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How to enable private mode from commandline, with an URL. I am a software dev and I wish to have my application open links in Firefox. Using ShellExecute(), i c

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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How to enable private mode from commandline, with an URL. I am a software dev and I wish to have my application open links in Firefox. Using ShellExecute(), i can do with with commandlines like:

firefox.exe http://support.mozilla.org

But I also want the option to open the link in private mode. I am able to start firefox in private mode by doing this:

firefox.exe -private

However, if I add a link to the command line

firefox.exe -private http://support.mozilla.org

I get strange results.

If firefox is not running, it launches 2 copies of the application. One that opens in private mode and the other opens in normal mode and goes to the URL specified.

If firefox is already running, it just opens the URL in a new tab. No private mode instance is launched.

Am I using the command-line syntax incorrectly?

How to enable private mode from commandline, with an URL. I am a software dev and I wish to have my application open links in Firefox. Using ShellExecute(), i can do with with commandlines like: firefox.exe http://support.mozilla.org But I also want the option to open the link in private mode. I am able to start firefox in private mode by doing this: firefox.exe -private However, if I add a link to the command line firefox.exe -private http://support.mozilla.org I get strange results. If firefox is not running, it launches 2 copies of the application. One that opens in private mode and the other opens in normal mode and goes to the URL specified. If firefox is already running, it just opens the URL in a new tab. No private mode instance is launched. Am I using the command-line syntax incorrectly?

All Replies (3)

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It will never work if Firefox is already running as Firefox will use the already opened Firefox instance.
In that case only using a separate profile will work.

You can try to specify the -url switch as well.

  • firefox.exe -private -url http://support.mozilla.org

You can also look at the -new-tab switch.

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Ya, I tried -url and using quotes and -new-tab. Same results.

I guess it just isn't something Firefox can do. Thanks.

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Try to set the browser.privatebrowsing.dont_prompt_on_enter pref to true on the about:config page.
That seems to work.