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Profile can't be created

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Firefox has opened successfully for years. Today, I double clicked on the icon, and it will not launch. I uninstalled and reinstalled it two three times and no luck. So I then tried performing the profile creation and got the following result.

Profile couldn’t be created. Probably the chosen folder isn’t writable. [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) [nsIToolkitProfileService.createProfile]" nsresult: "0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND)" location: "JS frame :: chrome://mozapps/content/profile/createProfileWizard.js :: onFinish :: line 181" data: no]

Not sure how to solve this.

Firefox has opened successfully for years. Today, I double clicked on the icon, and it will not launch. I uninstalled and reinstalled it two three times and no luck. So I then tried performing the profile creation and got the following result. Profile couldn’t be created. Probably the chosen folder isn’t writable. [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) [nsIToolkitProfileService.createProfile]" nsresult: "0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND)" location: "JS frame :: chrome://mozapps/content/profile/createProfileWizard.js :: onFinish :: line 181" data: no] Not sure how to solve this.

Chosen solution

You may have a corrupt profiles.ini file. Close Firefox. Open your file browser to this hidden location:

  • Mac: *~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/
  • Linux: *~/.mozilla/firefox/
  • Windows: %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\
  • *C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\

Locate the profiles.ini file. Then rename or delete it.

Firefox should create a new profile. Use this new profile as is. Is the problem still there?


Use the Profile Manager to create a new profile If you still have an existing profile then click "Choose Folder" in the Profile Manager and browse to the location of a lost profile to recover this profile https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Managing+profiles

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All Replies (2)

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Chosen Solution

You may have a corrupt profiles.ini file. Close Firefox. Open your file browser to this hidden location:

  • Mac: *~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/
  • Linux: *~/.mozilla/firefox/
  • Windows: %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\
  • *C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\

Locate the profiles.ini file. Then rename or delete it.

Firefox should create a new profile. Use this new profile as is. Is the problem still there?


Use the Profile Manager to create a new profile If you still have an existing profile then click "Choose Folder" in the Profile Manager and browse to the location of a lost profile to recover this profile https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Managing+profiles

Modified by FredMcD

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No, it doesn't it. Every time I hit the "Finish" button on the "Create the Create Profile Wizard" the following window opens:

Profile couldn’t be created. Probably the chosen folder isn’t writable. [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) [nsIToolkitProfileService.createProfile]" nsresult: "0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND)" location: "JS frame :: chrome://mozapps/content/profile/createProfileWizard.js :: onFinish :: line 181" data: no]

I've made sure that the specified folders can be written to via their 'rights' and I note the folders are created, but no *.ini files are found in them.