Can't turn off images in Selenium / Firefox

Question

I am looking to disable images in Firefox when using Selenium. It should be a simple update of the preferences in firefox, which is documented on the instructions on Disable images in Selenium Python

However when i run, images display, and when i enter about:config, the value for permissions.default.image is still 1, rather than 2 which i have tried setting it to.

My code (written in Python) is:

from selenium import webdriver
firefox_profile = webdriver.FirefoxProfile()
firefox_profile.set_preference("permissions.default.image", 2)
driver = webdriver.Firefox(firefox_profile)
driver.get(web_address)

For reference, this code works perfect with another change to preference e.g. turning off csv files with the line firefox_profile.set_preference("permissions.default.stylesheet",2). The only difference i can tell between the csv setting and the image one, is that the line permissions.default.image already exists in about:config (i.e. without me setting it), however the line permissions.default.stylesheet does not. ... it seems that i can add new lines in with the value i want, but not change an existing one (or it is beein over-ridden by Selenium after i enter my value).

Mclaren

did you also disable flash? firefox_profile.set_preference('dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.libflashplayer.so', 'false') – Merridie

Which selenium and which Firefox versions are you using? Thanks. – Develop

@Develop Firefox 39, and Salenium 2.46.0. Also, it seems that i can't change default values - i can create the value "permissions.default.image_new" with value 2, but not change "permissions.default.image" from 1 to 2 – Mclaren

@Mclaren yup, I'm able to reproduce the issue, working on it. – Develop

Answer 1

From what I understand, this problem is related to the following Firefox issues:

• Remove "Load images automatically" checkbox from Prefs
• Get rid of options that kill our product

That means that permissions.default.image is frozen, cannot be changed and does nothing.

---

Alternatives:

• use Image Block extension
• switch to Chrome (Disable images in Selenium ChromeDriver)

Develop

Thanks Alecxe! Followed your advice on using extensions although found QuickJava worked best, as Image Block did not support latest version of firefox. I have shared my code which solves problem in #25214973 – Mclaren

Setting permissions.default.image works for me on Firefox 66.0.5. – Jairia

Answer 2

I had this problem. the solution is bellow in 3 steps. 1- creating new profile for Firefox. in Windows completely close Firefox. press (Window+R) , write firefox.exe -p then press enter and create a new profile. 2-open Firefox with the created profile then open about:config in navigation bar and find permissions.default.image and make it's number 2. 3-change your code like bellow

ProfilesIni profile = new ProfilesIni();
FirefoxProfile myprofile = profile.getProfile("your_profile_name");
WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver(myprofile);

Landy

Answer 3

I've created a code sample for disabling images.

#DISABLE IMAGES ON FIREFOX
def disable_images(driver):
    driver.get("about:config")
    driver.find_element("id","warningButton").click()
    searchArea=driver.find_element("id","about-config-search")
    searchArea.send_keys("permissions.default.image")
    editButton=driver.find_element("xpath","/html/body/table/tr[1]/td[2]/button")
    editButton.click()
    editArea=driver.find_element("xpath","/html/body/table/tr[1]/td[1]/form/input")
    editArea.send_keys("2")
    saveButton=driver.find_element("xpath","/html/body/table/tr[1]/td[2]/button")
    saveButton.click()

Responsibility

Answer 4

As of 2023-10, it does work again, though the code has changed a bit since selenium 4:

import shutil

from selenium.webdriver import FirefoxProfile, Firefox
from selenium.webdriver.firefox.service import Service
from selenium.webdriver.firefox.options import Options


profile = FirefoxProfile()
profile.set_preference("permissions.default.image", 2)

options = Options()
options.profile = profile

service = Service(executable_path=shutil.which("geckodriver"))
driver = Firefox(service=service, options=options)

Doridoria