Open Bug 1414832 Opened 7 years ago Updated 2 years ago

Firefox shows only one instance in the Control panel if two versions are installed using separate accounts

Categories

(Firefox :: Installer, defect, P3)

All
Windows
defect

Tracking

()

Tracking Status
firefox56 --- wontfix
firefox57 --- wontfix
firefox58 --- affected

People

(Reporter: obotisan, Unassigned)

Details

[Affected versions]:
I paired up two versions at a time, but I am sure other versions are affected too.

- beta 56.0b2 with Firefox RC 56.0
- beta 56.0b2 with beta 56.0b6
- beta 57.0b5 with 57.0b9
- Nightly 58.0a1 from 2017-10-01 with Nightly 58.0a1 from 2017-10-03

[Affected platforms]:
- Windows 10 x64
- Windows 8.1 x32

[Steps to reproduce]:
1. Install a version of Firefox (ex. beta 57.0b5) with administrator privileges
2. Install another version of Firefox (ex. beta 57.0b9) without admin privileges
3. Open Control Panel and observe the installed programs.

[Expected result]:
- There are two versions of Firefox installed.

[Actual result]:
- There is only one version of Firefox that is listed as installed (the one with admin privileges).
If you uninstall it, you still have the version without admin privileges installed on your computer. You just can't find it in Control Panel. 

[Regression range]:
- I am not sure I can find a regression range. 

[Additional notes]:
- I think this behaviour reproduces because the two versions have the same name in Control Panel (in this example "Mozilla Firefox 57.0").
(In reply to Oana Botisan from comment #0)
> [Additional notes]:
> - I think this behaviour reproduces because the two versions have the same
> name in Control Panel (in this example "Mozilla Firefox 57.0").

You're exactly right; the bug is that the installer uses that string (with the architecture and locale appended) to determine if an uninstall entry already exists. Since the beta number (or the build ID for nightly) isn't included, two betas or two nightlies look identical and the uninstall entries for the second one get skipped.

The problematic function is at:
http://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/rev/5a60492a53667fc61a62af1847d005a210b7a4f6/browser/installer/windows/nsis/shared.nsh#769

What that function should do is also check the InstallLocation and make sure it's the same as the current one in addition to the check of the product string.
Severity: normal → S3
You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.