Renaming Firefox profile

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I’m getting a new computer, complete with Win 10 Pro x64. YAY!!

HOWEVER, I will be installing software after getting the computer, and I will be installing Firefox 80, because that’s going to be the new default version of FF starting next Tuesday the 25th of August.

I have so customized FF that I want to obviously move my entire profile to the new version that will be installed on the new computer. I plan to copy the entire folder to a thumb drive and then from the thumb drive to the new computer. I know just where the folder resides and where it’s supposed to reside on the new computer.

So, my question(s) is/are:

1. After installing FF without launching it immediately after installation, can I just copy my entire folder of my profile into the correct location and have FF just use it without having to invoke the profile manager?

2. If not, then can I just rename the profile that gets created during the installation to match my existing profile name, copy the files over to the proper location on the new computer and have FF use that?

3. If not, then should I just replace the existing files and folders in the new FF installation’s newly created profile (without renaming the profile) with the files and folders in my old profile?

I’ve seen all kinds of answers all over the place, including in some Mozilla support forums, so that’s why I’m asking.

@Microfix , any thoughts on the best method, since, IMHO, you’re the resident expert with regards to FF here on AskWoody?

Looking forward to answers from one and all, including @Microfix !

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If not, then should I just replace the existing files and folders in the new FF installation’s newly created profile (without renaming the profile) with the files and folders in my old profile?

That’s what I do and it works fine. I never bother creating a custom profile name.

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[Microfix]

The method I suggest is, to leave the newly created profile on the new PC and OS once installed, thus avoiding any issues that provides a lean/clean profile as a template to work with.
From your existing FF:
1. copy over (save somewhere) your existing prefs.js which has all you tweaks within.
in your(xxx) user profile:
Users\xxx\appdata\roaming\Mozilla\profiles\firefox-default\prefs.js
2. Backup your bookmarks as both .json and html – as a precaution should .json fail
3. Export any extension settings that can be exported and save somewhere for import later.

4. When available, my preferred method is to go to the Mozilla FTP and download FF80.
5. Custom install offline (as a precaution and my preference but, nothing set in stone here) your clean profile will then be created on the first start of firefox.
6. over write the prefs.js with the one you saved earlier, then import .json bookmarks.
7. Go online, add your chosen extensions and then import the settings you saved earlier.
et voila!
I’ve done this so many times with different OSes linux/win7/win8.1 and W10 without fail

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by Microfix. Reason: custom install addition

2 users thanked author for this post.

Kirsty, PKCano

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I will not have access to the old computer after the 24th, therefore I won’t be able to d/l FF 80 until after I get the new computer.

So, to be “safe”, I’ve d/l’d a full copy of FF79, and will install that with the new computer offline, per your suggestion for FF80 above. After successfully launching FF79, and seeing that there are no problems with the “imported” profile and tweaks, I’ll then go online with it running and immediately use it’s built-in utility to update it to FF80.

The reason I said “to be “safe”” above is that I’m not sure if FF80 will support my tweaks by forcing them on a clean installation. My current FF79 installation is the result of in-place updates over several years (using the built-in updater), and many settings are still present in the config file, and I’d like to keep it that way as much as possible.

I’m afraid that starting with a clean FF80 installation and then “importing” my profile settings (like with prefs.js) may well wipe some of my settings within the config file.

I will, however, back up my bookmarks (have never done it before, but it’s not rocket science with the instructions I’ve found from Mozilla), and I will make a separate copy of my prefs.js file, since you say that it’s the source of many of my customizations.

BTW, I’m not running any extensions within FF, so no worry about that potential mess!

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When you get through updating, copy the AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles folder off onto a flash drive. That will preserve all the info you need. There is a “bookmarkbackups” folder there that has your bookmarks. And all the files mentioned by @Microfix

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Microfix has the fail-safe method, and is more granular if one wants to compartmentalize.

This works niftily. Recently did something similar to this on my wife’s new machine.
0. Before you do any copying, clear cache and (optionally) cookies. This will save a LOT of space.
1. By all means, do your copy-out to USB; all of
C:\Users\Paul\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox — [if you aren’t Paul, change this]
(This assumes that your User-ID on the new system will be unchanged from the old. If there is to be a change, modifications are needed.)
NOTE: If you have installed any Extensions (as well as your tweaks), back up one level to
C:\Users\Paul\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla.

2. Copy-in to new, everything. Use the exact same location.

3. Before starting Firefox the first time, disconnect internet. Verify what you have.

Answering your questions:
1. Almost right. You need all of Firefox, up level from Profiles. This is because you need the file C:\[…]\Firefox\profiles.ini. This is the ‘root’ file that Firefox uses to locate the running profile.

Your approach of bootstrapping with 79 is a good idea. This will shake out any 79 ==> 80 hiccups. You can mix-and-match

With everything that you have saved on USB, if the worst happens you can scratch everything new and formulate Plan B.

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1. Almost right. You need all of Firefox, up level from Profiles. This is because you need the file C:\[…]\Firefox\profiles.ini. This is the ‘root’ file that Firefox uses to locate the running profile.

In looking inside the actual file, there’s a reference to another number assigned to the current installation on the machine, and that number is directly referred to in the other little .ini file that’s located in the same place as profiles.ini, the file named “installs.ini”.

In other words, when FF starts, it looks for the name/number of its current default installation in the “installs.ini” file then looks for the default profile for that installation in the profiles.ini file.

So, I firmly believe that I’ll need BOTH .ini files to successfully launch FF.

