You can have multiple portable profiles in three little steps. Still, you won't be able to run them at the same time.
STEP 1 : Create the profiles
The normal architecture of the firefox portable folder is:
-FirefoxPortable -App -Data -Other
You need to create multiple "Data" folders (one for each profile) in firefox portable. You can either keep "Data" as the default folder, or just erase it. You can name the folders as you wish. You can replace profile1, profile2, profile3, by Serious, Naughty, extensionTester if you prefer.
-FirefoxPortable -App -Profile1 -Profile2 -Profile3 -Other
The pofiles folders are empty. This is normal. Firefox will fill them with the default profile content (stored in the app folder, if you want to check).
If you want to put your existing profiles datas, it is the right moment. Just paste the content of your profiles, in the folders.
STEP 2 : Create the ini files
Firfox Portable apps configuration can be changed through a file called FirefoxPortable.ini
Fetch the one in FirefoxPortable / Other / Sources and copy it in the FirefoxPortable folder.
If you edit it, you see that two lines are pointing at the old Data folder.
Save three copies of this file in the same directory, after changing the "Data" name to your corresponding profile:
- FirefoxPortableProfile1.ini :
ProfileDirectory=Profile1\profile SettingsDirectory=Profile1\settings
- FirefoxPortableProfile2.ini :
ProfileDirectory=Profile2\profile SettingsDirectory=Profile2\settings
- etc...
STEP 3 : Start them
Ok, you just have to create a little .bat file to overwrite the FirefoxPortable.ini with the ini of the profile you want to use.
Profile1.bat
copy /Y FirefoxPortableProfile1.ini FirefoxPortable.ini FirefoxPortable
(don't forget to add a carriage return after the last line, otherwise it will not be executed)
You can have as many bat to start all your profiles, or you can create a more complicated bat which will ask you which profile you want to start.
Hope it helps
Fxparlant
you can create a dos file call it what you want (let say: firefox.bat) which will help you switch profiles, as long as you have created them as explained in the previous post:
Firefox.bat
Hope this helps.
Fxparlant
1. Amend folder structure as so:
2. Put bat file in PortableFirefox folder and run!
3. (optional) place "Parameters.txt" in each new folder with a single line of command line parameters to pass to Firefox (e.g. -no-remote for dev profile).
.bat
EDIT: If you change the folder names of your new profiles after first run against that profile firefoxportable won't find your extensions properly...
Deleting .\Data\*folder*\profile\compatibility.ini and .\Data\*folder*\profile\extensions.ini after changing folder name seems to sort this out.
Thank's !
There's also AndreasSeitz Portable profiles tool here: https://portableapps.com/node/5376#comment-112474
To whitch I propose some changes that make it work quite like the native FF profile manager :
https://portableapps.com/node/5376#comment-133358
but I faced a similar problem. I came across this topic, as well as an article on the site but the solutions offered there did not really fit me, so I did my own. I post it here in case anyone needs it.
1. Open FirefoxPortable\Data\settings\FirefoxPortableSettings.ini, change
LastProfileDirectory=NONE
then save it, and set ReadOnly attribute to this file.
2. Create FirefoxPortable\FirefoxPortable.global with the following content
[FirefoxPortable]
AllowMultipleInstances=true
DisableIntelligentStart=false
3. Create FirefoxPortable\load_profile.cmd with the following content
@echo off
@setlocal
if "%~1"=="" exit /b 2
set "profiles_path=Data"
set "lock_file=parent.lock"
for /f "usebackq tokens=* delims=" %%a in ('%~f0\..') do set "app_name=%%~na"
set "profile_name=%~1"
set "profile_path=%profiles_path%\%profile_name%"
set "profile_fullpath=%~dp0\%profile_path%"
if NOT "%profile_name:~0,2%" == "__" goto :skip_reset
call :check_profile_lock "%profile_fullpath%"
if NOT %errorlevel% EQU 0 exit /b %errorlevel%
>nul 2>&1 rd /s /q "%profile_fullpath%"
set "base_profile_name="
for /f "usebackq tokens=1,* delims=_" %%a in ('%profile_name%') do set "base_profile_name=%%b"
if "%base_profile_name%"=="" goto :no_base
set "base_profile_name=_%base_profile_name%"
set "base_profile_fullpath=%~dp0\%profiles_path%\%base_profile_name%"
call :check_profile_lock "%base_profile_fullpath%"
if NOT %errorlevel% EQU 0 exit /b %errorlevel%
>nul 2>&1 xcopy "%base_profile_fullpath%" "%profile_fullpath%" /s /e /c /i /q /g /h /r /k /y
:no_base
:skip_reset
>nul 2>&1 copy /y "%~dp0\%app_name%.global" "%~dp0\%app_name%.ini"
set "append_to_cfg=>>"%~dp0\%app_name%.ini" echo"
%append_to_cfg%.
