Is it possible to install PWAsForFirefox without Admin Privileges?

[hugorossi]

I'm working on a PC without admin privileges and would still like to install PWAsForFirefox. Is this possible?

Thanks for your reply.

Hugo

[filips123]

Probably, but you will have to change source code a bit and compile and install it yourself, because PWAsForFirefox expects some files (executables, native messaging manifest and UserChrome modifications) to be installed in some pre-defined global directory (by default C:\Program Files\FirefoxPWA on Windows).

1. Set FFPWA_EXECUTABLES and FFPWA_SYSDATA build-time environment variables (source) to some writable directory and build the project.
2. Copy firefoxpwa.exe and firefoxpwa-connector.exe to a directory specified in FFPWA_EXECUTABLES, and userchrome to a directory in FFPWA_SYSDATA.
3. Copy manifest for your OS to the correct location and edit it so it points to firefoxpwa-connector.exe. In case of Windows, you can just copy manifest anywhere you want (but make sure it's named firefoxpwa.json), then create registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\NativeMessagingHosts\firefoxpwa that contains a path to the manifest. You will probably have to do this through command line as you cannot access regedit without admin privileges.

I know it's a bit complicated and I haven't tested it, but I think it should work.

[hugorossi]

Thanks for your detailed reply. Although I must say this is way beyond my ability to do any such thing. Thank you anyway, I appreciate it very much that you took the time to write this.

[filips123]

Since I first answered this, support for per-user installs has been added to the MSI installer.

However, if you choose the per-user option, you must remember to always use it when installing updates, otherwise it will cause problems. Also, it might not work correctly when installing it using winget or chocolately.