This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Clicking on Firefox's shortcut to specific profile when it's already open doesn't work. What am I missing?

  • 2 replies
  • 4 have this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by FelipeMatos

FelipeMatos
FelipeMatos
more options

Well, that's a hard problem to describe in one sentence.

I'm currently using windows. I have 2 Firefox profiles, and each of them have desktop shortcuts to: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -no-remote -P "Developer" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -no-remote -P "Lazy"

They work just fine. The thing is: if the profile is already active and I click the shortcut, I get a "Firefox already running but not responding" error (Firefox just fails to open. The current opened window still works). The behavior I want is either maximize/focus the corresponding window, or open a new window with the same profile. Is it possible to achieve this? What am I missing?

I don't know if I'm being clear. In other words: - Desktop shortcut to specific profile works fine - While profile is open, double click the same desktop shortcut - Receive a "Firefox already running" error popup - Press ok, current profile still working but new window is not opened as expected

Well, that's a hard problem to describe in one sentence. I'm currently using windows. I have 2 Firefox profiles, and each of them have desktop shortcuts to: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -no-remote -P "Developer" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -no-remote -P "Lazy" They work just fine. The thing is: if the profile is already active and I click the shortcut, I get a "Firefox already running but not responding" error (Firefox just fails to open. The current opened window still works). The behavior I want is either maximize/focus the corresponding window, or open a new window with the same profile. Is it possible to achieve this? What am I missing? I don't know if I'm being clear. In other words: - Desktop shortcut to specific profile works fine - While profile is open, double click the same desktop shortcut - Receive a "Firefox already running" error popup - Press ok, current profile still working but new window is not opened as expected

Chosen solution

You can't open a link if you use the -no-remote command line switch. You will have to start one profile without the -no-remote switch. Then you can open external links in that profile instance (but not in the other).

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (2)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Chosen Solution

You can't open a link if you use the -no-remote command line switch. You will have to start one profile without the -no-remote switch. Then you can open external links in that profile instance (but not in the other).

FelipeMatos
FelipeMatos Question owner
more options

cor-el said

You can't open a link if you use the -no-remote command line switch. You will have to start one profile without the -no-remote switch. Then you can open external links in that profile instance (but not in the other).

Huh. If I didn't know better I would bet that I had tried this and hadn't worked. Thanks for the answer.