%append_to_cfg%.ProfileDirectory=%profile_path%
start "" "%~dp0\%app_name%.exe"
exit /b 0
:check_profile_lock
@setlocal
set "profile_lock_file=%~1\%lock_file%"
if not exist "%profile_lock_file%" exit /b 0
>nul 2>&1 del /f /q /a "%profile_lock_file%"
if exist "%profile_lock_file%" exit /b 1
exit /b 0
4. Now create FirefoxPortable\%_PROFILE_NAME_%.cmd files (or just directly run FirefoxPortable\load_profile.cmd %_PROFILE_NAME_%) containing
@call "%~dp0\load_profile.cmd" "%~n0"
Examples
_heavy.cmd (begins with "_") - will load FF with FirefoxPortable\Data\_heavy profile
__clean.cmd (begins with "__") - will load FF with FirefoxPortable\Data\__clean profile, profile will be DELETED before loading each time. If profile is currently used by FF, script will do nothing.
__test_heavy.cmd (begins with "__", "_base_profile" appended after name) - will load FF with FirefoxPortable\Data\__test_heavy profile, profile will be DELETED and cloned from _heavy profile before loading each time. If profile is currently used by FF, script will do nothing. If original "base" profile is currently used by FF, script will also do not run (but profile will be already cleaned).
Also you can use "load_profile.cmd _heavy", "load_profile.cmd __clean", "load_profile.cmd __test_heavy"
Profile name started with "_", because filename started with "_" are in the top of the list.
P.S. I hope this will be useful to someone.
P.P.S. sorry for the bad English. I'm Russian and I'm drunk (^_^) so the text is translated by Yandex.
The easiest way, and the way we support multiple profiles without needing multiple full installs of Firefox Portable, is with the Second Profile tool: https://portableapps.com/support/firefox_portable#second_profile
You can install multiple copies, rename them as you'd like in the PA.c Platform, and the platform will even keep the profile tool up to date in all copies as long as you follow the naming convention in the link.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Need to run Firefox with multiple instances with different profile at same time because my web based software is supporting only one user instance as a time (Operator or Supervisor), so, I am trying run both of them at same time, can any one help me?
This is what I do for my own multiple Firefox profiles opened and used at the same time.
a) follow the instructions at https://portableapps.com/support/firefox_portable#second_profile
1. Install PortableApps.com platform.
2. Install Mozilla Firefox via the platform
3. Install Mozilla Firefox 2nd Profile via the platform
Your PortableApps folder should have
where the FirefoxPortable and FirefoxPortable2ndProfile is inside the PortableApps folder.
b) Add the following line to FirefoxPortable.ini in \PortableApps\FirefoxPortable2ndProfile\Data folder
AllowMultipleInstances=true
For example mine is
[FirefoxPortable]
FirefoxDirectory=..\..\FirefoxPortable\App\firefox
ProfileDirectory=profile
SettingsDirectory=settings
PluginsDirectory=plugins
AllowMultipleInstances=true
c) Copy the FirefoxPortable2ndProfile folder to as many instances you need
For example the folder structure for a 5 instances Firefox could be
d) rename the "Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 2nd Profile" in the PortableApps.com Platform to suit your needs.
e) the first Mozilla Firefox is not multiple instance and I won't bother making it multiple instance-able. You can hide it from the menu if you like it neat.
Hello.
I've been running two profiles in portable Firefox for years but by using a Firefox fork - Comodo IceDragon (also portable).
Now I've realized that IceDragon is way behind Firefox and is apparently abandonware - sites render differently, and sometimes features don't even work, like login on some sites.
I've tried to use the method you've described here but I've never used the PA platform (and don't plan to).
My normal FF Portable is located at D:\Browsers\FF
I've installed the 2nd Profile at D:\Browsers\FF2, but after clicking FirefoxPortable2ndProfile.exe I get an error:
Firefox, Portable Edition 2nd Profile cannot be started. You may wish to re-install to fix this issue.
(ERROR: D:\Browsers\FirefoxPortable\FirefoxPortable.exe could not be found)
Renaming "FF" folder to "FirefoxPortable" fixes the issue, however - I still can't launch another profile at the same time, getting the usual "Another instance of Firefox is already running", either if I launch the normal one first, or the 2nd Profile first.
Any way to fix this? Is PA platform necessary?
You need to keep the standard folder names or it can't find it, which is why it can when you switch it back to FirefoxPortable instead of FF. To let multiple instances run at the same time, you can set the advanced INI option called AllowMultipleInstances. It's detailed in the readme.txt within FirefoxPortable\Other\Source. This readme is referenced and linked to in the help.html file in the FirefoxPortable base directory. For the FirefoxPortableSecondProfile instance, this FirefoxPortable.ini will be within the Data directory after it has been run once instead of in the root directory.
Note that I can't recall if you can run two instances of Firefox from the same install at the same time in the current version. If you can't, create a copy of your base FirefoxPortable directory and then rename it FirefoxPortable_Copy_1 or similar. Then set the advanced INI option in both.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Setting AllowMultipleInstances=true for both instances and renaming folders(?) didn't help.
I meant you may need two full copies of Firefox Portable to be able to run them side by side.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Nope, same old error, it's like AllowMultipleInstances means nothing.
Did you copy the FirefoxPortable.ini to the FirefoxPortable directory?
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I did now, it worked. I'm sorry, I really couldn't recognize this step from your previous message.
Thank you.