25

tl;dr I want to browse an http-based URL but Firefox will not let me.

A local network HTTP server is at http://host (port 80) and the corresponding HTTPS server is at https://host (port 443).

When I type into the Firefox Address Bar http://host⏎, Firefox insists on changing the URL to https://host.
Using the Web Developer Tools -> Network tab, I can see Firefox goes directly to https://host despite my entry of http://host. Firefox is not receiving an HTTP 300 Redirect from the server.

How do I instruct Firefox to not overwrite http with https?
How do I instruct Firefox to connect to http://host?


Using Firefox 100 on Windows 10.

JamesThomasMoon
  • 1,066

7 Answers7

11

I ran into this while using dev as an alias for 127.0.0.1 because I wanted to use a host header with nginx to access a virtual server.

Turns out that's now a real TLD and part of what's called the "preloadlist". None of the above suggestions worked for me, but these did:

Summary: set network.stricttransportsecurity.preloadlist to false

odigity
  • 401
7

Neither

  • browser.fixup.fallback-to-https: false
  • browser.urlbar.autoFill: false
  • HTTPS Only disabled in settings
  • HTTPS Only enabled and correct exceptions set

and all possible combinations of them did the trick consequently, but

  • browser.fixup.alternate.protocol: http

fixed it for me

Alexander Weber
  • 71
  • 1
  • 1
4

Take a look at HTTPS-Only Mode in Firefox and check, if HTTPS-Only Mode is enabled.

M. Behrens
  • 1,346
3

tl;dr use the IP Address

IP Address

Instead of browsing to a URL of the named host, e.g. http://host, browse to the URL of the IP Address, e.g. http://192.168.1.2.

Firefox and other browsers will not forcibly insist on https protocol if Don’t enable HTTPS-Only Mode is set.

In Settings page (about:preferences), section Privacy & Security, change HTTPS-Only Mode to Don’t enable HTTPS-Only Mode

HTTPS-Only Mode

Other configurations to consider

  • in about:config page, change browser.fixup.fallback-to-https to false (thanks @ubfan1)
  • search "HTTPS" and tweak other settings until you have it

Related, browsing to the IP Address URL also allows an opportunity to skip TLS certificate checking for https connections.

JamesThomasMoon
  • 1,066
1

I realized that I was getting this same error while trying to go to http://192.168.x.x/somepage.html when actually I needed to be going to http://192.168.x.x:5000/somepage.html. When I had forgotten to include the port number, I was getting upgraded to https no matter what I tried. Once I included the appropriate port, it worked just fine with http.

fivestones
  • 93
  • 2
  • 7
0

I'm not sure when this was implemented**, but all I needed to do was to go into Settings in Firefox and find "HTTPS-Only Mode", click "Manage Exceptions" and add http://[host] and click "Turn Off". Now that host loads fine over http.

Today at least, I'd try that first.

** I think not recently, because I already had an older host I had added before there. For further information see support article HTTPS-Only Mode in Firefox.

MiB
  • 149
0

Try using a .home.arpa domain for your local development needs. I believe this can be a better option than localhost, especially when your web development setup requires regular FQDNs.

Kotu
  • 101