Mozilla plans to use Firefox's installer to set it as the default browser on Windows

[harlan4096]

Mozilla has a plan to help users set Firefox as the default browser on Windows 11. It will do it automatically for you when you install it on your computer.
That doesn't sound like a plan, well it is currently being tested in the beta version, so it is not concrete yet.

This isn't a new trick per se, Mozilla has used its own workaround for a couple of years, to bypass Windows' rather cumbersome settings that tend to favor Microsoft Edge. You don't need to dig deep to set Firefox as your default browser, just open the program's settings or about:preferences, and click on the Make Default button to make it your default browser. It's a one-click solution.



Mozilla wants to set Firefox as your default browser on Windows 11

So, what's changing? Well, Mozilla wants to skip this manual method. The change that has been proposed under Bug ID 1923868 is captioned "Support setting Firefox as default based on installer attribution campaign". It will use a set_default_browser attribution campaign to apply the option, i.e. via downloads through a specific channel. It boils down to this, a user visit's Firefox's download page, gets the installer, runs it, and this happens.

When you run the installer, Firefox's set-up presents you with three options:

• Pin Firefox to taskbar
  
• Set Firefox as default browser
  
• Import from previous browser
  

All three options are enabled by default. There is a large button that says "Save and continue", and a smaller button that says "Skip this step". Choosing the latter will not set Firefox as the default browser. But if you click on "save and continue", it becomes your default web browser. I'll skip the rest of the set-up because it is not particularly relevant to the topic. I tested it, and yes it works. Your browser is changed without any further input.

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