Create Firefox policies in Windows Server 2008
- November 11th, 2009
- Posted in Documentation
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I used the following procedure to be able to create and manage Firefox via Windows Server 2008 Group Policies. I used a solution provided by FrontMotion (http://www.frontmotion.com). I used the Firefox Community Edition which is Firefox packaged as an msi for deployment from an Active Directory. Use it for deployment, but instead wanted to manage Firefox browser setting via a Group Policy.
I started on my Windows 2008 Server, by download the firefox.adm (Administrative Template) from http://www.frontmotion.com/Firefox/firefox.adm.
Then from the Group Policy Management, clicked on “Group Policy Objects” and then “Default Domain Policy,” since I wanted to implement these policies for the entire domain. From here, click on the “Settings” tab, and right mouse click in the “Settings” windows pane and select “Edit.” This will bring up the “Group Policy Management Editor.”
Click to expand “User Configuration”/”Policies.” Note: You put this in the “Computer Configuration” as well.
Right mouse click “Administrative Templates: Policy definitions (ADMX files) retrieved from the local machine.” and select “Add/Remove Templates.”
Click “Add” and navigate to where you saved the firefox.adm you download earlier to add the adm.
This will add the Firefox policies to “User Configuration”/”Policies”/”Administrative Templates”/”Classic Administrative Templates.”
From here, you can set your policies. Such “Cache” and “Proxy Settings.”
When you are done, exit out of the “Group Policy Management Editor.”
From “Group Policy Management”, you should be able refresh (right mouse and hit “Refresh”) the “Default Domain Policy.” I closed “Group Policy Management” and re-opened it.
Once refreshed, you be able to see the new policies under “Default Domain Policy”/”User Configuration”/”Administrative Templates”/”Firefox.”
Now the policies are set.
Onto the client. As I mentioned before, I did not use the FrontMotion solution to deploy Firefox. I just installed the msi download from FrontMotion (http://www.frontmotion.com/Firefox/download.php?fileid=3652). Then, to test my policies, I logged in as a domain user. All of my policies were set.
I used the following procedure to be able to create and manage Firefox via Windows Server 2008 Group Policies. I used a solution provided by FrontMotion (http://www.frontmotion.com). I used the Firefox Community Edition which is Firefox packaged as an msi for deployment from an Active Directory. Use it for deployment, but instead wanted to manage Firefox browser setting via a Group Policy. I started on my Windows 2008 Server, by download the firefox.adm (Administrative Template) from http://www.frontmotion.com/Firefox/firefox.adm. -:-
Which packages exactly did you download???
When I log into http://www.frontmotion.com/Firefox/firefox.adm. I get a page that looks like this – ��;� �F�i�r�f�o�x�.�a�d�m� �V�1�.�2�
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and whan I go to http://www.frontmotion.com/index. I click on MSI for Mozilla Firefox, it directs to a page that says -:- Download
How to Deploy
Group Policy Enabled
Packaging Service
Firefox MSI
Deploy Firefox into Active Directory
MSI installers for Mozilla Firefox! Useful for deploying Mozilla Firefox across thousands of computers automatically with Microsoft’s Active Directory. Use Firefox on your corporate computers to decrease virus incidents and increase overall security. Save time and frustration with our installer that is targeted toward the corporate IT administrator with manageability and upgradeability in mind. This is not just a wrapper around the exe installer nor is it another half baked ‘captured’ install. The files contained in this MSI are the official binaries with no modifications. Settings are matched as closely as possible to the official installer. Updates to the MSI follows the release of Mozilla Firefox. The MSI installer is free to download and use.
If you are a home user, please do not use our installer. Instead download from the official Mozilla Firefox site
For Group Policy support, use FrontMotion Firefox Community Edition. To deploy with extensions, use the Firefox Packaging Service.
I choose FrontMotion Firefox Community Edition, it then directs me to -:- FrontMotion Firefox Community Edition is a customized version of Firefox with the ability to lockdown settings through Active Directory using Administrative Templates. Similar to lockdown settings with mozilla.cfg on one computer, you can now use Administrative Templates to enforce settings across your organization. Save time and frustration with our installer that is targeted toward the corporate IT administrator with manageability and upgradeability in mind. Note FrontMotion Firefox Community Edition is not Mozilla Firefox since there are code changes. FrontMotion Firefox Community Edition is freely available in many languages.
To deploy Firefox with extensions, use the Firefox Packaging Service.
now one can only click on Firefox Packaging Service, which in turn takes me to this screen -:- This service is for people who need more functionality than the free Firefox MSI packages (more info). You can use choose a Firefox version, a language and up to ten extensions. Press a button and in a few minutes you can download your customized package ready for deployment. It is fast, easy and inexpensive compared to any other packaging services.
Any additional extensions not on the list can be requested. We can also include in-house extensions, for example those generated using the cck.
Buy Buy use of the packaging system
My Packages Start building packages
Components View available Firefox versions, languages, and extensions
I choose components, but then which components do I choose???
Are there speific ones I need???
Your help is greatly appreciated
and which verion of Firefox does it work with????
@Charling
You are opening the firefox.adm file in your browser. I might have used wget to pull down the file before. For some reason, I cannot find the link either, but the file is still there. I have updated my post to change the reference to the file as a link. If you are using firefox, right mouse click on the link and save the file.
I believe I was using the 3.6.3 verion of the msi. Recently, I upgraded an installation to 5.0.1, and the policy still worked with one exception that I have not looked into yet. The settings were in place, but the box was not checked to use the proxy server.