Hello everyone who came to our site. In one of the previous articles, we examined in detail what a browser is. Mozilla Firefox... This is the folder where all of our Firefox settings are stored. It is created by default when you first install the browser. But sometimes a situation arises when several profiles are required for this browser (for example, other family members or just a separate one for work). How to do it? The Profile Manager will help us with this. With its help, you can add, rename, delete a profile, as well as set some settings.
Launching the profile manager.
Before starting the manager, check if the Mozilla browser Firefox. If you have it open, then you need to close it. Then we will use. Press it and without releasing press R (Win + R). A window "" will open in front of us, enter in the field firefox.exe -P
And click " OK»You will see the profile manager in front of you.
Here you will see your default profile, which stores all your data. For all further actions, which we will describe below, return to this screenshot.
Let's say we want to create a new profile that would store bookmarks, a story for a job, or another family member.
Create a new Firefox profile
To do this, we just need to click on the button “ Create ..."(Number 1). The New Profile Wizard will open.
Now we need to come up with a name for our new profile. Since we are planning to use it for production purposes, let's give a suitable name, for example, - For work... Or something else, at your discretion.
Next, you need to specify the folder where the created profile will be stored. By default, a folder with the name of the profile is created. You can use this option. If you want to ask your own, then click " Select folder ...". And in the explorer specify the desired folder. We recommend that you create a clean, empty folder for the profile, but if you install it in a directory that contains some files, then you risk losing them when you delete the profile.
Now that we have set the name, indicated the place, click " Done". The new profile will be created and displayed in the profile manager.
Select the cos this profile and launch the browser. It will open in the form in which it was after the first installation: there will be no bookmarks, the history will be empty, you will not find any extensions or applications either.
How to rename a profile
If, when creating a new profile, you made a mistake in its name or simply decided to change it, then this can be easily corrected. To do this, select the desired profile and select the button under the number 2 - " Rename».
Then we give a new name or correct the mistake and press “ OK". The profile is renamed.
Delete Firefox profile
If you stop using a profile, you can safely delete it. To do this, select the appropriate button in the manager - under the number 3.
We will be offered 2 options for deleting.
Don't delete files... If you select this option, the profile will be deleted from the manager, but all your data files will be saved on your hard disk, which can be used for a new profile in the future.
Delete files... In this case, the deletion occurs not only from the manager, but also all files with your data and settings. The profile folder is completely removed from the computer. You will not be able to recover anything after that. Therefore, take this fact into account when choosing this option.
Profile manager settings.
Work autonomously... If you set this parameter for a specific profile, then Firefox will start in offline, without internet connection. In this case, you can browse the sites you have visited before and experiment with your profile.
Run the selected profile without prompting... If this checkbox is checked for a specific profile, then this profile will be loaded automatically when Firefox starts.
If you need to switch between profiles, then uncheck this parameter. Now, every time you start the browser, you will choose the profile you need.
On this, perhaps, let me finish. Today we looked at how to create, rename, delete a Firefox profile. Share in the comments if you use your profiles in this browser.
Until next time and good mood to everyone !!!
Man is not an angel or an animal, and his misfortune is that the more he strives to become like an angel, the more he turns into an animal.
Blaise Pascal
Transferring a profile in Firefox to a disk, flash drive or hard drive is necessary to save user settings in the browser after reinstalling it, formatting the system partition, installing operating system... This procedure is also necessary when transferring Firefox data to another computer (for example, bookmarks, passwords, browsing history, etc.).
This article will show you how to migrate your profile to Firefox. different ways how to separately import and export bookmarks, as well as how to change its location on the disk (place it in another partition of the hard drive).
Profile structure
The profile folder is generated automatically by the browser. Its name consists of Latin letters and numbers. It stores information about user settings. Here are just a few of the elements in the profile that are required to restore the created Mozilla Firefox configuration:
- places.sqlite - bookmarks, history of visited pages and downloaded files;
- bookmarkbackups - reserve of saved bookmarks;
- key3.db, logins.json - credentials (passwords and logins);
- permissions.sqlite, content-prefs.sqlite - specialized settings Firefox (set scale, font size, resolution for displaying pop-up windows for individual sites);
- search.json.mozlz4 - specified search engines;
- persdict.dat - additional words (browser dictionary);
- formhistory.sqlite - data for autocomplete fields;
- cookies.sqlite - cookies;
- extensions folder - connected extensions;
- cert8.db - settings for security certificates for protected network connections;
- secmod.db - base of protection modules;
- mimeTypes.rdf - a set of browser actions for certain types of files (for example, to download, view PDF files);
- pluginreg.dat - MIME types of installed plugins;
- sessionstore.js - saved internet session (open tabs, windows);
- xulstore.json - toolbar settings;
- prefs.js - options changed by the user.
