Changing the profile location in Firefox and SeaMonkey

In the Windows XP forum I posted a question about using Firefox saved in a memory stick on a strange computer. If I want to change the location of the profile, how do I do that in Firefox or SeaMonkey? I would want to put the profile on the memory stick.

 

Hi Bob,

It's really pretty simple. Just copy your profile folder from wherever you have it located to the memory stick.

Then, before you run FF with that profile on a different computer, you would have to open FF's Profile Manager ... Run > firefox.exe -p (or, Run > <path to> firefox.exe -p may be necessary) to create a profile using the memory stick location.

 

Thanks Jim.
Maybe I wasn't quite clear. The firefox executable will be on the memory stick. I want to take the profile from my computer with me, also on the memory stick. How do I get FF to find the profile on the memory stick? It seems to me there should be a way to specify the location of the profile within FF but I do not see it. If I just opened FF on the memory stick it would probably work but where would it create the profile? I do not want it to create a new profile but to use the one I brought with me.
It is also possible I do not understand your answer

 

Hi Bob,

I guess I didn't understand your question, either ... I thought you only wanted to make the profile portable. I tried it with my computer, and it works as I described. I didn't try it with the program there, also, but don't see why it wouldn't work (albeit more slowly).

You would still have to run FF's Profile Manager (using the format Run > <path to> \firefox.exe -p)on each computer you wish to use, though. I know you'd like to have the directions to the profile located within FF, itself but, unfortunately, they're stored at C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\profiles.ini.

 

Maybe this is the answer.
When I open FF on the strange computer from the memory stick, I will get a message to either accept the default location or to specify a location for the profile? If I can specify the location as the profile on the memory stick, maybe that might work?
Do you remember what happens when you open FF on a computer for the first time before there is a profile?

 

Hi Bob,

We're crossing posts, so I'll try to answer both of your last two in this one.

I can confirm that what you want to do works perfectly ... I moved my FF program and profile folders from my computer to a Sandisk Cruzer mini flashdrive, where they occupy less than 55MB, and I'm running FF, with my normal profile, from the flashdrive.

I'm going to answer your second question first, because I do know the answer ... if you open FF when no profile exists, it will create a new, vanilla profile in the default location. Even if one or more profiles already exist, if you open FF without first directing it to one of those profiles with Profile Manager, it will create a new, vanilla profile in the default location.

As I said in my earlier post, the only place that profile location is stored is in C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\profiles.ini. That's the file that Profile Manager writes to.

As I think about it, I think my answer to your second question is also the answer to your first question.

You'll note, too, that I've mentioned only FF. In Seamonkey, you'd be dealing with a suite, not only with a browser, but with email, the HTML composer, etc. ... a completely different ball of wax. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable about the suite could help.

 

I am using my old Mozilla1.7.12 profile for Seamonkey1.0.6. I was storing all my Mozilla and Netscape profiles in c:/Moz&NS profiles. Only my default profile is in the default location, and it should be left there. Since it is possible to store a profile in a different folder in the same C drive, it should work for another drive.
All I do is to modify the Target path of SM, by adding -p Moz1.7.12, and it will open.

 

Westside ...

I know you're addressing the Seamonkey question, but I think it's important to emphasize that, for Firefox, no default profile is required ... the profile and program folders can be located anywhere the user desires (for example, mine are located at E:\Mozilla\Firefox\).

The only thing fixed is the location of the profiles.ini file, which shows the path to the actual profile folder.

 

Jim.
yes I was talking only about SM, simply because I did not know about Firefox (it should apply to Thunderbird, as well).
You unswered all my unasked questions

 

It does. My TB program and profile folders are located in the same E:\Mozilla\ folder as my FF folders.

 

Can you believe this? A guy wrote a suite of programs to run from a USB drive and Firefox and Thunderbird are included!
This just happened last month. Here is the link I found in my inquiry on the WIN XP forum from wiskeyman:
http://portableapps.com/

 

Jim,
I am still a little confused. I am going to copy the FF folder which was created with a zip file to the USB device. I will then copy the profile folder to the USB device. Do I put it inside the FF folder or just on the root drive?
I do not understand what the profile manager has to do with this. Sorry for being so thick! Is the profile manager used simply to locate the profile? I know where the profile is and can simply copy it.

 

Hi Bob,

I'm sorry if I haven't made myself clear. The accompanying screenshot shows the structure of my FF folder, which I copied to the flashdrive. But, you could just as easily copy the individual program and profile folders to the drive ... your choice.

I know that you know where the profile is (or will be, on the flashdrive), but FF doesn't. That's the purpose of the C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\profiles.ini file ... it tells the program where to find the profile (or profiles, if more than one exists). The Profile Manager creates, then allows you to rename or delete, that/those profile(s).

You might be able to bypass the Profile Manager with the Run command, but you would have to use the full path to both the program and the profile. For example, if I copied the Firefox folder shown in the screenshot to a flashdrive whose drive letter was S:, I would type in the Run window: S:\FIREFOX\PROGRAM\FF2.0\firefox.exe -p S:\FIREFOX\PROFILES\JSS. If I had copied just the program and profile folders to the drive, the command would be: S:\FF2.0\firefox.exe -p S:\JSS.

