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Firefox Installation on a portable/back up drive Help (Kinda?)

  • 2 பதிலளிப்புகள்
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  • Last reply by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

Hey! I got a Question and I hope it's either in the works or someone has figured it out and can point me to the right direction.

Is there a way to install FireFox ENTIRELY on a different Drive? I have managed to install it on a backup drive just fine, but Firefox LOVES to make edits and make profiles to the C: drive. I need it to stop and ONLY manage the profiles in the specified folder. I have tried making a new profile on the backup drive and selecting it, but it keeps going back to the C drive. I have tried to move the data to the backup drive and selecting it via the profile manager and it still doesn't work.

How do I know? well, When I moved the profile to the desired location, and selected it. It works fine, Until I delete the new folder mozilla makes in the C drive. Then it just goes back like it's a fresh install. when it shouldn't since the targeted profile is on an entirely different drive.

I even tried to set the windows default install directory to the backup drive, and still nothing.

anyways, Mozilla is obsessed with my C drive and I'm trying to break them up, any sugestions? It sucks when I get stuck on a failed boot loop, and have to format which makes me lose the C drive and the profile Firefox was on already, even though that wasn't the targeted folder.

I have tried Firefox portable, but it's a third party modification and I'm a bit weary and it was a version behind and the extensions were a bit wonky. (I did try to replace some of it's files with the actual Firefox and it moved the version to the updated one, but the extension issue, and security is always gonna be an issue.

Any help would be amazing!

Stay Firey!

Hey! I got a Question and I hope it's either in the works or someone has figured it out and can point me to the right direction. Is there a way to install FireFox ENTIRELY on a different Drive? I have managed to install it on a backup drive just fine, but Firefox LOVES to make edits and make profiles to the C: drive. I need it to stop and ONLY manage the profiles in the specified folder. I have tried making a new profile on the backup drive and selecting it, but it keeps going back to the C drive. I have tried to move the data to the backup drive and selecting it via the profile manager and it still doesn't work. How do I know? well, When I moved the profile to the desired location, and selected it. It works fine, Until I delete the new folder mozilla makes in the C drive. Then it just goes back like it's a fresh install. when it shouldn't since the targeted profile is on an entirely different drive. I even tried to set the windows default install directory to the backup drive, and still nothing. anyways, Mozilla is obsessed with my C drive and I'm trying to break them up, any sugestions? It sucks when I get stuck on a failed boot loop, and have to format which makes me lose the C drive and the profile Firefox was on already, even though that wasn't the targeted folder. I have tried Firefox portable, but it's a third party modification and I'm a bit weary and it was a version behind and the extensions were a bit wonky. (I did try to replace some of it's files with the actual Firefox and it moved the version to the updated one, but the extension issue, and security is always gonna be an issue. Any help would be amazing! Stay Firey!

All Replies (2)

The index files that store the locations of your profile folders are stored here:

%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\installs.ini %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\profiles.ini

If you remove one or both of those files, Firefox may start over with a fresh profile in the default location.

There is an organization that builds a self-contained installation of Firefox that you can find over here: https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

Their Firefox is still Firefox, as far as I know, but path handling is heavily modified. You can use their forums for support on issues related to how they configure it:

https://portableapps.com/forums/support/firefox_portable

I obviously didn't read far enough in your question to see that you already tried Firefox Portable. We can't vouch for them, but the fact that Mozilla allows them to call it Firefox makes me think they must have earned some trust.