Is it right, that Firefox Portable should not set as the Windows default browser, because this settings created a registry key, which won't removed after closing of Firefox Portable?
New: Kanri (Oct 9, '24), Platform 29.5.3 (Jun 27, '24)
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You can set
FirefoxPortable.exeto be your default browser in your own computer(s). Just don't use the internal Firefox's option do to it.You can also portably set file associations using tools like Portable File Associator (somewhere in these forums).
Previously known as kAlug.
Though I have used the internal Firefox options, I can't found a new created registry key and no settings, which are stored in the folder C:\Documents and settings\username\Application Data\Mozilla or any other folder.
But since no one can know, what exactly he should not alter in the settings of Firefox, it would be better if it would not be possible to change these settings.
These settings should then be disabled.These settings should then be disabled (with no possibility to enable them).There are some registry keys that make it the default browser (they will be created/modified by setting any default browser), and there's the problem that using the internal Firefox options will set
firefox.exeas default browser, thereby passing thru the launcher. That's the only problem.Previously known as kAlug.
Now I found 2 entries in the registry keys HKCR\.htm and HKCR\.html. The content is:
Therefore it's actually not useful to set Firefox as the default browser via the Firefox options.
This Value points to the key FirefoxHTML (in CLASSES_ROOT). If you look that up, you find a key shell\open\command. That contains the commandline to open htm- and html-files. I would expect that pointing to firefox.exe in App\Firefox\ of your portable install running it not in portable mode then. You should get a profile in your local AppData folder (User\Anwendungsdaten\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxx on a german XP where xxxxx is a cryptic name), I suppose, but I'm not shure (I will not test it
).
In fact, I've found the registry key HKCR\FirefoxHTML\shell\open\command. In this key exist the following entry:
Only your last sentence was not appropriate. After the start of Firefox I found a folder C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Mozilla. The folder Mozilla contains 2 subfolders called "Extensions" (which was empty in my case) and "Firefox" (which contains once again a subfolder called "Crash Reports"). The subfolder "Crash Reports" contains a file. After closing of Firefox the complete folder "Mozilla" was deleted.
But the above key has been retained and this is incompatible with the portability.
Did you start FirefoxPortable.exe or did you open a html-file after making it the default browser (running firefox.exe instead)?
Of course I must first set Firefox as the default browser. Afterwards I double clicked on a html-file.
But I would again point to an important issue. Certainly exists the possibility, the PortableApps.com Platform to configure in such a way, that Firefox is the default browser. After closing the PortableApps.com Platform the default browser of the guest PC returns back to its original value.
There are currently two add-ons which enable this eXpresso and Portable File Associator. Both are available in the forums. This feature will be built-in soon.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Sorry I forgot these 2 Add-ons. But I'm looking forward to the coming feature, which will be built-in.
When I rewrote one of the PortableApps that I've been working on (I've completed & rewritten it several times, and got permission from the publisher once, but haven't got up the nerve to actually post it yet [hopefully you can expect it kind-of soon-ish … maybe
]) I added a bit of custom code to check whether the user set the program to Start Automatically With Windows (which is not portable) upon closing the app, and remove it with a warning MessageBox to the user, a similar example follows.
So perhaps the Launcher for FireFoxPortable could be given something similar in regards to being set as the Default, and you could even use a Yes/No (or similar) MessageBox to choose whether the Default Browser gets changed to run FirefoxPortable.exe instead of the internal firefox.exe, or changed back to what it was before FireFoxPortable was started.
Note: It's not a lot of code to add something like this to a PAL based launcher (hence I did it when I rewrote TbSP to use PAL ;)), but it could possibly be quite an ordeal to add it to the current FFP launcher, so I think this'll probably get put on (one of) the (many) back burner(s) even if it's a particularly well liked idea.
~3D1T0R