I uppercase the names of all folders (that I create), to easily differentiate them from filenames, which I lowercase.

As you may already know, when used with the -p parameter, the name of the profile folder is case-sensitive.​

To avoid having to type long, involved pathnames, there's a handy little utility called PathCopyEx which will do the trick for you. After installing it, right-click on any file/folder in Explorer and select "Copy Path To Clipboard ". Then, you can paste the complete path of the file/folder in any window that accepts text input. You can find it here.

 

OK, I think I have it. On a strange computer the memory stick could be the G,H,I drive whatever and FF has to know the profile is on the memory stick with the assigned letter for that particular computer. So it's location has to be assigned for every new computer you might be using.
Jim, thanks for all your help! I really appreciate it.

 

To paraphrase My Fair Lady's Henry Higgins, "By George, I think he's got it!" .

 

Bob ...

A few observations on running FF from a flashdrive or memory stick with both program and profile folders on it.

1. When you first run the program, the Profile Manager will open, asking you to create a profile. That's a bit misleading, since you already have a profile ... what it's actually doing is creating the profiles.ini file, which tells FF where to look for the profile. This is true even if you include the path to the profile on the Run command line (so you might as well not bother ).

2. The program will take what seems like forever to load, even using USB 2.0. I suspect that the more extensions you have installed, the longer it will take.

3. Only a few of my extensions loaded, initially. Because I maintain an .xpi "library" folder, I copied it to the flashdrive and was able to load more extensions from there.

4. My personal feeling is that, although you can run FF from a flashdrive, you'd be better off copying the program and profile folders from the flashdrive to the computer you want to run FF on. It will take much less time, and the program will run much faster. You can always delete the folders when you're done, if necessary.​

FYI, I was working, initially, from an installer version of FF. Once I'd copied the program folder to the flashdrive, I uninstalled FF using Add/Remove, deleted any files/folders (including C:\...Mozilla\Firefox\profiles.ini) related to the program, and cleaned the Registry of any references to Firefox.

When I was done with my flashdrive test, I copied the program and profile folders back to the hard drive, which is the same as using a zipped build of FF.

Because I was using the same computer, before I opened FF I again deleted C:\...Mozilla\Firefox\profiles.ini and cleaned the Registry (FF, running from the flashdrive, had written 60 references in the Registry). After using the Profile Manager to re-write profiles.ini, FF ran normally, with all extensions.

HTH.

 

Jim, thanks for all your help. My USB drive should be arriving today and I will let you know how I make out with it.
I will probably use that portableapps program that I cited in an earlier post which contains a bunch of programs, but your help with specifying the profile so I have access to my bookmarks and e-mail addresses is very valuable.

 

Jim,
OK, I received my 4GB Flash Drive and this is what I did. I loaded the full Portable Apps Suite on it by first downloading it from <portableapps.com> then double clicking and transferring it to the flash drive. This took an enormous amount of time to transfer several hundred magabytes to the flash, about 75 minutes. This application has FF portable, Thunderbird portable, a word processor, an antivirus program, sunbird(whatever that is), and some games. After getting it loaded, I clicked on the menu and started FF. The initial load is a little slow but once it starts working it is fast. The profile is set automatically and stored on the flash drive. You have no control over this, the program seems to know what it is doing. I then started up Thunderbird. This was the first time I had ever used the program. I set the parameters to send and receive mail and most importantly I transferred 4 address books from SeaMonkey to it so I have all my email addresses stored when I am on the road traveling. I also opened the word processor and was very pleased by what I found, it also has spread sheets, etc. The PortableApps is an Open Source program which is free and so far I highly recommend it. The only problem I had was terminating the menu for choosing the application. The X button does not seem to work. I opened task manager and then terminated the menu program and then unplugged the flash drive.
After a $60 rebate from TigerDirect.com, I think the 4GB will cost aboput $21. - a good deal as far as I can see. They might still have them on sale. Their product # is "GEN-54096" no quotes.

 

Hi Bob,

It looks to me as though you could have downloaded only the programs you think you might need. For example, I downloaded FF Portable, and am working from within it, without extensions, right now.

Not quite true ... there are a number of files, most notably bookmarks.html, bookmarks.bak, history.dat (if you use the browser's history), and localstore.rdf you can copy from your home FF Profile folder to the FF Portable Profile folder that will make the environment seem more familiar. I think there might be a problem with extensions, though, as they appear to write to the Registry, which is why most of mine didn't work in my earlier flashdrive experiment.

Sunbird is one of Mozilla's calendar programs, which I don't use.

Good luck ... I hope PortableApps works for you as you hope it will.

 

Hi Jim,
I was planning to copy those bookmarks you mention but those are on my laptop and I haven't used the flash drive on that computer yet.
Again, thanks for all your help.
Bob
BTW, what is localstore.rdf? and is bookmarks.bak a backup of the bookmarks?