How do I get access?
You can open the directory with profile settings in two ways:
Method # 1: using the FF option
1. Click the "Menu" icon at the top right (the "three stripes" icon).
2. In the drop-down window, under the block of icons, click the "question mark".
3. In the list, click "Information ...".
4. In the loaded tab, click "Open ...".
5. The contents of the profile folder will appear in the system window.
If you want to view all available profiles, in the address bar of the window, click on the location path "Profiles". The OS Explorer "rises" in the hierarchy to a level.
Method number 2: through the "Start" menu
1. In the taskbar, select "Start".
2. In the search box, type:
% APPDATA% \ Mozilla \ Firefox \ Profiles \
3. A directory icon will appear in Start. Click it to view the contents.
Backup and recovery
Method # 1: manually
1. Open the directory with profiles.
2. Close the browser: click the "cross" at the top left.
3. Right-click on the profile that you want to back up for later restoration. In the menu, click "Copy".
4. Transfer the copy to another folder on the hard drive (preferably not to the system partition) or to the desktop: right-click on an empty space, click "Paste".
5. Open the profile in which you want to place the created copy (on another PC, in the newly installed FF distribution, etc.).
6. Select all the elements in it (files and folders): select any object with a mouse click and press Ctrl + A.
7. Right-click on the highlighted list. In the menu, run the "Delete" command.
8. Open the previously copied folder (profile copy).
9. Copy its contents:
- select all elements;
- right-click to open the menu and click "Copy".
10. Go to the cleaned up folder in the FF directory.
11. Press the right mouse button, click the "Insert" command in the list.
Note. If the folder has the same name as the backup folder, go up to the Profiles directory, and then click "Insert" and confirm the replacement of the entire folder.
12. Now that the data has been transferred, run FF.
Method number 2: automatically - in the MozBackup program
Mozbackup is a program that performs recovery of user data in FF at the level of individual items in an automatic mode. Frees the user from having to manually transfer the profile folder. Recommended for use primarily by novice users.
To use it, follow this guide:
Download and installation
1. Download the offsite - http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com.
2. Click on the "Download" section.
Note. Anchors marked "no install" for download portable version programs.
4. Run the downloaded file, complete the installation.
Creating a backup
1. Click the utility shortcut. Click Next.
2. Make sure that the “Backup a profile” mode is enabled in the “Operation” block.
3. Click “Browse”, set the backup directory.
4. Select “Next” to proceed.
5. In the "Question" window:
- click "Yes" if you want to block access to the file with a password, and enter the key;
- click "No" if you don't need a password.
6. Select the data you want to copy. Place "birds" near them.
7. When the reservation is complete, click “Finish”.
Recovering from a file
1. Close your browser, open MozBackup.
2. Enable "Restore a profile" mode.
3. Specify the path to the backup (Browse button).
4. Select items to recover.
5. Confirm the start of the operation: click "Yes" in the query "Question".
Method # 3: copy to Firefox account
The method allows you to store a backup on the FF developers server and use it to transfer user settings to a PC, mobile devices.
To use it, do this:
1. In the browser, click: Tools → Options.
2. Open the "Synchronization" subsection.
3. Click "Create Account".
4. Enter your e-mail, login password (at least 8 characters long), as well as your age.
5. Click "Create ...".
6. Confirm entering the synchronization mode.
7. Indicate which data needs to be backed up and which does not. By default, everything is checked (tabs, history, passwords, etc.). Click "Save ...".
8. In the specified e-mail, open the notification from Firefox and use the confirmation link.
9. To restore the profile, go again: Tools → Options → Synchronization.
10. Log in to your account: click Login, enter your login (e-mail) and password.
Moving a profile to another section
Sometimes, for security reasons, to save free space on the C drive, it becomes necessary to move user profile from the default directory to an alternative storage (folder) located in another partition or hard drive.
This add-in is executed as follows:
1. Create a folder to store the profile.
For example: e: \ profile \ firefox \
Where "e:" is the letter of the disk partition.
