Hi..
I have a few questions about Firefox Portable:
1. Is it possible to create 100+ profiles in Firefox Portable? I read on the support page that I need to use the "Firefox Portable 2nd Profile 2.0.2 app." Can I do this without using that app, just with one Firefox?
2. When I open "about:profiles" why is the Default profile located in C:/ and not in the F:/ path (where I installed PortableApps)? If I use it on another computer, does the profile not transfer with it? And when creating a new profile, does the location need to be set manually?
3. Can I open different Firefox profiles at the same time?
Thank you!
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You'll need to use the 2nd profile tool to properly have multiple profiles of Firefox Portable. You can can install Firefox Portable to X:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable and then the second profile to X:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable2ndProfile for the first one. From there, you can make additional copies by copying FirefoxPortable2ndProfile to X:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable2ndProfile_Copy_2, X:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable2ndProfile_Copy_3, and so on up to X:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable2ndProfile_Copy_100. All of these copies will show up in the PortableApps.com Platform and will be updated by the built-in updater. The second launcher will automatically update its internal FirefoxPortable.exe launcher from your main FirefoxPortable install as it changes.
The about:profiles display will not display the actual profile being used when the -profile switch is used with Firefox, so you can ignore with it says there when you've launched FirefoxPortable.exe to run the copy of Firefox within.
You can run multiple instances of Firefox but they'll require separate copies of Firefox itself so you can't do multiple with the Second Profile setup. If you want to run two copies of Firefox Portable stable, install one to X:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable and then copy it to X:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable_Copy_2. From there, you'll need to copy the FirefoxPortable.ini file from X:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable\Other\Source to X:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable and adjust it so that AllowMultipleInstances=true and then do the same with _Copy_2. Note that this will cause Firefox Portable to leave behind some bits and prevent you from passing in URLs or HTML files to a running instance.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Hi John,
Thank you for your reply. So the options are only two: using the 2nd profile tool without the ability to run multiple instances, or using Firefox Portable stable but with some editing in the FirefoxPortable.ini file?
"Note that this will cause Firefox Portable to leave behind some bits and prevent you from passing in URLs or HTML files to a running instance."
Could you explain this part in more detail?
Also, do you have any recommendations for other portable browsers that support multiple profiles and multiple instances, but without a setup as complex as Firefox? I mean, it's not that hard to use Firefox, but maybe there's something easier.
You can do both. Use Firefox and all the extra profiles you want individually. And then have a second Firefox Portable install for a profile you want to run at the same time as any of those extra profiles.
What is left behind will vary. The portable launcher can't wait around for all instances of Firefox to close before cleaning up if you're running multiple instances of it, so it closes right after launching Firefox. The launcher can't currently properly check for all running instance of Firefox to see if its version is running or not, so it can't handle a secondary launch of an already running firefox.exe to pass a URL or HTML file to.
Firefox is the best browser for portability. Running dozens of instances isn't really something any major browser vendor supports or tests for. It's far better to use containers or something else within a browser for doing multiple logins to a single site or similar.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!