the-edmeister's
Firefox Advice
Cloning a Profile
You may ask why would a person want to clone a Profile?
- It allows you to install an updated version of Firefox with an already existing Profile, without risking that Profile to being ruined by the new installation. You might say "The installer searches for existing Profiles and gives me a choice of which Profile I want to migrate to the new installation". True, but once that particular Profile is used by a new installation, it could be ruined for use with other installations, if there are any problems with the new version. Been there, done that.
-
It allows you to use the same Profile for other users on WinXP, W2K and WinME Systems without installing all your Profiles and user customizations repeatedly for the other users.
-
It allows you to transfer a favorite Profile to a different PC; including almost all your extensions, your themes, your bookmarks, and all your personal customizations.
The Firefox browser must be closed
before performing these steps.
-
The first step in 'Cloning a Profile' is to select a candidate for cloning. It must be healthy and fit, and working with an existing installation. You need to know the exact location and name of the selected Profile.
You ask,
"Hey, where is my Profile located?"
Answer: It depends on which Operating System you are using.
You ask, "Hey, what's up with the names of Profiles?"
Answer: Firefox makes the name as part of a security scheme.
as in
xxxxxxxx.DefaultUser
or
wu1ogn3z.09-02
(a Profile that I have created thru the Profile Manager)
Note: When cloning a Profile you don't need to use the random character string/scheme. You can call your new Profile virtually anything you want; see my examples below of the various Profile names I have used.
-
The second step is to get two Explorer windows open with your
path-to\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\ folder in one
and a folder you set up for 'cloning' in the other.
Middle-Click the image for a larger view in a Tab
-
The third step is to Right-Click 'drag & copy' your 'donor' Profile folder into a freshly created folder for 'cloning'. In this example I did the 'drag & copy' with the Profile named wu1ogn3z.09-02.
Middle-Click the image for a larger view in a Tab
-
Fourth step is to Right-Click & Rename the folder. I use something that identifies the date I 'cloned' the Profile, and sometimes include the version of Firefox it goes with.
Middle-Click the image for a larger view in a Tab
-
The renamed ('cloned') Profile folder sitting in the 'incubator' folder.
In this example, I called the 'clone' 09-02_1.0PR
Middle-Click the image for a larger view in a Tab
You ask, "Hey, where is my Profile located?"
Answer: It depends on which Operating System you are using.
You ask, "Hey, what's up with the names of Profiles?"
Answer: Firefox makes the name as part of a security scheme.
as in
xxxxxxxx.DefaultUser
or
wu1ogn3z.09-02
(a Profile that I have created thru the Profile Manager)
Note: When cloning a Profile you don't need to use the random character string/scheme. You can call your new Profile virtually anything you want; see my examples below of the various Profile names I have used.
path-to\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\ folder in one
and a folder you set up for 'cloning' in the other.
Middle-Click the image for a larger view in a Tab
Middle-Click the image for a larger view in a Tab
Middle-Click the image for a larger view in a Tab
In this example, I called the 'clone' 09-02_1.0PR
Middle-Click the image for a larger view in a Tab
Edited: 01-09-2005
The chrome.rdf file contains a hard directory path
to each extension's jar file location, so a 'cloned' Profile will only continue to work as long as the original ('donor') Profile is present.
Also, this would prevent a 'cloned' Profile from working on a different PC.
See the next page for the solution for this problem!
The next page is editing the chrome.rdf file
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updated on 05-02-05
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