Comments on: More on profiles: run multiple profiles simultaneously, install Firefox 2 and Firefox 3 on one machine

By: Adam

Adam — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:48:22 +0000

@MBB – you should try this extension:
Profile Manager and Synchronizer 0.2.0
https://addons.mozilla.org/pl/firefox/addon/9452
It is not capable of doing everything you mentioned but it’s getting close.
You can read more about it at the home page of the extension:
http://sendpagebyemail.mozdev.org/

By: MBB

MBB — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:55:30 +0000

Thanks for the multiple profile tip. Now I can finally stop useing 4 browsers on 1 PC and just use different firefox profiles.
I use them with different seettings for default, text (large fond etc), and download.

However, I have one problem; I can not just enable or disable the addons by profile and keep the other stuff the same.

I need to download and configure the add-ons again for every profile.
Not only does this take up unnecessary time and space, but I also get different dictionaries for the spellcheck.

I discovered that it is possible to copy search plugins and addons and add-ons to the Program filses firefox directory, but they do not always work, and as addons are saved uner a random string of numbers it’s a guess which is which.
Also they are no longer updatable/uninstallable.

Is there a way to make one profile the ‘master’ profile with the bookmarks etc and the others edited version that where you only disable stuff from the master profile?

By: Matthew’s Weblog » Multiple firefox installs

Matthew’s Weblog » Multiple firefox installs — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:46:12 +0000

[...] from ImproveFirefox.com [...]

By: b dube

b dube — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 20:57:42 +0000

sorry, bad cut-and-pasting job, shouldve started with:

You can also create a Firefox shortcut to a profile you DIDN’T create using profile manager (ie: a profile from another computer) The following is a method to open multiple profiles WITHOUT having created a profile using the firefox profile manager.

By: b dube

b dube — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 20:55:25 +0000

As a test I copied my “43bg40jr.default” profile directory and renamed it “Firefox1.work” then created a shortcut to firefox adding a few switches at the end.

HOW ITS DONE:
1. Add the firefox application path followed by the switch “-profile” followed by;
2. The ff Profile Path in quotes (in my case, Firefox1.work).
3. If you want to run other instances of Firefox simultaneously then add -no-remote
(4. if desired, plop the shortcut into the “All Programs” folder and add a shortcut key)

…so the shortcut will look like this:

“C:\Program Files\Internet\Firefox\firefox.exe” -profile “%userprofile%\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\PROFILENAME.default” -no-remote

You can cut and paste this into a shortcut but change PROFILENAME.default to your profile directory.

WHY (this is better than using profile manger):
- Dont have to use PM at all and can use keyboard shortcuts to open different profiles (ie; Ctrl + H=home, Ctrl + W=work etc)
- Saves time from selecting from the profile manager at startup
- Can still run multiple profiles simultaneously using the “-no-remote” command switch
- If FF is your default browser, some applications no longer open pages in Firefox after clicking “dont ask at startup” so you can still use your default profile as normal

BUGS:
-copying profiles sometimes breaks some extensions (just reinstall them or use CLEO/FEBE to backup/reinstall)
-profile names (preceeding the extension .default or .work or whatever) MUST be 8 characters long or else weird things happen (no icons, broken addons etc). Any 8 characters work, letters or numbers.

Hope this helps someone,
b-dube@hotmail.com