(This thread has been adapted from a previously unanswered thread. This one is clearer and more concise. The other has been deleted.)
I'm having a few problems with my U3 GeekSquad 1GB thumb drive:
1) I cannot get the Launcher to run on any public lab computers at my school (although it does show up in the task manager's process list). This is not a crisis, since I can still access everything through explorer, but it is an inconvenience.
2) Firefox seems to be writing its application data onto the C drive of the lab computers I'm working on. Any extensions I install or custom settings I make are written to that application data folder on the hard disk, not the USB drive. Thus, if I come back after the system's been restarted (or to a completely different computer), that data folder is gone and Firefox creates a fresh one all over again--losing my settings/extensions. How do I get U3 Firefox to write its app data to the USB drive?
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If you click Firefox for U3 in the U3 Launchpad and Firefox does not come up (with the included bookmarks back here for support and stuff) then FF for U3 will *not* work on that computer. Most likely, the school's computer is blocking some piece of it as you're not allowed to use unofficial software on that computer.
I'm guessing from #2 that, since you didn't get the launcher to work, you ran firefox.exe directly. By doing that, you're using a *regular* copy of Firefox, and it'll put all of its settings in C:\Document and Settings\etc... The "launcher" is where all the portable intelligence is. Without it, it's just Firefox.
You could try Firefox Portable (the non-U3 version) on those same school computers and and see if that comes up. Then you could see if it's something specific to U3 that's being blocked or if it's anything attempting to launch Firefox.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Ahhhh!
That explains why, when you told me how to use FireFox for U3 in "safe mode", you included that information about the profile location in the paramaters. Your were telling Firefox not only where to FIND my profile, but where to PUT the profile as well. I wondered about that. Good to know, if I am understanding this correctly of course.
Tim
Geek w/o portfolio
Things have got to get better, they can't get worse, or can they?
That long commandline with the -profile switch is how the FF for U3 launcher launches Firefox. After it analyzes and adapts the profile to the current location, that is (which is why I said you had to run the launcher at least once before attempting safe mode).
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!