Parallel install of FF 4 alongside FF 3.6 on Win7
I'm looking to install the new FF 4 alongside an existing installation of FF 3.6.16 and keep both working fully until users transition away from FF3 - in other words, for quite some time.
This is under a Windows 7 environment.
How do I do it without losing my existing FF installation?
Thanks, Joseph
All Replies (4)
You can install them both but there are a few steps to take.
When you install Firefox 4 use the custom installation option and choose a different location to install Firefox.
In order to use both versions, you need to create a new profile for Firefox 4 (Firefox stores user data in the profile). Using the same profile with different versions can cause problems. Once you create a new profile you can copy certain data such as bookmarks and passwords between them. You can also use Firefox Sync to keep the profile synchronized. Finally, you will need to set up shortcuts to launch the correct profile for each version.
The following links show how to do this:
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Creating_a_new_Firefox_profile_on_Windows
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Shortcut_to_a_specific_profile
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox
- https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/firefox-sync (only needed for Firefox 3.6, it is built into Firefox 4)
Tony,
THANKS for the swift reply with links and all!!!
Looks like a weekend project - can't wait to do it...
ATB, JF
I did all that, but every time I click on the short cut or even the exe itself in the separate Firefox4beta location, FF3 comes up?
In safe mode, FF4 comes up.
Any ideas on this? Looks like there is an association that keeps me stuck in FF3?
Firefox 3.x and Firefox 4.0 have entirely different methods of opening the Firefox SafeMode.