How to open Firefox in kiosk mode and point to a webpage?

Question

I'm trying to run Firefox in kiosk mode.

nano /home/pi/.config/lxsession/autostart

@firefox-esr (@iceweasel) 

Here, how to point the browser to a webpage?

Example - for Chromium we use this- @chromium-browser --kiosk http://google.com/

Answer 1

firefox --help seems to give this option:

  --kiosk Start the browser in kiosk mode.

I have tried with

firefox --kiosk https://www.ghacks.net/2019/10/07/firefox-71-new-kiosk-mode-for-the-browser/, alas, this is only from version 71 up, that will take some time to land in ESR/IceWeasel.

So, unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to do that, currently.

Answer 2

It is possible to run Firefox in kiosk mode on RPi. You’ll need a small hack to emulate hitting the F11 key though.

First install firefox-esr:

sudo apt install firefox-esr

Then you’ll need to install xdotool, which is a tool to do fake keyboard input, among others.

sudo apt install xdotool

Then, in your autostart file you add the following:

firefox -kiosk -private-window "http://localhost/" &
sleep 10
xdotool search --sync --onlyvisible --name firefox key F11

This will launch Firefox with the desired URL. Then, after ten seconds (you might need a bit more if it takes a longer time to start Firefox) xdotool will set focus to Firefox and hit the F11 key. The & behind the URL is essential.

Sources:

• one of the other answers to this question
• an answer to a similar question
• This excellent guide: Setup a Raspberry Pi to run a Web Browser in Kiosk Mode

Answer 3

You can install firefox-esr on RPi now

sudo apt-get install firefox-esr -y

and you can run it in kiosk mode - at least from the browser (F11)

Firefox says /[install directory]/firefox -kiosk -private-window [target URL] should do it but I've not been able to make that work right now

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-enterprise-kiosk-mode