How do I make Firefox use old Profile?
Hi, I had to reinstall Windows 7 OS, but left data partition containing Firefox profile untouched. After OS install and new Firefox install, I did not find a way to make Firefox point to the existing profile (i.e. FF should use F:\Users\anatomist\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\*.default). I don't want to copy profile contents to new location, do not want to restore from old profile, or in anyway move the location of the profile from existing location. Is there anyway to use existing profile as-is, continuing to make any updates to the existing profile? Again, I am not interested in backups, restorations, copying, or moving. Existing profile is valuable and need to continue to use it. Thank you, Anatomist.
All Replies (9)
If you don't want to copy anything, exactly what do you want?
MarkRH said
If you don't want to copy anything, exactly what do you want?
When Firefox is installed, it has created the profile at %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles (i.e. C:\Users\anatomist\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles). This profile is not what I want Firefox to use, nor do I want move F drive contents to this folder. I want Firefox to this C drive location and go to F drive location. I did not find any configuration variable or Windows Registry Key that can point the Firefox profile to F:\Users\anatomist\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles).
rahuldecoded said
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles
Thanks rahuldecoded, but it does not help me. I DO NOT want to (1) create a new profile (2) Remove a profile (3) Rename a profile (4) Move a profile (i.e. backup old profile and restore it in new location) (5) Recover/transfer information from an existing profile to be used in a new profile. I want to use a profile that sits in F drive instead of the default profile location in C drive.
Add this to the Target line for the Firefox desktop shortcut:
\Local\ isn't the Profile folder! That is an affiliated folder that contains the Cache folders and miscellaneous other folders and files.
space then -P "F:/Users/anatomist/AppData/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/*.default" after fixing the Profile name to the correct name. But first you need to make sure that folder it actually there.
Modified by the-edmeister
Note that you come into problems if you use a profile that isn't registered and selected in the Profile Manager (profiles.ini file) and click a link an another application.
Safest is to use the Profile Manager and click the "Choose Folder" button to select an existing profile.
the-edmeister said
Add this to the Target line for the Firefox desktop shortcut: \Local\ isn't the Profile folder! That is an affiliated folder that contains the Cache folders and miscellaneous other folders and files. space then -P "F:/Users/anatomist/AppData/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/*.default" after fixing the Profile name to the correct name. But first you need to make sure that folder it actually there.
Thanks, but unfortunately, Firefox still showed only default profile and upon starting it displayed the contents of the location pointed by -P option. I changed it to -profilemanager F:...., but that also resulted in the same behavior.
The Firefox profile folder is normally in AppData\Roaming.
- C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\
cor-el said
Note that you come into problems if you use a profile that isn't registered and selected in the Profile Manager (profiles.ini file) and click a link an another application. Safest is to use the Profile Manager and click the "Choose Folder" button to select an existing profile.
Thanks for the info Cor-el. When Profile Manager started, it did not have option to "Choose Folder". It only showed "Create Profile", "Rename Profile", and "Delete Profile". I deleted default profile, clicked on "Create Profile" and then selected the folder in F: drive where my existing profile is located. This did bring back all the bookmarks etc., but when it comes to stored passwords (master password works but), Firefox is not working well. It is a partial improvement. I am continuing to find options to bring back exact previous behavior of Firefox.
Thank you all for your suggestions.