If anyone is curious, just navigate to the files and then right click on them and select the “Edit” option to open them in Notepad which will allow you to see their entire contents without actually running them. Once you’re finished looking around, just close Notepad by clicking the red X in the upper right corner of the window. If for some reason you’re prompted to save any changes made, simply click “Don’t Save” in response to the question.

Also, for anyone following along, I have found that by selecting the “Customize” installation option in the stand-alone installer, I’ll be able to de-select a check box at the very end of the installation routine, which will prevent FF from running immediately after installation, thereby not allowing it to create a profile. That should also allow me to “install” my profile from my current machine in both spots it’s needed, the AppData\Local folder and the aforementioned Appdata\Roaming folder.

Just to clarify, though, the “profile” in the AppData\Local folder seems to consist mainly of startup settings for the cache and safe browsing settings, and the actual cache folder itself, but is still needed none the less, so I’ll also copy that over to the new machine. It doesn’t seem to have any .ini files, so it should be just a straight copy over to the new machine.

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anonymous wrote:

Also, for anyone following along, I have found that by selecting the “Customize” installation option in the stand-alone installer, I’ll be able to de-select a check box at the very end of the installation routine, which will prevent FF from running immediately after installation, thereby not allowing it to create a profile

Good point which I forgot to add, thanks.

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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[wavy]

Starting with the parameter -p used to run a profile manager that I find very handy.
see this Using the Profile Manager to move your profile
You can name and place a new one as needed.

Also in general Profile folder – Firefox

No telling how long the great and all knowing Moz will keep there GOOD info available. :{

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by wavy.

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OP here with an update!

Now that everything’s settled in and I’ve tweaked Windows 10 v. 2004 to my liking, here’s an update on exactly what worked to migrate profiles on two old computers over to two brand new computers:

Go to \users\(the user name in question)\Appdata (it’s a hidden folder so you’ll have to enable viewing hidden files and folders)\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\(the profile name in question that has the word “default” in it, such as kksnr3yx.default). Copy the entire contents (files AND any sub-folders) of that folder to a backup medium such as a thumb drive.

Do the same for the entire contents of the folder by the same name located in \users\(user name in question)\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\profiles\(exact same name as profile referred to above).

Now, install a new copy of Firefox (preferably the latest edition/version) on your new computer and allow it to start up and begin to take you through the intro pages. However, cancel the navigation and exit Firefox completely. Now, go to the same places referred to above (but on your new computer) and look for the profile with a “.default” or a “.default-release” ending to their name. If you have BOTH, then select the one labeled “default-release”, as that’s where your files are located, based upon my experience the last couple of days. To make sure you’ve got the right one, compare the file and folder names in the new location to the ones on your backup medium. They should be nearly identical with the vast majority of them having identical names.

To install your old profile into the new installation, simply copy all the files and any sub-folders listed in the folder on your backup medium into the same named folder (with either “default” or “default-release” in the name) and tell Windows to overwrite the existing file or folder if it complains, which it probably will. You need to do this for both locations \AppData\Local and AppData\Roaming to ensure complete success. Do NOT rename the profile folder on the new computer to match the profile name on your old computer (see below for details).

So, in a nutshell, find the files and folders that make up your profile and copy them to a backup medium and paste them into a newly created Firefox profile folder, overwriting any existing files by the same name, and there WILL be many that are identically named.

Once that’s done. launch Firefox and you should be all set. This method avoids having to use the profile manager, as it simply replaces the data in an existing profile with other data from a previous profile. Firefox will never be the wiser!

By the way (BTW), DON’T try simply renaming the profile folder on your new computer to match the name on your old computer, Firefox will know and will create a new profile anyway after some light complaining about not being able to use old profiles! I know because that’s what I tried to begin with.

What I DON’T know is just how far back you can go with using an old profile. By that I mean that I don’t know if you can use a profile from FF60, for example, on a FF 80 installation. What I successfully did was take a profile from an existing FF79 installation and put it into a fresh FF 79 installation, verified the profile still worked in the new installation, then updated the new installation to FF 80 using the built-in updater.

For those using Thunderbird, this technique also works with Thunderbird, as I’ve just successfully done it. Same caveat, though, I don’t know how far back you can go with the profile. For Thunderbird, I went from 32 bit version 68.11 to a fresh installation of 64 bit Thunderbird 68.11, verified the profile worked in the new installation, then updated it to Thunderbird 68.12 with the built-in updater. Ok, enough Thunderbird, as it’s getting off-topic for this thread.

I hope this helps anyone pondering how to move a Mozilla product’s profile from one machine to another.

1 user thanked author for this post.

SueW

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You can copy the folder over, but the new Firefox is going to create its new profile anyway. You can fix that, though.  I just posted in another thread about how to do this.

In short, if you edit installs.ini and profiles.ini to where all of the references to the new profile it created are removed and replaced with the name of the profile you want to use, and if you remove the compatibility.ini from inside the profile itself, it should work fine. I’ve done this a dozen times in the last few weeks, as I’ve been messing around with the OpenSUSE version of Firefox in non-OpenSUSE distros. It’s the same in Windows as in Linux as far as this stuff goes.

As I mentioned in the other post, I am using a Firefox profile now in Linux that started as a Windows Firefox profile on a different PC, and I haven’t used Windows in a few years now beyond the occasional testing, and I’ve copied the initial Linux version to all my other Linux PCs too. Most of the work comes from trying to overcome Mozilla’s patronizing efforts to prevent profile corruption (more likely to prevent complaints about just that), not actual profile incompatibility. Actual profile incompatibility is rare compared to the difficulty imposed by the measures to fix the profile incompatibility.

Have a backup of the original profile before proceeding, of course.

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