VanguardLH wrote:
Bill in Co wrote:

VanguardLH wrote:
Bill in Co wrote:

According to the website, version 52.9 is the last "supported" version
(and is what I am using now). But that version does have some issues
on some sites (esp with regards to videos, which need more HTML5 (and
mp4) capability, than is provided by FF version 52.9). (case in point
- try to watch some videos on ted.com without having to fall back to a
somewhat jerky flash version).

Firefox ESR 52.9 is the last version for Windows XP.

I'm wondering if anyone has tried to install a later version (to get
the benefits of some code updates, particularly in regards to HTML5
video playback capability). And if so, how far up in version numbers
could you go, before it refused to install or work?

(It looks like anything below version 62 is at least not "Quantum",
which is a plus, to me).

FF version 57 is the Quantum release, not version 62. v57 is when
XUL/XCOM legacy extensions got cut off and when Webextensions were
required.

Thanks for the correction on that. But my question was regarding
"installability", and if anyone had even tried to install and run an
updated version (updated beyond 52.9). I know it's not "supported",
but that doesn't mean you can't install it and run it. I figured
somebody here might have tried, and was curious as to their results.

The stub installer (aka web installer) you get from Mozilla will check
your OS to determine which is the latest version of Firefox it will
retrieve and install under your OS. Even with the best compression
possible, there is no way all of the Firefox product is contained inside
a 308KB stub installer.

https://www.ghacks.net/2018/05/11/ho...ne-installers/

To get the full installer aka offline installer, see:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/

As I recall, some of the "all" downloads were accidentally stub
installers, so I can't be sure which are stub versus full installers.
Size would indicate which; however, the "all" page doesn't list file
size, so you have to download to check the installer's file size. I
suspect the offline installer will also perform an OS check.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb...fox-on-windows

You could see if using an offline installer gets you up to the "Set up
shortcuts" dialog in the installer or if the installer immediately balks
at running on Windows XP. That is, run the offline installer to see if
it even starts. You aren't trying to install Firefox but just see if
the offline installer even lets you proceed.

You could trying copying the following folders from a Windows 7+ host to
your Windows XP host:

C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
%appdata%\Mozilla
%localappdata%\Mozilla

but those won't include all the registry entries for Firefox.

Note that Mozilla didn't just say FF ESR 52 would be the last supported
version of Firefox on Windows XP. They also stated ESR 52 would be the
last /compatible/ version of Firefox on Windows XP.

Other than the warning in Mozilla's article below, why can't you use FF
ESR 52 (52.9) on Windows XP?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb...s-xp-and-vista

Anytime you use an old versioned web browser, sites may not behave or
they refuse connections or somehow throttle their site (because they
want to use new features in the web browser that you won't have with an
old version). Complain to the site that they still need to provide
backward compatibility (alternate content) for old web browsers.
Windows XP is down to 4.6% of the marketshare, so don't expect a site to
bother with requests from a tiny share of their visitors. The sites
move forward to use new or enhanced features in the newer versioned web
browsers, and they don't retain compatibility of their site with old and
unsupported web browsers. There are sites where you cannot visit using
IE3, either.

By the way, Adobe is dropping Flash at the end of 2020. So, those sites
where you are still watching Flash streamed videos will stop working or
get worse (since Adobe won't be providing an updated plug-in).

https://theblog.adobe.com/adobe-flash-update/
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/new...ven-years-ago/

Thanks for that info. I can - and am - using FF version 52.9, and so far
it works fine *except* when accessing some websites with videos, like
ted.com. That website (and a few others now) expect .h264 compatibility to
work (unless you fall back to flash). And as you have already pointed out,
flash is deprecated, and is going away soon. But I've finally found an
article that resolves that .h264 issue for this old version of FF, but it is
a bit tedious setting it up.