How to Disable Captive Portal Detection Feature on Firefox

The Captive Portal detection feature in Firefox is designed to identify if your internet connection requires extra authorization, which is common in hotel Wi-Fi networks and some other public networks. While useful, it can sometimes be unnecessary or disruptive. Disabling this feature will prevent Firefox from attempting to detect and authorize via the Captive Portal.

Why Disable Captive Portal Detection?

• Avoid Interruptions: Prevents Firefox from halting your browsing session due to captive portal detection.
• Improve Performance: Reduces the number of background checks performed by Firefox, which can improve performance slightly.
• Control Browser Behavior: Customize Firefox to behave in a way that suits your preferences and network environment.

Steps to Disable Captive Portal Detection in Firefox

Follow these detailed steps to disable the Captive Portal detection feature in Firefox:

Step 01: Open Firefox

Launch the Mozilla Firefox browser on your computer.

Step 02: Access the Configuration Settings

1. Open a new tab in Firefox.
2. Type about:config into the address bar and press Enter.

Step 03: Accept the Risk Warning

You will see a warning message. Click on I accept the risk to proceed.

Step 04: Search for Captive Portal Setting

1. In the search box at the top of the about:config page, type or copy-paste the following preference name: network.captive-portal-service.enabled.

Step 05: Disable Captive Portal Detection

1. Locate the network.captive-portal-service.enabled preference in the search results.
2. Double-click anywhere on the network.captive-portal-service.enabled line to toggle its value from true to false.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you have successfully disabled the Captive Portal detection feature in Firefox. This change will prevent Firefox from checking for and handling network connections that require extra authorization, providing a smoother browsing experience in environments where this detection is unnecessary.

Additional Information

• Re-enabling Captive Portal Detection: If you need to re-enable the Captive Portal detection feature in the future, simply repeat the steps above and toggle the network.captive-portal-service.enabled value back to true.
• Impact on Network Access: Disabling this feature means Firefox will no longer detect when a network requires authorization, so you may need to manually open a browser window to authenticate on such networks.