2 Firefox instances stopped working
Hello. Since a few years I was using 2 FF instances. Profile1 (default) triggered by "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" Profile2 triggered by "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox1.exe" -P Mike -no-remote -no-deelevate I could start profile 2, than profile 1 and corresponding icons on Windows 7 taskbar were lit.
Out of the blue today when I start profile2 shortcut icon from profile1 is lit and I can't start profile 1. When I start Profile1 I can run also Profile2 and corresponding icons on taskbar are lit.
There were no hardware nor software changes on that PC. How to get back possibility to run 2 instances of FF? Mike
Chosen solution
Pin the new taskbar icon, delete the old one and edit the command line parameters for the new icon by holding down the Shift key while right-clicking > Properties.
Read this answer in context 👍 1All Replies (8)
I think that the normal (recommended) procedure would always have been to launch profile 1 (profile started without -no-remote) first and then additional profiles (Firefox instances) that use -no-remote and not the other way around.
Is that order working for you ?
Yes, default first, than remote works. But until today it was working: remote first, default second. I wonder why it stopped. Mike
Some information about Firefox on you Windows 7 OS:
Firefox 116+ versions requires Windows 10 as the minimum and users on Windows 7 and 8 and 8.1 have been moved to Firefox 115 ESR.
Maybe add -P "profile" to the first shortcut as it is possible that the Mike profile got marked as Default=1 in profiles.ini or that Firefox otherwise fails to find the correct profile to use.
FF was automatically updated on that machine 1.10.2023 to latest ESR version. Issue started today (19.10.2023) Profile1 is default (checkied in about:profiles) Profile2 (Mike) is not marked as default and never was. Mike
sp5it said
when I start profile2 shortcut icon from profile1 is lit and I can't start profile 1.
For taskbar icons to be grouped separately, you need to go to about:config in both profiles and create taskbar.grouping.useprofile (Boolean) with value true and also set browser.startup.blankwindow to false.
I did that on Profile2, but now when I start it creates another taskbar icon of FF. Mike
Suluhisho teule
Pin the new taskbar icon, delete the old one and edit the command line parameters for the new icon by holding down the Shift key while right-clicking > Properties.