Multiple Firefox Profiles: Run Firefox 2 and 3 Side-By-Side, and More

[Posted by George V. Reilly]

I find it useful to have multiple Firefox profiles for developing and testing. A clean profile for testing allows you to replicate most users' environments, who don't install extensions. Running a development profile in a separate profile lets you restart the browser without messing with your default environment. You can also run Firefox 2 and Firefox 3 side-by-side in separate profiles.

I currently have the following profiles:

• default: I browse the web in this profile. Outlook opens links in this profile.

• dev: I do most of my development here. Firebug gets a heavy workout.

• test: A clean profile. I only install the ResizeIT extension here.

• Firefox3: The latest beta of Firefox 3. The other profiles are Firefox 2-based.

Creating a new profile

Follow the instructions here to create test and dev profiles. Essentially, run:

 "%ProgramFiles%\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -profilemanager -no-remote

and use Create Profile to create profiles called dev and test

Your profile.ini should now look something like this:

 [General]
 StartWithLastProfile=1

 [Profile0]
 Name=default
 IsRelative=1
 Path=Profiles/y1mds144.default
 Default=1

 [Profile1]
 Name=dev
 IsRelative=1
 Path=Profiles/k034naef.dev

 [Profile2]
 Name=test
 IsRelative=1
 Path=Profiles/f2akbryu.test

Running the new profiles

If you want to run two profiles side-by-side, you need to run firefox.exe with the -no-remote and -P <profile> options. This launches each profile in a separate process.

Either create a batch file that looks like this:

 @start "Firefox Test" "%ProgramFiles%\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -no-remote -P "test"

Or create a Desktop Shortcut where the Location looks like:

 "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -no-remote -P "dev"

More information: Complete list of Firefox command-line options.

Running Firefox 2 and Firefox 3 side by side

By default, Firefox 2 installs into %ProgramFiles%\Mozilla Firefox, while Firefox 3 Beta 4 installs into %ProgramFiles%\Mozilla Firefox 3 Beta 4.

They can be installed on the same computer, but you must take care to use different profiles. Not all Firefox extensions have been updated yet for Firefox 3.

When you install Firefox 3, make sure that you do not launch it automatically at the end of the installation. Instead, run:

 "%ProgramFiles%\Mozilla Firefox 3 Beta 4\firefox.exe" -profilemanager -no-remote

and use Create Profile to create a profile called Firefox3. Then, follow the instructions above to create a batch file or a desktop shortcut, adjusting the path to firefox.exe.

Comments

[Siva]

Thanks for this very useful post.

[Nitin]

It is avery useful Post raelly....
Thanks for the same

[Qmarx]

I have the issue that firefox 3 and firefox 2 claim to be using the same profile, but aren't. The bookmarks, extensions, and browsing histories are all different... :S

[George Reilly]

I don't think it's a good idea to try and share the same profile between FF2 and FF3. FF3 wants to do things in ways that aren't backward compatible with FF2. Bookmarks, for example, are stored in a SqlLite database instead of bookmarks.html.

Instead, I would suggest taking an existing FF2 profile, copy it, and have FF3 use the copy.

For testing, I have similar FF2 and FF3 profiles. For my own browsing, I have a separate FF3 profile.

[Web design and development]

I have been using FF for more then 5 years now.. I have always wondered about having multiple Firefox profiles for developing and testing...

Thanks to George for referring "Cozi Tech Blog" on his blog

[Fowl]

Personally I just use a Firefox portable instance.