2. Copy the contents of the profile folder in the browser (see instructions for manual backup).
3. Paste the copied data into the prepared empty folder.
4. Specify in the browser the path to the new storage location using one of the following methods:
Method number 1: add-in in the shortcut
1. Right-click on the browser shortcut located on the desktop (which you use to launch). Open the Properties panel.
2. In the line "Object" add the key to the existing entry (path to the executable file):
Profile "d: \ profile \ firefox"
The quotes indicate the path to the new repository.
Method number 2: change initialization
1. In the "Start" line enter -% appdata% \ Mozilla \ Firefox \ profiles.ini
2. Click on the icon of the profiles.ini file that appears. By default, it opens in Notepad.
3. Edit it:
Replace the line Path = Profiles / xxxxx.default with Path = d: \ profile \ firefox.
Where "d: \ profile \ firefox" is the path to the profile folder.
In the line IsRelative = 1, replace the value "1" with "0".
4. Save the options edit. In the Notepad menu, click File → Save (or Save As ...).
After transferring the profile, all data and settings will be saved to the specified folder.
Transferring bookmarks
1. In the menu, click: Log → Show entire log.
2. In the Log pane, open the "Import and ..." drop-down list and select "Export ... to ...". Specify the directory for the bookmarked file.
Accordingly, to restore or transfer bookmarks, for example, from Chrome to Firefox in HTML format, go back to the history, to "Import and ..." and click the option "Import ...". Then specify the path to the copy of the bookmarks and download it. A collection of links will appear in the sidebar with the saved URLs.
Restoring a profile allows you to significantly save time in the process of individual after reinstallation of the system, its installation on another PC. Choose any of the methods described and back up your profile folder now. And then you probably will not lose sight of the selection of your favorite sites, connected add-ons, network settings, history of visited pages.
Firefox saves your personal information, such as bookmarks, passwords, and personal settings in a set of files called a profile, which is kept separate from the Firefox program files. You can have multiple profiles, each containing its own dataset. With the help of the profile manager, you can create, delete, rename profiles, and also switch between them.
- If you have (or plan to) multiple Firefox installations on the same computer, see Special profiles for each Firefox installation.
- If you are solving a Firefox-related issue: Firefox Refresh feature can solve many problems by resetting Firefox to its original state. In this case, the information you need will be saved. Try using this feature before starting the lengthy troubleshooting process.
Launching the Profile Manager
Managing profiles with Firefox open
Enter about: profiles into the Firefox address bar and click the button EnterReturn... This will open the page About profiles.
The following options are available:
To manage profiles, find the profile you want to change and select the desired button under this profile:
- Rename Click this button to change the name of a profile in the Profile Manager. Note: The folder that contains the files for the profile is not renamed.
- Set as default profile This option allows you to switch profiles. Click this button to have Firefox use this default profile when it starts.
- Launch another browser with this profile If you click this button, another Firefox window will open using that profile.
Launching the Profile Manager when Firefox is closed
Note: Another way to launch the Profile Manager is from the search box in the Windows Start menu. Close Firefox (if running), click, type firefox.exe -P and hit enter.
If the instructions above do not work, or if you have multiple installations of Firefox, use the following instructions.
Multiple Firefox installations
You can install multiple Firefox programs in different locations. To launch the Profile Manager for a specific Firefox installation, replace firefox.exe in the instructions above with the full path to the Firefox program, enclose the string in quotation marks, and then add a space and -P.
Examples:
"Firefox (32-bit) on 64-bit Windows"
"C: \ Program Files (x86) \ Mozilla Firefox \ firefox.exe" -P
"Firefox (32-bit) on 32-bit Windows" (or "64-bit Firefox on 64-bit Windows")
"C: \ Program Files \ Mozilla Firefox \ firefox.exe" -P
The Firefox Profile Manager window should open (select a user profile).
Note: You may need to customize these instructions if Firefox is not installed in the default path (for example, if multiple installations exist).
If Firefox is already included with your Linux distribution, or you installed Firefox using a package manager on your Linux distribution:
The launch parameter is written capital letter P... Alternatively, you can use the -ProfileManager parameter instead of the -P parameter.
The Firefox Profile Manager window should open (select a user profile).
If the Profile Manager window still does not appear, then Firefox is probably already running in the background, even if it is not visible. Close all running Firefox copies, or restart your computer and try again.
