🚀 go-pugleaf

David E. Ross wrote:
> windows 7
> Firefox 115.24.0esr
>
> When I look at my settings, I see a notice that says
> 	"Your browser is being managed by your organization."
> I have NO organization.  I am retired and using Firefox at home.  I used
> to know how to turn this off, using Windows registry keys and a .json
> file.  Those methods no longer work.
>
> How do I gain full control of Firefox settings?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/customizing-firefox-using-group-policy-windows

On 6/16/2025 8:51 AM, Alan K. wrote:
> On 6/15/25 7:52 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
>> windows 7
>> Firefox 115.24.0esr
>>
>> When I look at my settings, I see a notice that says
>> 	"Your browser is being managed by your organization."
>> I have NO organization.  I am retired and using Firefox at home.  I used
>> to know how to turn this off, using Windows registry keys and a .json
>> file.  Those methods no longer work.
>>
>> How do I gain full control of Firefox settings?
>>
> If you have a json file, then Firefox will be managed by organization.  Delete the json.
>

In my Firefox profile, I have over 300 json files!

--
David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

President Trump wants all Palestinians to leave Gaza and
relocate elsewhere.  How many will he accept to relocate
in the United States?

On 6/16/2025 7:22 AM, VanguardLH wrote:
> "David E. Ross" <nobody@nowhere.invalid> wrote:
>
>> windows 7
>> Firefox 115.24.0esr
>>
>> When I look at my settings, I see a notice that says
>> 	"Your browser is being managed by your organization."
>> I have NO organization.  I am retired and using Firefox at home.  I used
>> to know how to turn this off, using Windows registry keys and a .json
>> file.  Those methods no longer work.
>>
>> How do I gain full control of Firefox settings?
>
> If you define/change policy settings for Firefox in the group policy
> editor (gpedit.msc), or you make registry changes that effect those
> policies (all policies are registry entries), you'll get notified
> Firefox is admin managed.  The notice shows up after you tweaked a
> policy via gpedit.msc (which makes registry edits), or you used a
> tweaker tool, or did a registry edit, or used a .reg file to effect a
> policy change.
>
> Did you actually lose control over some settings (i.e., you can no
> longer change them)?
>
Last first:  Now I cannot remember why I wanted to eliminate
organizational management, other than the fact that I am NOT part of any
organization.

I have 8 gpedit.msc files on my PC.  Which one is the relevant one?


--
David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

President Trump wants all Palestinians to leave Gaza and
relocate elsewhere.  How many will he accept to relocate
in the United States?

"David E. Ross" <nobody@nowhere.invalid> wrote:

> windows 7
> Firefox 115.24.0esr
>
> When I look at my settings, I see a notice that says
> 	"Your browser is being managed by your organization."
> I have NO organization.  I am retired and using Firefox at home.  I used
> to know how to turn this off, using Windows registry keys and a .json
> file.  Those methods no longer work.
>
> How do I gain full control of Firefox settings?

If you define/change policy settings for Firefox in the group policy
editor (gpedit.msc), or you make registry changes that effect those
policies (all policies are registry entries), you'll get notified
Firefox is admin managed.  The notice shows up after you tweaked a
policy via gpedit.msc (which makes registry edits), or you used a
tweaker tool, or did a registry edit, or used a .reg file to effect a
policy change.

Did you actually lose control over some settings (i.e., you can no
longer change them)?

On 6/16/2025 9:19 AM, Frank Miller wrote:
> David E. Ross wrote:
>> On 6/16/2025 8:51 AM, Alan K. wrote:
>>> On 6/15/25 7:52 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
>>>> windows 7
>>>> Firefox 115.24.0esr
>>>>
>>>> When I look at my settings, I see a notice that says
>>>> 	"Your browser is being managed by your organization."
>>>> I have NO organization.  I am retired and using Firefox at home.  I used
>>>> to know how to turn this off, using Windows registry keys and a .json
>>>> file.  Those methods no longer work.
>>>>
>>>> How do I gain full control of Firefox settings?
>>>>
>>> If you have a json file, then Firefox will be managed by organization.  Delete the json.
>>>
>>
>> In my Firefox profile, I have over 300 json files!
>
> Not in any profile but in the installation folder of FF.
>

Thank you.  I found it, and it has the settings I made over a year ago.
Thus, I do not need to change anything to stop automatic updates.

