Ok a summery up till now: I have portable Firefox and I customized it with addons and such. Most of the addons work when the Firefox is moved but some don't. To get them working again I have to go to tools > addons > find updates then restart.
The addons in question:
* QuickProxy: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1557/
* Toggle Private Browsing: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9517/
Addons that DO work:
* Download Statusbar
* NoScript
* Past Modern Theme
Using Portable Firefox 3.6.13
I've narrowed it down to the addons in question not being listed in the extensions.ini file. When adding them to the extensions.ini file it fixes the problem but is overwritten by Firefox.
I would GREATLY appreciate any help with this. Thank you.
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Firefox Portable isn't meant to be moved between directories. It's meant to be put on a device and moved between PCs. In other words, only the drive letter is portable. The relative path to that letter is not. So if you were to rename the FirefoxPortable directory to FirefoxPortable2, those same extension would fail, just due to the way they store their settings and interact with Firefox.
You can move between drives as long as you have it setup the same. Ideally, we recommend X:\PortableApps and then your apps in there. That's easy to keep consistent. And the installers will automatically find that location for new installs and updates. And you can move/copy your FirefoxPortable install from C:\PortableApps to D:\PortableApps and it'll continue to work just fine.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
"Move Issue" posting reply related to problem I'm experiencing?...I have a Sandisk Cruzer 8GB USB Memory Stick and an Iomega 500M USB Hard Drive. Each have FirefoxPortable_3.6.13_English.paf.exe clean install to the root (\FirefoxPortable). If I plug one or the other into my Gateway Desktop PC and run FirefoxPortable.exe, Firefox Portable makes several attempts to read the 3.5" Floppy Drive before eventually opening Firefox browser. I've tried every USB port on the PC, still same hunt for Floppy Drive. Firefox Portable opens quickly when these USB drives are tested on my Dell laptop, but I do not know what that proves since the laptop does not have a Floppy Drive. The floppy disk hunt started occurring recently, I suppose root cause could be some Add-on or other install/update. I need mention that I installed Firefox Portable to the root (\FirefoxPortable) as recommended in reply to post "Move Issues" as a troubleshooting step, but I normally run Firefox Portable out of a TrueCrypt encrypted container. For example, G drive is the USB Stick, which contains an TrueCrypt encrypted container that mounts as U Drive, and under U:\FirefoxPortable_3.6.13 is Firefox Portable which exhibits same Floppy Drive hunt...I did not have this problem before. "Move Issue" post reads "Firefox Portable isn't meant to be moved between directories". I unknowingly broke that rule several times, however, even with clean install recommended path (\FirefoxPortable), Firefox Portable on my USB devices still hunts for the Floppy Drive. When I clean install anywhere on computer hard drive (C drive) there is no hunt for the Floppy Drive. Only Firefox Portable installs (root or encrypted container) on the my USB drives hunt for Floppy Drive. I am out of ideas to isolate problem. Any troubleshooting guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
I know there's an issue with a recent Microsoft patch top XP that causes lots of software to attempt to access the floppy as the Windows API does not properly report that the drive is empty. It could be related to that.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I've been having this same issue with firefox 4 and now 5.. Seems to happen when I go to a computer with a different version of windows than the last one? I have to check for updates to several of my add-ons and restart. Also 'flash video downloader' just seems to think it was just installed when this happens and gives me a pop-up telling me it just was.. What do you guys think any help???
Charlie
I am having the portable apps on usb stick and I can move them where ever I want, nothing will change and all works.
When the whole folder is copied somewhere or when it runs in for example in dropbox folder which is then synched with a copy on a server or so, then certain addons will not work unless they are 'updated' in the position where they are now.
This seems to be issue with some addons themselves and some other files .
So simply install it in default path on a usb stick and keep it there.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
I've been keeping firefox on the stick and not moving it off (I wish I could it makes it a lot faster!! If anyone knows a way to keep these add-ons working that would be super cool).. And..
Anyway I'm also still having the problem!
install apps inclusive firefox to normal standard path on the usb stick. This way when you move it, only thing which will change is the drive letter, rest will remain the same.
Next, do not try to declare firefox as default browser by ticking the box in preferences.
Having this way a clean install, extensions will be installed into the profile on your stick and not being touched by windows any more.
When extensions fail to behave, it is just because they were copied in between the use (like restored from backup or some synch software etc), or they have been installed locally because the installation has got mixed up and firefox does not properly read the portable profile
This will lead to normal stable operation under any current windows operating system and also under wine in linux.
I use portable apps stick on about 15 computers regularly, some w7, some XP, some w2k still and sometimes also under w98se. Nothing does change ever.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
That sounds awesome but how do I make sure I'm installing the add-ons on the stick and not the hard drive??
if you have installed let say firefox in its default path on a usb stick and install those extensions from there, this will do it correctly.
From there on, you should not confuse firefox by trying making it nonportable by attempting make it default browser or so, or running firefox.exe instead the portable launcher for it etc.
You can see where you installed the extension in your portable profile under extensions.
You should also not use any synch tool to copy everything from and to the stick all the time. Some extensions will also stop work when some files are simply copied to other place and then back.
