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.

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

Cuireadh an snáithe seo sa chartlann. Cuir ceist nua má tá cabhair uait.

How to modify FF .ini file to move the profile folder on a different location ?

  • 3 fhreagra
  • 1 leis an bhfadhb seo
  • 4 views
  • Freagra is déanaí ó glfirex

more options

Hi,

I was reading this forum post on how to move a Firefox profile folder on a different location: the suggested modification is the same found on some other articles dating back many years.

Now a default Firefox installation contains an .ini file whose structure is changed as you can see in this image

The old file structure can be seen in this image.

Can someone suggest the right .ini file modifications to move the profile to a different folder?

Thank You.

Hi, I was reading [https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/944695 this forum post] on how to move a Firefox profile folder on a different location: the suggested modification is the same found on some other articles dating back many years. Now a default Firefox installation contains an .ini file whose structure is changed as you can see [https://i.imgur.com/LN6FhtD.png in this image] The old file structure can be seen [https://img.raymond.cc/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/change-firefox-profiles.png in this image]. Can someone suggest the right .ini file modifications to move the profile to a different folder? Thank You.

Athraithe ag glfirex ar

Réiteach roghnaithe

Hi, safest is to use the Profile Manager or the about:support page to create a new profile in the preferred location. Best is to create this folder beforehand and use the "Choose Folder" button to select this folder.


You can copy certain files with Firefox closed to the current profile folder to transfer or recover personal data. Note that best is to avoid copying a full profile folder.


  • bookmarks and history: places.sqlite
  • favicons: favicons.sqlite
  • bookmark backups: compressed .jsonlz4 JSON backups in the bookmarkbackups folder
  • cookies.sqlite for the Cookies
  • formhistory.sqlite for saved autocomplete Form Data
  • logins.json (encrypted logins;32+) and key4.db (decryption key;58+) for Passwords saved in the Password Manager
    key3.db support ended in 73+; to use key3.db in 58-72, make sure to remove key4.db
  • cert9.db (58+) for (intermediate) certificates stored in the Certificate Manager
  • persdict.dat for words added to the spell checker dictionary
  • permissions.sqlite for Permissions and possibly content-prefs.sqlite for other website specific data (Site Preferences)
  • sessionstore.jsonlz4 for open tabs and pinned tabs (see also the sessionstore-backups folder)

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (3)

more options

Réiteach Roghnaithe

Hi, safest is to use the Profile Manager or the about:support page to create a new profile in the preferred location. Best is to create this folder beforehand and use the "Choose Folder" button to select this folder.


You can copy certain files with Firefox closed to the current profile folder to transfer or recover personal data. Note that best is to avoid copying a full profile folder.


  • bookmarks and history: places.sqlite
  • favicons: favicons.sqlite
  • bookmark backups: compressed .jsonlz4 JSON backups in the bookmarkbackups folder
  • cookies.sqlite for the Cookies
  • formhistory.sqlite for saved autocomplete Form Data
  • logins.json (encrypted logins;32+) and key4.db (decryption key;58+) for Passwords saved in the Password Manager
    key3.db support ended in 73+; to use key3.db in 58-72, make sure to remove key4.db
  • cert9.db (58+) for (intermediate) certificates stored in the Certificate Manager
  • persdict.dat for words added to the spell checker dictionary
  • permissions.sqlite for Permissions and possibly content-prefs.sqlite for other website specific data (Site Preferences)
  • sessionstore.jsonlz4 for open tabs and pinned tabs (see also the sessionstore-backups folder)

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.

more options

Note that creating a profile this way will store all data that is currently in "AppData\Roaming" and "AppData\Local" in this profile.

Once you have copied your personal data to the new profile and have verified that it is working properly you can remove the old profile in both locations. Doing it this way is safer than modifying profiles.ini.

more options

cor-el said

Note that creating a profile this way will store all data that is currently in "AppData\Roaming" and "AppData\Local" in this profile.

Merging the two Mozilla folders inside Local and Roaming directories is even better: since I have a lot of ram available, I created the new Firefox profile on a ramdisk to reduce writes to the Ssd disk, so they all now flow into the same folder.

Thanks.

Athraithe ag glfirex ar