However, I would still like to eliminate organisation management.  How
do I do that?


--
David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

President Trump wants all Palestinians to leave Gaza and
relocate elsewhere.  How many will he accept to relocate
in the United States?

On 6/15/25 7:52 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
> windows 7
> Firefox 115.24.0esr
>
> When I look at my settings, I see a notice that says
> 	"Your browser is being managed by your organization."
> I have NO organization.  I am retired and using Firefox at home.  I used
> to know how to turn this off, using Windows registry keys and a .json
> file.  Those methods no longer work.
>
> How do I gain full control of Firefox settings?
>
If you have a json file, then Firefox will be managed by organization.  Delete the json.

--
Linux Mint 22.1,  Thunderbird 128.11.1esr,  Mozilla Firefox 139.0.4
     Alan K.

On 6/16/25 12:19 PM, Frank Miller wrote:
> David E. Ross wrote:
>> On 6/16/2025 8:51 AM, Alan K. wrote:
>>> On 6/15/25 7:52 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
>>>> windows 7
>>>> Firefox 115.24.0esr
>>>>
>>>> When I look at my settings, I see a notice that says
>>>> 	"Your browser is being managed by your organization."
>>>> I have NO organization.  I am retired and using Firefox at home.  I used
>>>> to know how to turn this off, using Windows registry keys and a .json
>>>> file.  Those methods no longer work.
>>>>
>>>> How do I gain full control of Firefox settings?
>>>>
>>> If you have a json file, then Firefox will be managed by organization.  Delete the json.
>>>
>>
>> In my Firefox profile, I have over 300 json files!
>
> Not in any profile but in the installation folder of FF.
Yes, a "policies.json" file gets put into a "distribution" folder where firefox.exe is.

--
Linux Mint 22.1,  Thunderbird 128.11.1esr,  Mozilla Firefox 139.0.4
     Alan K.

David E. Ross wrote:
> On 6/16/2025 8:51 AM, Alan K. wrote:
>> On 6/15/25 7:52 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
>>> windows 7
>>> Firefox 115.24.0esr
>>>
>>> When I look at my settings, I see a notice that says
>>> 	"Your browser is being managed by your organization."
>>> I have NO organization.  I am retired and using Firefox at home.  I used
>>> to know how to turn this off, using Windows registry keys and a .json
>>> file.  Those methods no longer work.
>>>
>>> How do I gain full control of Firefox settings?
>>>
>> If you have a json file, then Firefox will be managed by organization.  Delete the json.
>>
>
> In my Firefox profile, I have over 300 json files!

Not in any profile but in the installation folder of FF.

"David E. Ross" <nobody@nowhere.invalid> wrote:

> On 6/16/2025 7:22 AM, VanguardLH wrote:
>> "David E. Ross" <nobody@nowhere.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>> windows 7
>>> Firefox 115.24.0esr
>>>
>>> When I look at my settings, I see a notice that says
>>> 	"Your browser is being managed by your organization."
>>> I have NO organization.  I am retired and using Firefox at home.  I used
>>> to know how to turn this off, using Windows registry keys and a .json
>>> file.  Those methods no longer work.
>>>
>>> How do I gain full control of Firefox settings?
>>
>> If you define/change policy settings for Firefox in the group policy
>> editor (gpedit.msc), or you make registry changes that effect those
>> policies (all policies are registry entries), you'll get notified
>> Firefox is admin managed.  The notice shows up after you tweaked a
>> policy via gpedit.msc (which makes registry edits), or you used a
>> tweaker tool, or did a registry edit, or used a .reg file to effect a
>> policy change.
>>
>> Did you actually lose control over some settings (i.e., you can no
>> longer change them)?
>
> Last first:  Now I cannot remember why I wanted to eliminate
> organizational management, other than the fact that I am NOT part of
> any organization.
>
> I have 8 gpedit.msc files on my PC.  Which one is the relevant one?

I don't have gpedit.msc to look.  It doesn't come with Home editions of
Windows.  Just enter "gpedit" into the Start menu, or just enter
"gpedit.msc" in the Run dialog (Win+R).