Note: plugins will behave differently and most of them will be installed on the local pc and not on the stick. This is simply so. Something like flash, can be copied by hand to the plugin folder on the stick and it will work, but most other plugins not.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
@ John T. Haller
I tried as you told above and I failed.
I've got FF6.0.2 portable in the folder FirefoxPortable on drive D: (2nd partition of my HDD) and I copied this folder to drive K: (external USB-HDD).
So, these 2 FF folders (which have the very same name on both locations) are on the very same level of the folder structure on both drives.
Only the drive letter is different.
Still, the FF on M: didn't open with the same theme than on D: (I'm used to have the Noia 4 theme) and many add-ons needed to be updated (some of them even manually on a 2nd run) in order to make them work again after moving the FF folder.
So, sorry, but what you said above doesn't seem to work.
That´s no reasonable way of working with FF portable when you lose lots of time setting up your FF again and again, just because it was moved. A portable tool is not really portable, if you can't move the entire folder wherever you like.
So, obviously, this FF needs to be edited accordingly.
What you have described only happens if you have been launching your Firefox Portable Installation from it's directory: "FirefoxPortableTest" folder > "App" folder > "Firefox" folder > Firefox.exe" instead of launching it using the Firefox Portable Installation directory: "FirefoxPortableTest" folder > FirefoxPortable.exe.
Make sure your Fx Portable desktop short-cut properties is targeting the "FirefoxPortable.exe" not "Firefox.exe" if you have one created, if it was targeting the "Firefox.exe" and you change it to "FirefoxPortable.exe" you'll either have to:
1. Reinstall your Add-ons and redo your customizations
2. Or located the Fx default profile or last used Fx profile that the Fx Portable "Firefox.exe" has been using, which on Windows OS would be found in: C:\Documents and Settings\"User name or ID"\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles
Once located copy and then paste its contents into:
Firefox Portable Installation directory: "FirefoxPortableTest" folder > "Data" folder > "profile" folder
Then go delete file "FirefoxPortableSettings.ini" in:
Firefox Portable Installation directory: "FirefoxPortableTest" folder > "Data" folder > "settings" folder > and then relaunch browser.
Sorry, I have to disagree.
In fact, I did launch the FirefoxPortable.exe,
not the Firefox.exe. Still, I´ve got this issue.
I didn´t use any desktop shortcut.
Guess, if you are on another computer.
You can´t add or play around with any shortcuts there, can you?
"Portable" is meant to be used without any changing what-so-ever of the host machine.
I did delete the FirefoxPortableSettings.ini (after moving the entire FF portable folder but before starting FF portable), but this did not in any way affect the behaviour of the addons.
As has been previously stated, many extensions are simply not able to work portably, as they are installed to the computer, registry, etc, not running directly from the portable directory.
If this is true, you have to do without your addons, but using FF without addons is pointless.
So, I must come to the end, FF portable is not really a browser for mobile usage.
I just installed the Noia 4 theme to my Firefox Portable in C:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable. Set it to the blue theme with custom tabs. Closed it. Moved it to D:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable. Started it up. Worked just fine. I then closed it, renamed FirefoxPortable to FirefoxPortable2 and restarted. It worked just fine again. So Noia 4 works just fine portably. And the sky isn't falling.
Something else is wrong with your setup. If you have tons of add-ons, that's not something we can easily diagnose as one misbehaving addon can royally mess up Firefox (local or portable).
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Would you mind checking if the silverish theme of Noia 4 is working, too, please?
I mean the one that (almost) looks like the older "Noia 2 Extreme" for FF3.x (Do you know which one I´m talking about?).
What if I post a list of my addons working in my local FF and compare it with a list of the portable FF, showing the disabled addons?
Perhaps, it might help finding out what´s wrong.
Oh, btw. ... the sky may not be falling (or the stars from there),
... but Firefox seems to do, lately.
What I´m trying to say is, the best days of Firefox seem to have gone.
I think there should be something configure to enable us to run imcaros and tor firefox addon... I wanted to use tor button but it just don't work..
tor button is not tor, it a tor button with some functions to stop some plugins and extensions.
To use tor, you have to install tor and a proxy like privoxy or polipo at least.
If you want use tor and don't want read all howto , then get torbrowser package
frome here:
http://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en
this package contains the portable firefox and all parts needed for tor operation. Torbutton itself does not contain any tor and has alone no real functionality.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
Thanks guy I got it working this is awesome.. I am using the portableapps launcher, I never really used it before. It makes a differrence in how the program runs huh?
It's still doing it though.. a few of the add-ons, maybe they just don't like portable ff? Hope we can change it though.
do not work at your side?
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
Ok I have the same problem. HOWEVER, mine worked perfectly up until firefox's last two updates (last 2 or 3 weeks). I had no problem swapping my flash drive over from w7 to xp on about 5 different computers. Now after the update every time I plug my flash drive in I get a select few add-ons saying not compatible with firefox 7.0.1. I delete ONE of them and re-install and now all of a sudden the all work. It even disables my theme.
Very frustrating.