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BrowserWorks / Waterfox-Classic

The Waterfox Classic repository, for legacy systems and customisation.
https://classic.waterfox.net
Mozilla Public License 2.0
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Can't Update Waterfox Classic Portable #206

Open CDLauryl opened 9 months ago

CDLauryl commented 9 months ago

I switched to Waterfox back when Firefox killed the old plugins/extensions - specifically the portable version. I've had the autoupdater turned on because it's lots easier than redownloading and reinstalling. Now, it just tells me it can't update and directs me to github (which honestly always gives me fits trying to find things - I've never been a coder and half the things on here make no sense to me).

I can't find a portable installer to download, and I have no idea which, if any, of the downloadable files will update my Waterfox Classic Portable. I don't want to have to give up my plugins, but I refuse to give up portability. Can someone point me in the right direction?

arttronics commented 9 months ago

Reference #206: Can't Update Waterfox Classic Portable

First, check to see what version of Waterfox Classic (installed or portable) you are using.

To check: Click the Hamburger Menu in the top right corner and then click the QUESTION MARK ICON, then click the ABOUT WATERFOX seen at the bottom. A new window will show the version.

If your Waterfox Classic (Portable) is 2022.11 (NOV 2022) then that is the latest version.

I already submitted a bug report #207 about a current 'update' that is available for my non-portable Classic version, and ZERO updates are for classic with only a brand spanking new version for the Modern Waterfox.

On a side note for your concerns of losing AddOns, you might want to backup your current Waterfox Classic AddOns and whatever else you want using a program named MozBackup.

I've been using MozBackup 1.5.2 Beta 1 for... whoa, over a decade now! I remember reading that is was made from a software engineer of Firefox back in the days: Here's that intro:

"MozBackup is a simple utility for creating backups of Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, Mozilla Sunbird, Flock, SeaMonkey, Mozilla Suite, Spicebird, Songbird and Netscape profiles."

"It allows you to backup and restore bookmarks, mail, contacts, history, extensions, passwords, cache etc. It's an easy way to do Firefox backup, Thunderbird backup ..."

https://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/

Here is how I use MozBackup for my installed version of Waterfox Classic with my profile at a custom location:

  1. Install MozBackup program. On my Windows 10 machine, it installed easily.
  2. Exit any running instance of Waterfox Classic, or specifically, the browser profile you are going to back up, otherwise you'll get a message that it's an active process (it's still running or it's not finish shutting down).
  3. Run MozBackup. Side note: No compatibility settings were necessary to run it.
  4. Click the NEXT button. You should now see "Choose the operation you want to perform:".
  5. Ensure a bullet DOT is for "Backup a profile". In the lower section, click "Portable applications", then the NEXT button.
  6. Now you should see "Select the profile you want to backup:" and do click the PORTABLE button, ESPECIALLY for profiles outside the default locations, portable of course.
  7. In the "BROWSE" Window that opens, select the Waterfox Classic folder location first, then navigate to the subfolder called "MAIN" (actual lowercase: main) which is the target folder. For portable users, see the next step.
  8. For "Portable Waterfox Classic Users"... that MAIN subfolder most likely is deep inside other folders since you're using special portable version which has a special sub-folder structure. In that case, navigate folders/sub-folders until you see the "MAIN" folder (it's lowercase 'main'), and select that as the target folder for MozBackup.
  9. Now that you have selected the TARGET folder for main, you should see in "Select the profile you want to backup" area, a newly populated entry of "Portable Profile". The bottom portion has "Save backup to directory" and it's a time-dated filename, default in your DOCS folder, but you can change that location if you want to. Click the NEXT button to see a separate window title "Question" for "Do you want to password-protect the backup file?". I choose no.
  10. CHOICES: The main CHOICE screen for what you want to backup is shown. I choose everything that is check-able, including for 'Unknown Files' button (Click it to adjust, I choose to backup every option).
  11. CLICKING NEXT starts the backup process, and it's not too long at all. The STATUS BAR shows what's going on. If it is stuck... oops, you might have restarted Waterfox after the check that it was shutdown.
  12. At this point, the BACKUP using MozBackup is complete.
  13. Special Tip for RESTORING a saved MozBackup profile file... it's better to place a copy of it into your DOCS folder, as for me it did not like navigating into any location of my saved/moved/Unicode path backup locations for that file.

EXTRA: If you don't know which DRIVE and FOLDER your Waterfox Classic folder or 'main' is at,...

A. Use the steps shown below (or use a search engine to learn how to find a specific programs folder location). B. Start up Waterfox Classic. C. Once it's ready to use, right click the ICON on the Windows Taskbar and on that tiny taskbar menu, RIGHT CLICK the program name again to choose PROPERTIES. D. Choose the button OPEN FILE LOCATION. If the above step C is not working, then improvise. E. You should now be in that Waterfox Classic folder path... to use, to find the 'main' folder to backup. F. Another option: Use Task Manager to then select the process/program of Waterfox Classic which will help you show, with some navigation, it's file location.

CDLauryl commented 9 months ago

That's very interesting. Sounds like it is the same issue, after all. I also have the desktop version of Waterfox Classic installed, in order to make it the default browser so that when I open links or HTML files, they will open in my Waterfox Classic Portable. I never use the installed version, so I hadn't seen that behavior in it.

I opened it up to check - for whatever reason, my installed desktop version of Waterfox Classic is not giving me the "Waterfox can't update to the latest version. Download a fresh copy of Waterfox and we'll help you to install it. See what's new." nagging that is showing up on my Waterfox Classic Portable. Both are version 2022.11. I wonder if it has to do with which one was open when the update notice went out, since my desktop version isn't reacting to whatever makes the update notice go off. It is potentially useful data for your bug report, since my issue seems to be the same as yours, just portable. (Is there a way to mark this as the same as yours? As I mentioned, I'm not good at GitHub.)

I do have all my portables (I'm almost 100% portable these days) backed up on a separate external drive, but thank you. My concern with losing the ability to use them is more if I have to switch away from Waterfox Classic to a browser that won't let me use them. I already have to switch to Opera to get GitHub to work properly - no idea what its problem is, but it's simple enough to copy/paste an Opera Portable folder and delete it when I'm done. I do that with any website that refuses to cooperate with Waterfox Classic Portable, if I'm unwilling to walk away and ignore the site altogether. More often I just ignore sites that won't cooperate, but I couldn't find any other way to comment/question the Waterfox issue.