I'd go in the registry to look under the keys for Firefox to see if any
policies were set.  All policies are registry entries.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\

Frank Miller <miller@posteo.ee> wrote:

> David E. Ross wrote:
>> On 6/16/2025 9:19 AM, Frank Miller wrote:
>>> David E. Ross wrote:
>>>> On 6/16/2025 8:51 AM, Alan K. wrote:
>>>>> On 6/15/25 7:52 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
>>>>>> windows 7
>>>>>> Firefox 115.24.0esr
>>>>>>
>>>>>> When I look at my settings, I see a notice that says
>>>>>> 	"Your browser is being managed by your organization."
>>>>>> I have NO organization.  I am retired and using Firefox at home.  I used
>>>>>> to know how to turn this off, using Windows registry keys and a .json
>>>>>> file.  Those methods no longer work.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> How do I gain full control of Firefox settings?
>>>>>>
>>>>> If you have a json file, then Firefox will be managed by organization.  Delete the json.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> In my Firefox profile, I have over 300 json files!
>>>
>>> Not in any profile but in the installation folder of FF.
>>>
>>
>> Thank you.  I found it, and it has the settings I made over a year ago.
>> Thus, I do not need to change anything to stop automatic updates.
>>
>> However, I would still like to eliminate organisation management.  How
>> do I do that?
>
> Just delete that file and restart FF should be enough.

Or rename the file to, say, policies.OLD_json, do what you couldn't do
before in Firefox, and then rename back to policies.json.  You could
write batch scripts, like FFjson_disable.bat and FFjson_enable.bat.

David E. Ross wrote:
> On 6/16/2025 9:19 AM, Frank Miller wrote:
>> David E. Ross wrote:
>>> On 6/16/2025 8:51 AM, Alan K. wrote:
>>>> On 6/15/25 7:52 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
>>>>> windows 7
>>>>> Firefox 115.24.0esr
>>>>>
>>>>> When I look at my settings, I see a notice that says
>>>>> 	"Your browser is being managed by your organization."
>>>>> I have NO organization.  I am retired and using Firefox at home.  I used
>>>>> to know how to turn this off, using Windows registry keys and a .json
>>>>> file.  Those methods no longer work.
>>>>>
>>>>> How do I gain full control of Firefox settings?
>>>>>
>>>> If you have a json file, then Firefox will be managed by organization.  Delete the json.
>>>>
>>>
>>> In my Firefox profile, I have over 300 json files!
>>
>> Not in any profile but in the installation folder of FF.
>>
>
> Thank you.  I found it, and it has the settings I made over a year ago.
> Thus, I do not need to change anything to stop automatic updates.
>
> However, I would still like to eliminate organisation management.  How
> do I do that?

Just delete that file and restart FF should be enough.

Frank Miller wrote:
> David E. Ross wrote:
>> On 6/16/2025 9:19 AM, Frank Miller wrote:
>>> David E. Ross wrote:
>>>> On 6/16/2025 8:51 AM, Alan K. wrote:
[..snip..]
>>>>>>
>>>>> If you have a json file, then Firefox will be managed by organization.  Delete the json.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> In my Firefox profile, I have over 300 json files!
>>>
>>> Not in any profile but in the installation folder of FF.
>>>
>>
>> Thank you.  I found it, and it has the settings I made over a year ago.
>> Thus, I do not need to change anything to stop automatic updates.
>>
>> However, I would still like to eliminate organisation management.  How
>> do I do that?
>
> Just delete that file and restart FF should be enough.

P.S.: if you delet that file, the hint "managed by organisation" will be
gone, but automatic updates are activated again. You can't have both.

VanguardLH wrote:
> Frank Miller <miller@posteo.ee> wrote:
>
>> David E. Ross wrote:
>>> On 6/16/2025 9:19 AM, Frank Miller wrote:
>>>> David E. Ross wrote:
>>>>> On 6/16/2025 8:51 AM, Alan K. wrote:
>>>>>> On 6/15/25 7:52 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
>>>>>>> windows 7
>>>>>>> Firefox 115.24.0esr
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> When I look at my settings, I see a notice that says
>>>>>>> 	"Your browser is being managed by your organization."
>>>>>>> I have NO organization.  I am retired and using Firefox at home.  I used
>>>>>>> to know how to turn this off, using Windows registry keys and a .json
>>>>>>> file.  Those methods no longer work.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> How do I gain full control of Firefox settings?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> If you have a json file, then Firefox will be managed by organization.  Delete the json.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> In my Firefox profile, I have over 300 json files!
>>>>
>>>> Not in any profile but in the installation folder of FF.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Thank you.  I found it, and it has the settings I made over a year ago.
>>> Thus, I do not need to change anything to stop automatic updates.
>>>
>>> However, I would still like to eliminate organisation management.  How
>>> do I do that?
>>
>> Just delete that file and restart FF should be enough.
>
> Or rename the file to, say, policies.OLD_json, do what you couldn't do
> before in Firefox, and then rename back to policies.json.  You could
> write batch scripts, like FFjson_disable.bat and FFjson_enable.bat.

