This is a Howto I put together for all the people who own a U3 drive and want to switch to the new Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition (2.0.0.11). The recommended Menu is the PortableApps.com Platform but I will also explain how to make it show up in your U3 Menu using Smithtechs ShortcutCreator for U3 if you don't want to switch.
First you have to download Firefox Portable from here and the latest beta of the PortableApps.com Platform.
Then we install the new Menu. Just click on the PortableApps.com_Platform_Setup_1.1_Beta_4.exe and install it to your flash drive. Now You click on the Firefox_Portable_2.0.0.11_en.paf.exe and extract it to your drive. It should automatically find the right place. If it does not, the right Place is ?:\PortableApps\.
Now we open the U3 drive in Explorer and copy
?:\System\Apps\3C9F7B3F-D55C-42cd-8537-B878518B73AF\Data
to the address bar. You have to replace the "?" with the drive letter of your U3 drive. That takes us to the folder on our U3 drive where the Firefox Profile is located.
In there are 2 folders. Copy those 2 folders to the ?:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable\Data\ folder.
Now You can launch your new Firefox by either directly clicking the FirefoxPortable.exe or launching it via the Menu. To start the menu, click the StartPortableApps.exe in the root of your drive. For more infos on the menu visit the support pages.
If you want to have Firefox showing up in your U3 Menu, do the following:
Download FirefoxPortable as mentioned above.
Create a folder called PortableApps in your U3 drive, click on the PrtableApps.com_Platform_Setup_1.1_Beta_4.exe and install it to that folder.
Now we open the U3 drive in Explorer and copy
?:\System\Apps\3C9F7B3F-D55C-42cd-8537-B878518B73AF\Data
to the address bar. You have to replace the "?" with the drive letter of your U3 drive. That takes us to the folder on our U3 drive where the Firefox Profile is located.
In there are 2 folders. Copy those 2 folders to the ?:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable\Data\ folder.
Now download Smithtechs ShotrcutCreator from here.
Now its time to create the new shortcut:
Extract the "ShortcutCreator4U3-VB6" you downloaded previously to your desktop.
Run the "ShortcutCreator4U3.exe" and fill out the fields:
Shortcut Name: Firefox 2.0
For the "Icon" and "Application Path" you click "browse" and browse to the "FirefoxPortable.exe" on your U3 drive. Now click on "Add Shortcut" , install the upcoming window like a normal U3 Application and close the Shortcut Creator. Now its time to test our new shortcut. Open the U3 Menu and click on the "Firefox 2.0" link.
It should now open the new Firefox but with all your old settings and bookmarks. If thats the case and everything went according to plan, you can delete the old Firefox.
If it doesn't work feel free to post here and well try to help you
Could some folks test this so we know it works for other people than me ;)?
If i find the time maybe I'll do one for Thunderbird as well. Basically it works the same just the link on the U3 drive is different.