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[Fixed] Firefox Portable 118.0 multiple instances not working properly

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Bardenseer
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[Fixed] Firefox Portable 118.0 multiple instances not working properly

Hello,

for several years now I'm using three local installations of FF Portable on my PC.

I installed (extracted) all three of them to different directories (which I have full control over). I'm using them all at the same time for different purposes. Ofc FirefoxPortable.ini has the AllowMultipleInstances=true set. Up to version 117.0.1 everything was fine.

However I upgraded to version 118 today and now only the very first instance I start opens as expected. When I try to open the second or third instance they instead just open a new window of the first instance.

To make myself more clear, let's say I have three Firefox Portable installations called "Main", "B" and "C". Up to 117.0.1 I was able to open and run Main, B and C at the same time. They opened their own instance/window at their last opened position. They worked independently. All was good.

With v118, when I open Main for example, Main opens as expected. But when I try to additionally start B it just opens another window of Main. Same for C and so on. Same with starting B or C first. So after I closed all windows and made sure no instance of Firefox is running, starting B opens B just as expected. But when I try to additionally start Main or C they just open new windows of B.

So whatever I try now, I can only start one instance of FF Portable. All other instances I start just open windows of the first instance.

I still have Backups of 117.01 and they still work as expected. But as soon as I upgrade them to 118 they they brake as described above.

I'm on Windows 10, version 22H2 (19045.3448) is that even matters.
All FF Portable installations are in different directories I have full control over (but also tried different directories just to make sure).
FirefoxPortable.ini has the AllowMultipleInstances=true set for all three of them.
I'm using the English (British) versions of FF Portable (c6973f2428e7f893c6c36fd520e01f4c69ae89a60df09d22da727835d3add285).

John T. Haller
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Work With Local?

Do you know if it still works with local? Multiple instances has always been wonky, so I wouldn't be surprised if support was dropped.

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Bardenseer
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What do you mean by "if it

What do you mean by "if it works with local"?

John T. Haller
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Firefox Itself

I mean if Firefox itself outside our wrapper still supports multiple instances. That flag in our launcher just tells the launcher to pass the proper stuff to firefox.exe to allow it to run in multiple instances. If the launcher isn't alerting "Firefox is already running" (meaning that it is allowing another instance to launch and reading the INI setting correctly) and another instance of the same already-running firefox is coming up, that means it is Firefox telling it to do so.

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Bardenseer
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While I have years of

While I have years of experience using Firefox Portable I'm in no way a Software Expert. So not only I'm not sure if I fully understood what you just wrote I also wouldn't know how to check for it.

All I can say is this, I'm using multiple instances of Firefox for well over four years now and I have never encountered a problem I couldn't fix myself... until now. I'm also using Firefox Portable as my main browser on two computers, not even having the "normal" version installed. If the feature of being able to run multiple instances at the same time was gone I'd be devastated.

John T. Haller
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Firefox Change

I think I got it. Firefox made a change to its running profile with 118 so the launcher needs an update to detect if a given profile is in use. Working on it.

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Bardenseer
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That's fantastic. Thank you

That's fantastic. Thank you in advance.

John T. Haller
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Fixed in 118.0.1

This has been fixed in 118.0.1. The launcher had to be updated for Firefox's minor running profile changes in 118.0.

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Bardenseer
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Thank you very much

Thank you very much

gaveitatry
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Problems with Firefox

Problems with Firefox Portable 118.0.1.

I am using PortableApps.com 26.2.1. PS - It's not letting me update the launcher. It still stays on 26.2.1 and isn't prompting me to update it.

I'm using Mozilla Firefox (Portable) and recently updated it to 118.0.1. Before the update, everything worked fine. Now, if I use a program (example Howard Email Notifier) to open up a website page, or use a desktop bookmark shortcut to open up a website page, it will open the website page in a new tab. But if I try to open another instance of the same website page or try opening up a a completely different website page, that is when I get the error: 'Close Firefox. Firefox is already running, but is not responding. The old Firefox process must be closed to open a new window.'

John T. Haller
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New Topic

Please create a new topic with a few more details as this is a separate issue. PA.c Platform is currently 26.2.1 so the platform is up to date. Make sure you update Firefox Portable itself via the platform as well. Please include all this in the new topic along with the minimum set of steps to reproduce your issue.

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gaveitatry
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Are you serious? WOWWWWWWW. I

Are you serious? WOWWWWWWW. I have the same problem this other guy did, but it's a new and different issue? SERIOUSLY? No problem. I'll create a new thread in a bit with all the details you want.

John T. Haller
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Different

The original user has an issue of being unable to run multiple instances. Trying to run the second instance brings up the first instance again. This was due to the launcher not realizing that a given instance was already running due to a change in whether a single file in the profile is left behind or deleted when that profile is closed. This is a separate issue from what you are describing.

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nilmatic
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Fast Fix!

Awesome. Thank you for the fast fix!

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