Where are firefox settings stored?
Since nothing else has solved my problem of not being able to download files with firefox, I thought I'd try copying all the settings from a copy that works over to the pc that won't work. Is the only file I need the profile or are there others?
All Replies (3)
What setting(s) are causing a problem?
If you do not keep changes after a restart or otherwise have problems with preferences, see:
It is possible that anti-virus software is corrupting downloaded files or is interfering otherwise.
Try to disable the real-time (live) scanning of files in your anti-virus software temporarily to see if that makes downloading work.
See:
What happens when you try to download? Do you get an error message, or downloads disappear?
On Windows 7, your settings are stored in your profile folder under:
C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\semi-random-name
The easiest way to access the folder on the "working" system is using either
- "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
- (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
- type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter
In the first table on the page, click the "Show Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows Explorer. If you click "up" to the Profiles folder, you can drag the entire semi-randomly-named profile folder to a USB flash drive or other convenient storage.
Before copying that over, I suggest:
Create a new Firefox profile
A new profile will have your system-installed plugins (e.g., Flash) and extensions (e.g., security suite toolbars), but no themes, other extensions, or other customizations. It also should have completely fresh settings databases and a fresh cache folder.
Exit (the problem) Firefox and start up in the Profile Manager using Start > search box (or Run):
firefox.exe -P
Any time you want to switch profiles, exit Firefox and return to this dialog.
Click the Create Profile button, assign a name like TEST, and ignore the option to select a non-default folder location. Then start Firefox in the new profile you created.
Do downloads work in the new profile?
If not, you can try transplanting the contents of your working profile folder into the TEST profile folder. In other words, they will go from one semi-randomly-named folder to a different semi-randomly-named folder.
If the same problem occurs after the transplant, then the problem may be specific to this system, whether it's a plugin, security software setting, etc.
Note that your System Details list shows that you have a user.js file in the profile folder to initialize prefs each time Firefox starts. The user.js file is only present if you or other software has created this file and normally it wouldn't be there.
You can check its content with a plain text editor (right-click: "Open with"; do not double-click). The user.js file is read each time Firefox is started and initializes preferences to the value specified in this file, so preferences set via user.js can only be changed temporarily for the current session.
You can delete the user.js file if you didn't create this file yourself.
You can use this button to go to the currently used Firefox profile folder:
- Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox