Firefox profile manager - profile folder structure
Robert M Jones
I am trying to move my main firefox profile away from my C:\ partition
onto a separate data partition. At the moment it is in C:\documents and
settings\user\application data etc. along with a couple of other
profiles - one for use with proxies, and another trimmed down/no
frills/addons profile.
The old location is thus:
C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox
containing
file - profile.ini
folder - \Crash Reports\
folder - \Profiles\ (containing 3folders with the profile names -
C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application
Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ije3p0z4.Default2\
C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application
Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ejifo4rb.clean and new\
C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application
Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ssq91pui.proxy profile\
Profiles.ini looks like this:
C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\profiles.ini
********************
[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1
[Profile0]
Name=clean and new
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/ejifo4rb.clean and new
[Profile1]
Name=proxy profile
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/ssq91pui.proxy profile
[Profile2]
Name=Default2
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/ije3p0z4.Default2
Default=1
*************************
Using Profile Manager to create a new profile in the new E:\ location
seems to produce a Profiles folder, but no subfolder with the new
profile name. It also has a Cache folder whereas there is none in the
old location.
The contents of the "new" profile just seem to be put in "Profiles" with
no identifier.
I had hoped to be able to simply create a new named profile folder
inside the new "Profiles" folder, and then copy the contents of the OLD
profile folder into the new one. But that doesn't work when there isn't
a new named profile folder on the E: partition to copy into.
And the Firefox that launches from that new location is corrupted - it
disables several extensions and says they aren't compatible with 3.6.3 -
even though they work perfectly well with that version in the old location.
I had hoped to be able to simply create a new named profile folder
inside the new "Profiles" folder, and then copy the contents of the OLD
profile folder into the new one. But it isn't proving as simple as I had
hoped.
Can I just cheat, create a folder for the new profile in the new
location, (with a new name) copy over the contents of the profile I want
to duplicate from my C partition, and add an extra section to the
profiles.ini file and if so what should it look like?
If the new profile was here:
E:\Documents and Settings\Robert
user\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\abc3de45.Default0
What would my the text inside the changed profiles.ini look like?
When I use Profile Manager to create or delete profiles at the moment it
is not doing what I expect, particularly with what it calls "default"
profiles. Last week it deleted all my profiles when I only wanted it to
delete one. This week I wanted it to create a new profile in the new
location but it did so in an odd way and the profile did not behave as
expected.
Can anyone help a rather confused user on this one please?
Many thanks.
--
Rev Robert M Jones, Wimborne Baptist Church, UK
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/dataprofiling/
http://www.wimborne-baptist.org.uk
Free trial of Mailwasher Pro - effective email spam filter - (commission
goes to our partners in Bulgaria)
http://fta.firetrust.com/index.cgi?id=420
Traveller
http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/profile#move, while written
for TBird, work equally well for FF. I used this method to share my FF
and TB profiles between WinXP and Ubuntu. HTH.
Dave
Chris Ilias
> Win XP Home SP3, Firefox 3.6.3
>
> I am trying to move my main firefox profile away from my C:\ partition
> onto a separate data partition.
I think you're making it more complicated than needed.
Just create a new profile and copy over the essential data:
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Recovering+important+data+from+an+old+profile
Or use the Firefox Sync add-on:
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/How+to+sync+Firefox+settings+between+computers
--
Chris Ilias <http://ilias.ca>
List-owner: support-firefox, support-thunderbird, test-multimedia
Big_Al
I just moved my profile and used MOZBackup utility to back it up, then
made a new profile and then restored the backup to the new profile.
Once I knew profile2 was working I just had the manager delete profile1
Might be a bit around the block, but it worked.
Robert M Jones
> On 10-06-06 11:59 AM, Robert M Jones wrote:
>> Win XP Home SP3, Firefox 3.6.3
>>
>> I am trying to move my main firefox profile away from my C:\ partition
>> onto a separate data partition.
>
> I think you're making it more complicated than needed.
> Just create a new profile and copy over the essential data:
> http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Recovering+important+data+from+an+old+profile
>
>
> Or use the Firefox Sync add-on:
> http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/How+to+sync+Firefox+settings+between+computers
>
>
Thanks - I have no desire to make life complicated BUT - I already tried
that, as I already explained.
I tried to create a new profile" using Firefox Profile manager - When
asked for the folder - I gave a location on the new data partition - yes
- done that. But what Profile manager created wasn't the same as what
existed already. It didn't create a named profile folder
"abc123de.profile name" - just a folder called Profiles - and copying
the data from inside a named profile folder into that folder didn't
work. firefox misbehaved, extensions got cancelled, and life got very
complicated.
Hence the question. I'd love to do it the easy way with Profile Manager
but it aint behaving predictably.
But thanks for the links. I will check those out and see if there's
something obvious I'm missing.
Robert M Jones
of the things that are part of my profile - like extensions for example
- it warns me it can't cope with those - as well as a few other things
which take rather a long time to deal with manually.
Robert M Jones
Thanks - I'll check that one out. Looks useful.
Fox on the run
m...@NOSPAMyahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> On 06/06/2010 19:23, Chris Ilias wrote:
>
> > On 10-06-06 11:59 AM, Robert M Jones wrote:
> >> Win XP Home SP3, Firefox 3.6.3
>
> >> I am trying to move my main firefox profile away from my C:\ partition
> >> onto a separate data partition.
