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FirefoxPortable.ini: setting "UserProfileDirectory" does not work

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kladimega7
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FirefoxPortable.ini: setting "UserProfileDirectory" does not work

Hi,

I'm using the Firefox Portable Launcher 1.3.1.

In previous versions, you could define in FirefoxPortable.ini a folder on your USB stick where everything that usually goes to %Appdata% is saved instead. In the recent version, this does not work any more.

I know that when you exit Firefox portable, the local folder %Appdata%/Mozilla is deleted. But I think this is not an improvement, because other tools/plugins that you can use with Portable Firefox write data to %Appdata%, too. For example, if there's a piece of flash in a web page, the flash plugin writes data to the folder %Appdata%/Macromedia. These data can contain information similar to what a cookie can contain. I'd prefer these data not to be written to a local folder, but to a folder on my USB stick. Therefore, I'd like to request to bring the old feature back to define "UserProfileDirectory" in FirefoxPortable.ini.

Regards,
kladimega7

John T. Haller
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Dropped

This was dropped in a previous release due to the fact that it caused issues (any software launched from Firefox would think the USERPROFILE directory was on your key including QuickTime, Windows Media Player, IE, etc). And there were some reports of it messing up iTunes on local PCs.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

kladimega7
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Hi John, I have never had

Hi John,

I have never had any problems with this feature and I think that this is not a bug, but a very useful feature:

"... any software launched from Firefox would think the USERPROFILE directory was on your key including QuickTime, Windows Media Player, IE, etc."

Users who are not satisfied with this feature do not have to use it. I do not understand why it had to be dropped because some were unhappy with it (while there are others who regard it a most useful must-have feature).

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John T. Haller
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Not because they were unhappy

But because it has the potential to *BREAK* locally-installed software on the PC you're running it on, which may not be your own. (Like the iTunes reports) It's not very nice of a portable app to do this, so that's why it was removed.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

kladimega7
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John, I understand your point, ...

but I run Portable Firefox only on computers without any software that could interfere with the changed %appdata% folder. I've used previous versions of the launcher without any problems or breaking any things. That's why it is a huge disadvantage for me (and others like me) that the feature mentioned above has been removed (and that's why I am such a pain in the neck, sorry).

What do you think about bringing the feature back and adding a corresponding warning to the help/readme file instead?

Regards

Bahamut
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Use an older

Vintage!

Steve Lamerton
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Or,

if you were feeling adventurous you could hack the old appdata stuff into a new launcher, shouldn't be too difficult!

Yours

Steve Lamerton

The Liberta Project

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