Create a profile
After starting the Profile Manager as described above, you can create a new, additional profile as follows:
You will be returned to the Profile Manager window, in the list of which the new profile will be displayed. When you first start Firefox with a new profile, you will be prompted to sign in to your Firefox account so you can (see below).
Deleting a Profile
After starting the Profile Manager as described above, you can delete an existing profile as follows:
Renaming a profile
After starting the Profile Manager as described above, you can rename the profile as follows:
- In the profile manager, select a profile to rename and click the Rename… button.
- Enter a new name for the profile. Type a new name for the profile and click OK.
- Note: The folder containing the profile files will not be renamed.
Parameters
These options are only available when you are.
Work autonomously
Selecting this option loads the selected profile and starts Firefox without an Internet connection. You can browse previously visited web pages and experiment with your profile.
Use selected profile without asking at startup
If you have multiple profiles, this parameter tells Firefox what to do on startup:
- If you check this box, Firefox will automatically load the selected profile on startup. To access other profiles, you must first start the Profile Manager.
- If you uncheck this option, Firefox will show you the Profile Manager every time you start Firefox so that you can select a profile to use.
Use Sync with a new profile
When you first open Firefox in a new profile, the Welcome to Firefox page opens with a place to enter your address Email.
Enter your email address and click Continue to create or sign in to a Firefox account. You can then set up "sync" for the new profile so that you can share bookmarks, browsing history, passwords, and other user data with other Firefox profiles or devices.
- If you are already using sync on another profile or device, then enter the email address and password for your account Firefox so that your new profile can use these settings.
- If you are not using sync, do not want to sync data with the new profile, or if you want to resolve this later, you can log into your Firefox account and select "Do not sync this device" (see Disabling Firefox Sync) or skip this step.
For more information, read the articles How do I set up Sync on my computer? and How do I choose which types of information Firefox syncs? ...
Moving a profile
Recovering information from an old profile
If you have important information in the old Firefox profile, such as bookmarks, passwords or user preferences, you can transfer this information to the new Firefox profile by copying the corresponding files. For more information, see Recover important data from your old profile. You can also switch to a previous profile to restore your old profile data. See How to recover user data lost after updating Firefox for details.
// The following good people helped write this article:Unghost, Harry, Anticisco Freeman, Valery Ledovskoy, SwanMr.pound, Nikita Gutsenkov. You can help too -.All changes made in Firefox such as Homepage panels used, extensions that you installed, your bookmarks and saved passwords are stored in a special folder called "profile". Your profile folder is kept separate from executable files Firefox, so if something goes wrong with Firefox, your information will always be saved. It also means that you can uninstall Firefox without losing your settings, and that you don't need to reinstall Firefox to remove information or fix a problem.
How can I find my profile?
How to find a profile without launching Firefox
Firefox saves your profile folder on your computer, by default in this location:
C: \ Users \
Windows hides the AppData folder by default, but you can find your profile folder as follows:
Click the icon Finder in the dock. On the menu bar, click the Go menu, and hold down the option or alt key and choose Library. A window will open containing your Library folder.
- Open the Application Support folder, in it open the Firefox folder, and in it the Profiles folder.
- Your profile folder is inside this folder. If you have only one profile, its folder will be named "default".
- (Ubuntu) Open the Go menu at the top left of the screen and select Home. The File Browser window will appear.
- Open the View menu and select Show hidden files if not already checked.
- Double click on the .mozilla folder.
- If you have only one profile, its folder will be named "default".
What information is stored in my profile?
Note: This is not a complete list. Only important information is provided.
- Bookmarks, downloads and browsing history: The places.sqlite file contains all of your Firefox bookmarks, lists of all the files you uploaded and all the websites you visited. The bookmarkbackups folder stores backup files bookmarks that can be used to restore bookmarks. The favicons.sqlite file contains the favicons for your Firefox bookmarks. For more information, see How to use bookmarks to remember and organize your favorite sites and Restore bookmarks from a backup or transfer them to another computer.
- Passwords: Your passwords are stored in key4.db and logins.json files. For more information, see Saved Passwords - Remember, Delete, Edit Passwords in Firefox.
- Site-specific settings: The permissions.sqlite and content-prefs.sqlite files store multiple Firefox permissions (such as which sites are allowed to open pop-ups) or site-specific zoom levels (see Font size and page scale - increase the size of web pages).
- Search engines: The search.json.mozlz4 file contains the search engines installed by the user. For more information, see Add or remove search engines in Firefox.
