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Tips - How to pin FirefoxPortable in windows 7

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MasterYoda
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Tips - How to pin FirefoxPortable in windows 7

=== update ===
this trix has stopped working with v10 for some reason.
================

People have had problem to pin firefox portable in windows 7 so the right firefox profile starts and, at the same time, only get one single icon in the taskbar.

The problem have been:
1 - If you start firefoxportable.exe and then try to pin it, next time you start it you notice a new profile is started locally on the computer and not the profile you have used in firefoxportable. This is because firefox.exe is pinned.
2 - If you try to pin firefoxportable.exe instead from explorer, the right profile will start but instead you will have 2 icons, one for the pinned firefoxportable.exe and one new for firefox.exe thats starts from the firefoxportable.exe.

I had manage to got it to work for for both FF 7 and 8 but when I updated to 9 it stopped like it did from 7 to 8. But I didnt got it to work this time and didnt remember how I did it last so I search for a solution but didnt find any, just others with the same problem. But I knew it have worked for me before so I started to test different way to find out how I did it before.

This is how I manage to do it, for you that have had this problem too:

1 - Start FirefoxPortable.exe
2 - Right click on the firefox icon in the taskbar and pin it
3 - Close firefox, and open the properties for the pinned icon
(right click on the pinned icon. In the opened menu, right click on "Firefox",
Select "Properties" from the new menu.)
4 - Now change the Target so it dont point to firefox.exe but instead to firefoxportable.exe.
So it looks like "c:\...\FirefoxPortable\FirefoxPortable.exe"
5 - Change at the same time "Start in" from "c:\...\FirefoxPortable\App\Firefox" to just "c:\...\FirefoxPortable"
6 - Press ok and now it should work as aspected Smile

Its very simple. But reed something that it wasnt possible because of different id´s for the two files. So I believe the way it still works is that, when it is pinned first, the "pin icon" itself is "tied" to the "id" of firefox.exe (which was pinned). But we could still change the target to another exe file, in this chase firefoxportable.exe without this to change. So we can start one exe file but when the second exe starts the "pin icon" see that exe file as "correct" and dont start a new icon. But because we still could start the portable version the profile loads as it should.

Have not tested, but this little simple trix, would probably work for other portable apps, like thunderbird, if they have the same problem.

Kinsman
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Last seen: 12 years 9 months ago
Joined: 2008-05-17 11:31
No longer works with FF10?

Is it just me, or has this method stopped working for Firefox 10 and Thunderbird 10? Anyone have an alternate method?

Cheetah
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Never worked for me

I'd tried doing this a while back, I think around FF 5, and it definitely didn't work for me. The pinned icon to firefoxportable would launch, but firefox itself would come up as a separate taskbar icon. Which is what it still does with FF 10.

As I understand it, in order to make this work, it would require code changes in both Firefox and the FirefoxPortable launcher.

Normally the pinning is just based on the EXE. Apps (windows really I think) can set an AppId property somewhere to tell the pinning that they are all part of the same thing even if the EXEs are separate, or also that they are separate items even if the EXEs are the same.

However Firefox doesn't set that AppId property, so FirefoxPortable can't set one to match.

I think at one point there was an extension or plugin for firefox that would set the AppId property, but I'm not sure.

MasterYoda
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Last seen: 12 years 8 months ago
Joined: 2011-12-21 16:00
Strange, this have worked for

Strange, this have worked for me for all version I have tested. Using v9 right now and it works.
But tested version 10.0.1 and it did not work for me either Sad
I was just going to update but will skip it now. Really hope this will be solved.

Wonder what have changed between 9 and 10? If it is in the portable app or something with firefox?

kirbylover4000
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Joined: 2009-09-30 18:29
explorer.exe trick

There's a trick that lets you pin anything to the taskbar. I haven't tested it with FF10 but I've used it for other things, like running a VBScript: right click FirefoxPortable.exe and choose to create a shortcut, then right click the shortcut and choose properties. In the target box, add explorer  to the start (the space after explorer is required). The icon will revert to the Explorer one, so you'll need to choose the original app's icon again. Now hit ok and drag the shortcut to the taskbar. You can delete the shortcut if you want to.
The only problem now is that there will be a separate icon in the taskbar when the app is running.

This is an airconditioned room - Do not open Windows!

Chris Morgan
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But...

That's exactly the same as pinning FirefoxPortable.exe, is it not, except with it taking more effort?

I am a Christian and a developer and moderator here.

“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1

kirbylover4000
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Oops

To be honest, you're right. I tested this on a machine with a group policy that disables pinning EXE files which is probably why.

This is an airconditioned room - Do not open Windows!

almi
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Last seen: 12 years 9 months ago
Joined: 2012-02-26 13:04
Didn't work for me either...

I tried all the different solutions i could find, but no joy on any of them...
Has this issue been resolved by anyone?
/Allan

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