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The profile manager only shows my new profile. How do I switch back to my default profile?

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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I just made a new profile to use exclusively with an alternate version of Firefox. My regular version accidentally opened this new profile, so I tried using profile manager to set it back to the default. However, the profile manager is only showing my new profile. /appdata/roaming/mozilla/firefox/profiles shows that I still have my default and my new profile. Putting -P "default" in the target line just opens up profile manager. How do I switch back to my default profile or get it to show up in profile manager?

I just made a new profile to use exclusively with an alternate version of Firefox. My regular version accidentally opened this new profile, so I tried using profile manager to set it back to the default. However, the profile manager is only showing my new profile. /appdata/roaming/mozilla/firefox/profiles shows that I still have my default and my new profile. Putting -P "default" in the target line just opens up profile manager. How do I switch back to my default profile or get it to show up in profile manager?

Chosen solution

When a profile doesn't show in the Profile Manager then you can register this profile by using the Profile Manager to create a new profile. You can click the "Choose Folder" button to make Firefox recognize and use an already existing profile.

It is best to create a desktop shortcut that selects a specific profile (-P "profile_name") to avoid opening a profile with the wrong Firefox version.
Make sure to select the profile for the default browser in the Profile Manager, so that is used when you click a link in an external program.

You can use the -no-remote command line switch to open another Firefox instance with its own profile and run multiple Firefox instances simultaneously.

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For future reference unless you are absolutely sure what you are doing never

  • Delete profiles (Just remove shortcuts that use them)
  • Rename profiles (It renames the Profiles manager entry not the folder)
  • Use anything other than an empty folder for a new profile. Do not nest profile folders.
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Chosen Solution

When a profile doesn't show in the Profile Manager then you can register this profile by using the Profile Manager to create a new profile. You can click the "Choose Folder" button to make Firefox recognize and use an already existing profile.

It is best to create a desktop shortcut that selects a specific profile (-P "profile_name") to avoid opening a profile with the wrong Firefox version.
Make sure to select the profile for the default browser in the Profile Manager, so that is used when you click a link in an external program.

You can use the -no-remote command line switch to open another Firefox instance with its own profile and run multiple Firefox instances simultaneously.