- Personal dictionary: The persdict.dat file contains any additional words that you added to the Firefox dictionary. For more information, see How do I check spelling in Firefox? ...
- Autocomplete fields: The file formhistory.sqlite remembers what you searched for in the Firefox search bar and what information you entered in the fields on the sites. For more information, see the article Manage Firefox Automatically Fill In Forms.
- Cookies: Cookies are small pieces of data stored on your computer by the websites you visit. This is usually something like site settings or login status. All cookies are stored in the cookies.sqlite file.
- DOM storage: DOM storage is intended to provide a larger, safer, and easier-to-use alternative to storing information in cookies. The information is stored in the webappsstore.sqlite file for websites and in the chromeappsstore.sqlite file for about: * pages.
- Extensions: The extensions folder, if it exists, stores the files for all the extensions you have installed. To find out more about Firefox extensions and other add-ons, see Find and install add-ons to add features to Firefox.
- Security certificate settings: The cert9.db file contains all of your security certificate settings and all SSL certificates that you imported into Firefox.
- Protection device settings: The pkcs11.txt file stores the configuration of the security modules.
- File upload actions: The handlers.json file contains your settings that tell Firefox what to do when it sees certain file types. For example, these settings tell Firefox to open PDF files with Acrobat Reader when you click on them. For more information, see the article Changing how Firefox behaves when a file is clicked or downloaded.
- Saved Session: The sessionstore.jsonlz4 file stores open ones in this moment tabs and windows. For more information, see Restore a Previous Session - Configure when Firefox displays your most recent tabs and windows.
- Toolbar settings: The xulstore.json file stores toolbar settings and window positions / sizes. Read the article for more information.
In the process operating Mozilla Firefox accumulates various important information in the browser, such as bookmarks, browsing history, cache, cookies, etc. All of this data is stored in the Firefox profile. Today we will look at how the Mozilla Firefox profile is migrated.
Considering that the Mozilla Firefox profile stores all the user's information about the use of the browser, many users are interested in the question of how the procedure for transferring the profile is performed for the subsequent recovery of information in Mozilla Firefox on another computer.
Stage 1: creating a new Firefox profile
We draw your attention to the fact that the transfer of information from the old profile should be carried out into a new profile that has not yet been used (this is necessary in order to avoid problems in the operation of the browser).
To proceed to the formation of a new Firefox profile, you will need to close the browser, and then call the window "Run" key combination Win + R ... A miniature window will appear on the screen, in which you will need to enter the following command:
firefox.exe -P
A small profile management window will appear on the screen, in which you need to click on the button "Create" to proceed to creating a new profile.
A window will appear on the screen in which you need to complete the formation of a new profile. If necessary, during the process of creating a profile, you can change its standard name in order to make it easier to find the desired profile, if suddenly in one Firefox browser you have several of them.
Stage 2: copy information from the old profile
Now comes the main stage - copying information from one profile to another. You will need to get into the old profile folder. If you are using it in your browser at the moment, start Firefox, click in the upper right area on the Internet browser menu button, and then click on the icon with a question mark in the lower area of the browser window.
In the same area, an additional menu will be displayed, in which you need to open the section "Information for problem solving" .
When a new window appears on the screen, next to the item "Profile folder" click on the button Show folder .
The screen will display the contents of the profile folder, which contains all the accumulated information.
Please note that you do not need to copy the entire profile folder, but only the data that you need to restore in another profile. The more data you transfer, the more likely you are to get problems with Mozilla Firefox.
The following files are responsible for the data accumulated by the browser:
- places.sqlite- this file stores bookmarks, downloads and browsing history accumulated in the browser;
- logins.json and key3.db- these files are responsible for saved passwords. If you want to recover passwords in a new Firefox profile, then you need to copy both files;
- permissions.sqlite- individual settings for websites;
- persdict.dat- user dictionary;
- formhistory.sqlite- autofill data;
- cookies.sqlite- saved cookies;
- cert8.db- information about imported security certificates for protected resources;
- mimeTypes.rdf- information about Firefox action at startup different types files.
Stage 3: inserting information into a new profile
When the necessary information has been copied from the old profile, you just have to transfer it to the new one. To do this, open the folder with the new profile, as described above.
Please note that when copying information from one profile to another, the Mozilla Firefox web browser must be closed.
You will need to replace the required files by first deleting the unnecessary ones from the new profile folder. Once the information has been replaced, you can close the profile folder and you can start Firefox.