10 & 11 r?mhowell!

Beta/Release Uplift Approval Request

• User impact if declined: Users will not get Firefox pinned to their taskbar during installation
• Is this code covered by automated tests?: No
• Has the fix been verified in Nightly?: Yes
• Needs manual test from QE?: Yes
• If yes, steps to reproduce: Same as on nightly
• List of other uplifts needed: None
• Risk to taking this patch: Low
• Why is the change risky/not risky? (and alternatives if risky): These are well trodden code paths at this point -- we're now using them both in the installer and for the felt privacy work that QE has also been testing.
• String changes made/needed: Yes - we're adding new strings in the installer for opting out of the taskbar pinning (a requirement from Legal)
• Is Android affected?: Yes

Comment 21

[[e-mail] (:bhearsum)]

(Resetting qe-verify flag - I have no idea what happened there.)

Comment 22

[Donal Meehan [:dmeehan]]

Comment on attachment 9279635 [details]
Bug 1771951: Add UI to the installer for opting out of Taskbar shortcut creation r?nalexander!

Approved for 103.0b5, thanks.
Green light from :flod about l10n changes

Comment 23

[Donal Meehan [:dmeehan]]

Comment on attachment 9279634 [details]
Bug 1771951: add pin to taskbar support in the installer on Windows 10 & 11 r?mhowell!

Approved for 103.0b5, thanks.

Comment 24

[Donal Meehan [:dmeehan]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/09e006dff797
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/c15d71cdc13e

Comment 25

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

Windows builds are busted for Thunderbird: https://treeherder.mozilla.org/jobs?repo=comm-central&selectedTaskRun=I6htqbc2QOKNgytALJT_7A.0
Any hint if we need to port anything or it's something that needs to be tweaked on the m-c side?

Comment 26

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

Nevermind, we found the issue was related to another changeset.
Apologies for the noise.