Downgrading the Firefox Browser version to overcome the compatibility problem of Firefox Quantum with Selenium IDE, FireBug and Firepath

Mozilla company has released the latest version of Firefox Browser, which is named as Firefox Quantum. They released it into the market and have stated that Quantum has below qualities:

• Has good performance speed for faster page loading
• Uses less computer memory
• Has good design and smart features for intelligent working
• Its 30% lighter than chrome browser
• Provides smoother browser experience
• And many other advancements

Though it is providing the above stated benefits the end users, but the Selenium user base got effected as the Firefox Quantum is not compatible or not supporting the Selenium Firefox Add-ons i.e. Selenium IDE, FireBug and FirePath.

Selenium team has also announced that Selenium IDE will no longer be supported from the 55 version of Firefox i.e.Quantum versions. Please refer to their official blog post below which states the same:

• https://seleniumhq.wordpress.com/2017/08/09/firefox-55-and-selenium-ide/

Steps to overcome this problem:

To overcome this compatibility problem we have to install the older version of Firefox Browser. i.e. A Firefox browser which is having a version below 55.

But there is a catch here, if we install an older version of Firefox Browser, it will get automatically upgraded to the latest versions. 

To overcome the above problem of auto upgrading of Firefox Browser version to latest, we have install the older version of Firefox browser by following the below steps:

1. Open any browser say Chrome and google "Firefox Download" as shown below:

2. Click on the first search results in the above google results and the User will be taken to the Official website of Mozilla firefox with a download option to download the latest version of Firefox browser as shown below:

3. Click on the 'Download Now' button and observe that an exe file for installing the latest version of Firefox Browser version i.e. Firefox Quantum will be downloaded as shown below:

4. Double click on the downloaded exe file and observe that the installation of latest firefox browser will begin as shown below:

5. Observe that the Firefox Quantum will be installed and launched as shown below:

6. Right click on the header section of the browser and select 'Menu Bar' option as shown below:

7. Observe that the Menu options will be displayed and select 'Tools' menu > 'Options' as shown below:

8. In the displayed "about:preferences" page, scroll down a bit and select 'Never check for updates' option as shown below:

Note: We are selecting the above marked option, so that after un-installing this latest version and installing the older version of Firefox Browser, the older version won't automatically get upgraded to latest as this option will be preserved for the future installations too. 

9. After making the above setting changes, close the Firefox Browser and uninstall the Firefox Browser from your machine as shown below:

10. Click on 'Uninstall' followed by 'Finish' buttons on the displayed Uninstall wizard as shown below:

11. Once the latest version of Firefox Browser is completely removed from your machine, open chrome browser and google search for 'Firefox 47.0.1 Download filehippo' to download the older version of Firefox Browser which is compatible with Selenium IDE, FireBug and Firepath as shown below:

12. Click on the above marked Search results link and observe that the User will be taken to the Filehippo.com page where the user is provided with an option to download the older version of Firefox Browser version say 47.0.1 as shown below:

13. Observe that an exe file for installing the older version of Firefox Bowser 47.0.1 will be downloaded as shown below:

14. Double click on the downloaded exe file and click on the 'Install' button followed by 'Finish' buttons on the Firefox Installation wizard as shown below:

15. Observe that the older version of Firefox Browser will be launched as shown below:

16. Click on 'Help' menu > 'About Firefox' option as shown below:

17. Observe that an older Firefox Browser version 47.0.1 will be displayed on the dialog and also observe that the older firefox browser is not getting upgraded automatically as shown below:

Hence above are the steps for downgrading the Firefox Browser version to an older version and also the process for stopping the auto upgrading of Firefox Browser version to latest.

Now, the Firefox Add-ons like Selenium IDE, FireBug and Firepath will happily work on the older version of Firefox Browser.

Happy Learning :)