Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Firefox install on external drive

  • 7 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

more options

Is it possible to install Firefox (or at least the profiles) onto an external SSD (i.e., not the C: drive)? If so, how?

Note: this is not about migration/backup/recovery of profiles. Nor is it about where files are downloaded by default.

Windows 11 is consuming nearly all of the C: drive. I badly need to get Firefox (and later Thunderbird) onto my E: drive. I further note that the installer gives no options whatsoever as to the destination drive.

Most of the help I've found on the web is clearly outdated.

Thanks. jt

Is it possible to install Firefox (or at least the profiles) onto an external SSD (i.e., not the C: drive)? If so, how? Note: this is not about migration/backup/recovery of profiles. Nor is it about where files are downloaded by default. Windows 11 is consuming nearly all of the C: drive. I badly need to get Firefox (and later Thunderbird) onto my E: drive. I further note that the installer gives no options whatsoever as to the destination drive. Most of the help I've found on the web is clearly outdated. Thanks. jt

Chosen solution

Normally, Firefox establishes two .ini files on your user profile folder. These .ini files can point to profiles located on other drives, but I am not aware of a way to move the .ini files themselves to other drives.

There is a third party rebuild of Firefox intended for removable media that is more self-contained. You could take a look:

https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (7)

more options

Helpful?

more options

James, much thanks. That is very helpful.

Do you know if Automatic Updates of the custom installation will end up where I want them, or will I have to manually repeat the custom installation process as updates become available?


Note -- from https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/custom-installation-firefox-on-windows we read: "In the next screen, you can choose whether to install the optional Mozilla Maintenance Service which allows application updates to occur in the background, without requiring you to click [Yes] in the Windows User Account Control (UAC) dialog."

I can clearly disable this. But, if enabled, where will the update go?

Helpful?

more options

Chosen Solution

Normally, Firefox establishes two .ini files on your user profile folder. These .ini files can point to profiles located on other drives, but I am not aware of a way to move the .ini files themselves to other drives.

There is a third party rebuild of Firefox intended for removable media that is more self-contained. You could take a look:

https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

Helpful?

more options

Well, I tried the MSI and did not see a way to get it to install on E:. I could download to E:, but not install.

As installed on C: (without porting my profiles) it loads C: with about 400 MB.

So, I'm wondering if I need to bite the bullet on portableapps.com. That would help me with: Firefox, T-bird, GIMP, and maybe a couple of small footprint apps (e.g. VLC; WizTree already has a portable version). Maybe I can pick up some new things to replace Adobe, which is a serious data space hog.

Thanks all'ya'all.

Helpful?

more options

jonathan67 said

Well, I tried the MSI and did not see a way to get it to install on E:. I could download to E:, but not install.

Select the Windows 64-bit in drop menu list and not the MSI to get the Firefox Setup 127.0.exe to do custom location install.

Portable apps version of Firefox is basically the official build but with a custom launcher to keep the Profile self contained with the Firefox folder so you can say even run it completely off a usb flash drive for example. They have been doing this for a couple decades now with permission from Mozilla.

Helpful?

more options

Again, thank you all.

Currently, I've had to install Firefox on the C: drive.

I tried Firefox as installed by PortableApps on the A: drive and it worked great. BUT, other programs that wanted to run the default HTML (etc) files couldn't find Firefox. Example, if I clicked "open file" in Duplicate Cleaner Pro or WizTree, they failed to get Firefox to open those files. I could have tried to chase those problems down, but... yeah, I have another life to live.

As installed (default installation) version consumes ~2GB of space on the C: drive, 1.6 Gig of which is in various profiles. I probably need to eject a number of addons (some of which are not currently enabled) to see if I can save some space.

Then, I'm going to have to look at the .ini changes recommended / stub installer / etc. For now, this is a lower priority.... I have other programs consuming far more than 2GB to deal with.

Helpful?

more options

Helpful?

Ask a question

You must log in to your account to reply to posts. Please start a new question, if you do not have an account yet.