Ubuntu – How to uninstall a firefox plugin

12.04firefoxjava

I was trying to play minecraft in the browser, and I got asked to install a plugin called "IcedTea-Web Plugin (using IcedTea-Web 1.2 (1.2-2ubuntu1))" (something related to Java 6), which I can see now in Tools > Addons > Plugins. There was another plugin to install (for Java 7), I didn't know if I had to select one, so I just clicked Install or Accept.

Now the game or java app only shows a black screen, so I thought I should uninstall the plugin and try installing the other one. But there doesn't seem to be a way to uninstall plugins through the firefox GUI.

Any ideas?

Best Answer

As per my comment on the question, mozilla provide some instructions for manually uninstalling.

Manually uninstalling a plugin

If you can't use an uninstaller program to remove a plugin, you can remove it manually:

  1. In the Location bar, type about:config and press Enter.

    • The about:config "This might void your warranty!" warning page may appear. Click I'll be careful, I promise!, to continue to the about:config page.

  2. Search for the preference: plugin.expose_full_path.

  3. Double-click on the plugin.expose_full_path preference in the list to change the value to true.

  4. Enter about:plugins into the Location bar to display the About Plugins page.

  5. Each entry in the About Plugins page will have "File name:" followed by a path. Use Windows Explorer to navigateNavigate to the folder shown for the plugin you want to remove.

  6. Rename the file to something other than its normal name - e.g. npswf32 becomes Xnpswf32

  7. Double-click on the plugin.expose_full_path preference in the list on the about:config page to change the value back to false to avoid exposing the plugin path to websites.

The plugin will be removed.

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