Different firefox exe's all launching firefox 8 (beta)
I have multiple firefox installs, mainly for testing (7 and beta used on a daily basis), now regardless of what exe I launch they all launch 8. I have confirmed this with an old install of ff4, ff4 namakora 64bit, 7, 8 and aurora. They are all assigned separate profiles and the profiles and plugins for the different profiles do work correctly, but obviously addons that don't work with 8 are non functional. I also have not updated any of the older installs to newer versions. How do I get back the multi version functionality as reinstalling older versions does not resolve the issue? Additionally just to see if it worked I tried running portable version of 7 and get an error that firefox is already running (the version running is 8). I have literally done the 'side by side' install thing for years and have never seen this issue, nor do I understand what caused it
Modified by badtz
Chosen solution
Firefox portable might not allow or work with just -no-remote on the command, line, you will have to do it with
or more likely AllowMultipleInstances=true
You should test it alone to begin with without your other firefox.exe running, it was intended to be used where Firefox was not installed. I expect things have changed a lot since then.
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are you including the pathname for each firefox.exe and are you using -no-remote on the ones that are not using your default browser.
You are on Windows 7 so I know you can check out the actual command for each in the Windows Task Manager on the '"Processes" tab.
Using multiple profiles - Firefox - MozillaZine Knowledge Base
- "Windows Task Manager
- Additional columns can be added within the Processes tab of the Windows Task Manager (WTM) by right-clicking on a column header. When working with multiple versions of Firefox at the same time, you will need to know which process to terminate if there is a problem. By including the "Command Line" column you will see the actual command line that was invoked to start each process. Typical problem would be a stuck application not showing on the Windows status bar but still in the WTM Processes tab. Trying to start/restart Firefox in such cases will show a dialog box with the message, Firefox is already running but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart the system."
Modified by David McRitchie
At this point I'm manually launching the exe from various folders and I'm manually choosing the profile via profile manager (as I always have) when launched, firefox is also not my default browser. I use process explorer, so the task manager bit isnt relevant, but again, regardless of what exe I launch C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe is the process that shows as running after launching.
A bit more fiddling seems to show this is somehow happening after any single version is started. If I launch 8, then try to open aurora somehow 8 is the process that gets launched regardless of the exe/shortcut I use. If I open aurora the same thing happens. I get no profile manager dialogue box and regardless of the exe path, the previously opened version is what is shown as running. Additionally it looks like 7 has somehow been completely wiped from my system, the path to what had been 7 now only launches 8.
It seems some kind of forced update from 4.x versions is the cause of this, I ran a firefox.exe in an old 4.x backup folder and it immediately updates without asking, and updates to the beta channel (which 7 seems to be doing as well).
So to clarify, it would seem (aside of namakora 64bit) any 'older' version (including 7) updated to the beta and I specifically have the update box unchecked for all versions I am running. If I try to run 2 versions at the same time somehow the initial firefox process 'hijacks' the second and the proper version does not run. So I guess my question is how to disable whatever is causing the 2nd version to incorrectly launch as this was working yesterday and I changed no settings on any of my versions. I can live without 4 if its going to force update but would like at least 7, 8 and aurora working properly.
Modified by badtz
Additionally just to see if it worked I tried running portable version of 7 and get an error that firefox is already running (the version running is 8).
Sounds like a "hung" firefox.exe process - IOW, when you close Firefox, the exe process isn't terminating and is still active.
https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Firefox%20hangs
See hang-at-exit
No, its not a hung process, I get the error after running 8 and trying to run the portable version of 7, a bit more reading found me the ini setting for the portable version to launch more than one instance. I'm just going to blow away all the versions I currently have installed and start over, something about this 4 forced update has completely screwed my installs, hopefully reinstalling + mozback will get this sorted.
Chosen Solution
Firefox portable might not allow or work with just -no-remote on the command, line, you will have to do it with
or more likely AllowMultipleInstances=true
You should test it alone to begin with without your other firefox.exe running, it was intended to be used where Firefox was not installed. I expect things have changed a lot since then.
Modified by David McRitchie
The AllowMultipleInstances=true setting is what I was referring to. Blowing away and reinstalling seemed to fix, though I still don't know what caused this behavior. Something about the forced 4.x update was causing 7 to also update as well, which seemed to be the root of the issue. I can't find any documentation regarding this forced update (after fixing I stopped looking to be honest) so I can't really troubleshoot further, but as I didn't really need/use 4.x anymore I suppose its mostly moot so long as 7/8 work properly. I'll just keep portable handy in case something like this happens again and hopefully it wont decide to update itself without my permission.