Hello, i currently have FF installed on my PC (and use PFF on usb for other PCs).
but i would like to make PFF my main/only version of FF.. however my FF is pretty heavily customised, and i dont want to re-start doing all the settings, extensions and bookmarks all over again..
the aim is to copy PFF onto a ramdisk at startup to prevent HDD seeks when browsing (and maybe copy any changes back at shutdown). Also how would i get the start menu's 'internet' link to point to this ramdisk'ed version of PFF.
so how should i go about doing this? (the ff -> pff part)
thanks
You are here
Moving from installed FF to PFF
July 7, 2006 - 11:22am
#1
Moving from installed FF to PFF
Visit the Community page
Join our forums
Subscribe to our email newsletter
Subscribe with RSS
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on LinkedIn
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Mastodon
Follow us on BlueSky
There is a link on the PFF main page to the following info.
https://portableapps.com/support/portable_firefox#local_profile
Copying Your Local Firefox Settings
If you're using a local copy of Firefox, you may wish to just copy your local Firefox settings right into Portable Firefox. Your local Firefox profile is usually installed in C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\default.???\ Just copy all of those files except the cache directories to the profile directory within Portable Firefox. When you start Portable Firefox for the first time, be sure to turn off disk cache, password saving and history if you're using a non-hard drive portable device. You can set all of these within the Privacy tab of the Firefox Options window. Sometimes, certain profiles will cause the launcher to fail or hang. This is usually due to an incompatible extension.
Installing Plugins (Flash, Shockwave, etc.)
With Portable Firefox, plugins work a bit differently than they do in regular Firefox. Here's how to do some of the most common plugins:
* Flash Plugin - To install Flash, follow these steps:
1. Flash is available as an extension. Just click the link.
2. You'll probably see a yellow bar across the top of the browser (if not, skip to Step 5), on that bar, click Edit Options
3. In the popup window, click Allow to add PortableApps.com to your whitelist and then click close
4. Now try the link again
5. You'll see a popup asking if you would like to install, click OK after the countdown and follow along the prompts
* Shockwave Plugin - To install Shockwave, follow these steps:
1. Download the free Shockwave Player from the Macromedia website
2. Run the installation routine and, instead of letting it install to a local browser, select to choose your browser
3. Browse to X:\PortableFirefox\firefox (where X is your device's driver letter) and continue with the installation (Portable Apps Suite users will browse to X:\PortableApps\Apps\PortableFirefox\firefox)
4. You may need to restart Portable Firefox for the changes to take effect
* Other Plugins - Other plugin directions are coming soon...
If the above fails, try the alternate (and more geeky) method:
1. Install the plugin in a local copy of Firefox (on your hard drive)
2. Locate your plugins directory (usually C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins\)
3. Copy the plugin you need from there to your PortableFirefox\plugins directory (Some Exmaples: For Flash, copy NPSWF32.dll... for Shockwave, copy np32dsw.dll)
Life is about the journey not the destination!
The Kazoo Spartan
ok.. i've done that, and it works if i launch the firefox.exe.. but not if i launch portablefirefox.exe ?
"Your local Firefox profile is usually installed in C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\default.???\ Just copy all of those files except the cache directories to the profile directory within Portable Firefox."
it does not state which profile directory; there are 2 within PFF. also, my profile was located at ...\profiles\????????.default rather than default.???, (if that matters..)
also how to get the start menu to launch PFF?
Are you using the PFF launcher?
Have you gotten PFF to launch at all?
I believe the launcher helps PFF to point to a specific profile.
Life is about the journey not the destination!
The Kazoo Spartan
when i use the PFF launcher, FF works, but it just has the default profile with nothing on.. using firefox.exe it has my extensions, bookmarks etc.
?
That's because when you launch firefox.exe from the portable version, it actually just uses your profile that's stored on the local PC. You must be putting the profile in the wrong place if PFF isn't picking it up. Where in the portable version's directory stucture did you copy the files to?
-
fatcerberus@yahoo.com [aim: fatcerberus]
I have no witty remarks or quotes to share at the moment.
hello. it appears that i was putting it in the wrong 'profile' directory; as i stated earlier there are 2 within the PFF dir.
Could the FAQ please be altered to clarify that u need to copy the files to
PFF\Data\Profile\..rather than PFF\App\firefox\defaults\profile\ !Also i figured out how to direct the 'internet' link on the XP startmenu to the PFF launcher rather than firefox.exe --
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\firefox.exe\shell\open\commandand modify the string to point ?? \PORTAB~1\PORTAB~1.EXE (your portablefirefox.exe location)
My copy of Portable Firefox doesn't have a profile folder in the app directory...
-
fatcerberus@yahoo.com [aim: fatcerberus]
I have no witty remarks or quotes to share at the moment.
I just posted a new post (didn't see this one) asking something similar. My folder doesn't have a "Data folder". It has just a regular profile directing right inside the main folder, which is where I copied my local one. I just can't figure out how to make Firefox Portable use it.
Using to sync on Mac OS 10.3.9 with Flashdrive containing memory card
If you don't have a Data directory, then you probably have an old PFF version and so the profile is supposed to go into PortableFirefox\profile. Try putting one there and see what happens. PFF doesn't use the one in PortableFirefox\firefox\profile.
-
< ExplosivePrincess 1.5 Atomic Bomb Edition >
warning: keep explosiveprincess away from children
That's where I put it. I took the entire folder from my local hardrive (the folder containing the profile name--inside the folder was all of the "stuff"--bookmarks, extension folders, etc.) and placed it inside the profile folder.
Do I need to delete the profile name folder and place just the CONTENTS into the Portable Firefox/Profile folder? If so, can I safely place the default stuff into it's own folder so that I don't get it mixed up with my own?
Using to sync on Mac OS 10.3.9 with Flashdrive containing memory card
Exactly. You don't copy the actual C:\Documents and Settings\fat cerberus\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\e5mm5f5l.default folder; you only copy the contents of that folder.
And I have no clue what you're talking about with "default stuff."
-
< ExplosivePrincess 1.5 Atomic Bomb Edition >
warning: keep explosiveprincess away from children
What I meant by "default stuff" was the files that existed in the Firefox Portable profile folder BEFORE I place my own there.
But thanks for the advice to only move the CONTENTS of the folder, not the folder itself. I'll keep that in mind when I get to work tomorrow and try out my newly downloaded version.
Using to sync on Mac OS 10.3.9 with Flashdrive containing memory card
Using to sync on Mac OS 10.3.9 with Flashdrive containing memory card
The files that are already there? You can delete those. Those are just there for new users of FFP that don't have an existing profile, so that cache, history, etc. is disabled by default.
-
< ExplosivePrincess 1.5 Atomic Bomb Edition >
warning: keep explosiveprincess away from children