>
> > I think you're making it more complicated than needed.
> > Just create a new profile and copy over the essential data:
>
> > Or use the Firefox Sync add-on:
>
> Thanks - I have no desire to make life complicated BUT - I already tried
> that, as I already explained.
> I tried to create a new profile" using Firefox Profile manager - When
> asked for the folder - I gave a location on the new data partition - yes
> - done that. But what Profile manager created wasn't the same as what
> existed already. It didn't create a named profile folder
> "abc123de.profile name" - just a folder called Profiles - and copying
> the data from inside a named profile folder into that folder didn't
> work. firefox misbehaved, extensions got cancelled, and life got very
> complicated.
>
> Hence the question. I'd love to do it the easy way with Profile Manager
> but it aint behaving predictably.
>
> But thanks for the links. I will check those out and see if there's
> something obvious I'm missing.
>
> --
> Rev Robert M Jones
Does the removable drive always get assigned the same drive letter
(E:)? If not that would cause problems as Firefox will point to drive
E: if that's the drive letter that was used when the profile was
created. What is the content of your profiles.ini file on your hard
drive now that you have the new profile created? I think you may
misunderstand how it works. When you create a new profile and point
it to a folder other than the default location, the IsRelative will be
0 in profile.ini for that new entry (which indicates that the profile
is not at the standard location), and it will use the folder at that
new location and that's where your files from your existing profile
must go into, not into a sub-folder under that one.
BE VERY CAREFUL - when pointing Firefox to a folder to create a new
profile, my experience in the past was that FF deleted the content of
that folder without prompting me - unless that's changed, the
consequences can be disastrous.. So create an empty folder and point
to it when doing this.
JB
g
> Win XP Home SP3, Firefox 3.6.3
>
> I am trying to move my main firefox profile away from my C:\ partition
> onto a separate data partition.
have a look at these links;
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Category:Firefox
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Category:Profile
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder
http://kb.mozillazine.org/index.php?title=Special:Categories&article=Moving_your_profile_folder
http://kb.mozillazine.org/index.php?title=Special:Categories&article=Category%3AProfiles
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox
also, note hotlinks in text. do note hot links at bottom of each page.
this should show you what you want and more for things later.
hth.
--
peace out.
tc,hago.
g
.
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Greywolf
[...]
>>>>> I am trying to move my main Firefox profile away from my C:\ partition
>>>>> onto a separate data partition.
> As for the new profile - the thing I still can't get my head round is
> the naming issue. When creating a new profile - what has happened is
> that I have put a new name into profile manager new profile wizard,
> which it accepts then when asked about the folderlocation - if I put a
> new/different location then the new folder doesn't carry the new name -
> the content gets put in a folder in the new location called Profiles.
> But if I DONT specify a new locationin profile manager, simply ask for a
> new profile in the standard location, then there is a new profile
> created in the standard location with the new profile name 123ab456.new
> name
[...]
Instructions first:
Ok, You say you've created a new profile on E:. If you want to reuse the
old profile information, but in a new location, shut down FF, and do this:
a1) Copy the old \Profiles _and_ profiles.ini to the new location. This
will also copy any old data inside \Profiles.
a2) You can rename the new \Profiles first, so it won't be overwritten,
if that makes you feel better.
b) Edit profiles.ini in the new location to point to the correct path.
Usually you just have to change the drive letter. You can change
*.default's name if you really want to, just make the corresponding
change in profiles.ini.
Now Firefox should use the old profile correctly, and you will have it
located off C:.
Explanations second:
FF stores the profile information in \Profiles. You can't change that.
As you have discovered, you have limited ability to make these programs
accept your customised profile data.
FF will use only one profile at a time. That profile's name is stored in
profiles.ini. You can have several *.default folders in \Profiles, but
FF will use only the one named in profiles.ini.
NB: on XP, \Profiles is in Documents and
Settings\YourUserName\Application Data\Mozilla. This is a hidden folder,
so you have to change folders behaviour to Show Hidden Files and Folders.
Alternative suggestion:
A safer way of doing what you want is to use the portable version of FF
and install it on E:. See (http://portableapps.com/). You can move the
old profile info as above. This copy of FF will be entirely
self-contained. Because you install it off C:, it is in a safe location.
You can put it on a USB drive, and use that, then FF isn't on your
computer at all. You could install several copies of portable FF, and
create a profile for each. And so on. You can use portable FF on the USB
drive on any other Windows machine. (There are Portable Apps for other
operating systems, too.) I've found a 4GB stick is enough, but now that
16GB sticks are as cheap as 4GB used to be, that's what I use.
BTW, you should find the files that FF deleted in the Trash. To copy
them, restore them.
If you want to mess with Thunderbird profiles, you can use the same
procedures. \Profiles is in \Application Data\Thunderbird.
HTH
wolf k.
Robert M Jones
> wolf k.
thanks to all - greywolf and g - that gives me plenty to go on and I
think I can crack it now!!
g
> On 08/06/2010 14:17, Greywolf wrote:
>
>> wolf k.
>
> thanks to all - greywolf and g - that gives me plenty to go on and I
> think I can crack it now!!
welcome.
great.
hate to think my time had gone to waste, because i am a slow typist.
'that's a joke, son'. ;)