LOL! Yes. Pure Windows-Style. :-)
To disable automatic and unwanted updates for special programs you can
write scripts, if you occasionally want to update them.

Frank Miller <miller@posteo.ee> wrote:

> VanguardLH wrote:
>> Frank Miller <miller@posteo.ee> wrote:
>>
>>> David E. Ross wrote:
>>>> On 6/16/2025 9:19 AM, Frank Miller wrote:
>>>>> David E. Ross wrote:
>>>>>> On 6/16/2025 8:51 AM, Alan K. wrote:
>>>>>>> On 6/15/25 7:52 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
>>>>>>>> windows 7
>>>>>>>> Firefox 115.24.0esr
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> When I look at my settings, I see a notice that says
>>>>>>>> 	"Your browser is being managed by your organization."
>>>>>>>> I have NO organization.  I am retired and using Firefox at home.  I used
>>>>>>>> to know how to turn this off, using Windows registry keys and a .json
>>>>>>>> file.  Those methods no longer work.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> How do I gain full control of Firefox settings?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If you have a json file, then Firefox will be managed by organization.  Delete the json.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In my Firefox profile, I have over 300 json files!
>>>>>
>>>>> Not in any profile but in the installation folder of FF.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thank you.  I found it, and it has the settings I made over a year ago.
>>>> Thus, I do not need to change anything to stop automatic updates.
>>>>
>>>> However, I would still like to eliminate organisation management.  How
>>>> do I do that?
>>>
>>> Just delete that file and restart FF should be enough.
>>
>> Or rename the file to, say, policies.OLD_json, do what you couldn't do
>> before in Firefox, and then rename back to policies.json.  You could
>> write batch scripts, like FFjson_disable.bat and FFjson_enable.bat.
>
> LOL! Yes. Pure Windows-Style. :-)
> To disable automatic and unwanted updates for special programs you can
> write scripts, if you occasionally want to update them.

The user may actually want the policies.json file, and especially their
prefs.js and user.js files, but occasionally may need them out of the
way when troubleshooting (rather than resorting to a new profile).  A
script to rename/move them to troubleshoot without their interference,
and another script to rename/move them back after troubleshooting makes
it easy, and doesn't require the user to remember where are those files,
or what are their filenames.

You don't use any scripts on whatever OS you use?

VanguardLH wrote:
> Frank Miller <miller@posteo.ee> wrote:
>
>> VanguardLH wrote:
>>> Frank Miller <miller@posteo.ee> wrote:
[..snip..]
>>>> Just delete that file and restart FF should be enough.
>>>
>>> Or rename the file to, say, policies.OLD_json, do what you couldn't do
>>> before in Firefox, and then rename back to policies.json.  You could
>>> write batch scripts, like FFjson_disable.bat and FFjson_enable.bat.
>>
>> LOL! Yes. Pure Windows-Style. :-)
>> To disable automatic and unwanted updates for special programs you can
>> write scripts, if you occasionally want to update them.
>
> The user may actually want the policies.json file, and especially their
> prefs.js and user.js files, but occasionally may need them out of the
> way when troubleshooting (rather than resorting to a new profile).  A
> script to rename/move them to troubleshoot without their interference,
> and another script to rename/move them back after troubleshooting makes
> it easy, and doesn't require the user to remember where are those files,
> or what are their filenames.
>
> You don't use any scripts on whatever OS you use?

Yes i use many scripts - but not for usecases which are "occasionally".
I only write scripts for tasks i use on a regular basis, just for
automating the work.
If i have to troubleshoot some configuration of an often used program
i usually know or remember which files are affected. So there's no
need for me to automat this. But YMMV.