GPO / Update Firefox / Non-Admins

[hunterdw]

So, we use a particular SaaS product that works best under Firefox. According to all the mozilla.org documentation, and many blogs online, a user that is not a local administrator cannot update Firefox with their updates every few weeks.

None of our domain users (500 of them) are local admins.

So, before I start pushing Firefox out, I need to be able to address this particular problem.

Anyone else using Firefox as a default browser? If so, how do you handle updates for non-admin users?

--DW

 

[kmcferrin]

I do use Firefox as my default browser, but not enterprise wide. However, anyone that tells you that their application requires Local Admin rights to function correctly is either lying, lazy, or imcompetent at coding.

Most likely what is going on is that the Firefox updates require write/modify access to either a) part of the filesystem that is restricted to Local Admins, or b) part of the registry that is restricted to Local Admins. So the solution would be to find out what those areas are, and then modify the permissions of those directories/registry trees so that they can make the necessary changes.

 

[hunterdw]

You are correct, it's how their update process works.

I've followed every suggestion from the Mozilla forums, FAQs, and many (almost 100) blogs I've found on this. It keeps coming back to non-admins.

Rather than pointing out the problem, I'm looking for a solution.

Anyone else out there running Firefox as a default browser in an enterprise? How do you handle non-admins and updates?

I'm thinking about turning updates off (not available) and then rolling my own updates to push out through System Center once a month, or something like that.

If it was only a few, it wouldn't be a big deal. But, it's 500. That's not as simple.

--DW

 

[jchoponis]

I have found that having users run as users in windows xp is a real pain - but necessary. I have found that applying the compatws.inf security template fixes a lot of user permission issues without making them power users or admins.

This may do the trick...

 

[hunterdw]

That is a neat template. I've used it for some legacy applications several years ago. Unfortunately, it doesn't work for this particular situation.

Great suggestion though.

Anyone else?

 

[jchoponis]

You're right - geez this browser issue is a problem...

I did find a link while searching...

http://flimflan.com/blog/FirefoxErrorResolvedOneOrMoreFilesCouldNotBeUpdated.aspx

 

[hunterdw]

Good link. It works if your local non-admin users have the information for an admin user/password.

I'm going to give up on this one.

Looks like custom software deployment via System Center. I've been working on this for 3 weeks, and just need to bite the bullet.

 

[jchoponis]

Yeah...that was the best i found thus far.

Good luck with system center.

Is there anything you can do to make IE a decent fit for the SaaS product?

 

[hunterdw]

IE works. The problem is, IE locks up quite often, and has performance issues. We've been diagnosing issues for about 6 months with our SaaS vendor, and they reminded us that their supported/primary/default browser is Firefox. Of their 500-600 customers, we're one of the few that don't use Firefox.

So, I s'pose it's time for us to put on the big-boy pants and just do it.

Or I can just give all my users local admin privileges... nah, that won't work either

 

[twoody54]

We only deploy it via citrix so we only have the servers to update... OTherwise we would make sms installs that we'd push out to update that local installs...