Firefox Tips And Tricks

Using multiple profiles

Firefox has the ability to use multiple profiles, most people are probably not aware of this but it is a really useful feature.

Q: Why would I want to use multiple profiles?

• For better security
• For privacy reasons
• For portability
• ...Other reasons?

For example you could have one stricter profile for casual web browsing, where you add addons for adblocking, flashblocking etc. In addition, you could have one less strict profile for your banking and shopping, where you would have no addons and where you allow all cookies etc. Portable in the sense that you can specify where to put your profile, for example you might want to bring a profile along with you on a flash card, or put a profile in an encrypted container.

Q: Well then, how do I create an additional profile for my user?
First make sure all instances of firefox is shut down (more on why later). Now either start firefox with the profile manager by add the following to your shortcut or command line: firefox.exe -profilemanager Or if you prefer creating a profile with the command line, add something like this to your shortcut or command line: firefox.exe -createprofile bankingprofile If you want to specify another location for your profile than default: firefox.exe -createprofile "bankingprofile c:\bankingprofile" If you added the options to your shortcut, make sure you remove them after running the shortcut once.

Q: I created another profile, how do I start with the new profile?
Again, make sure all instances of firefox is shut down. Now you could either use the profilemanger: firefox.exe -profilemanager Or start with the profile name: firefox.exe -profile bankingprofile Or add a commandline with the path to your profile: firefox.exe -profile "c:\bankingprofile"

Q: Why can I only use one profile at a time?
Actually you can use multiple profiles at the same time, by adding the -no-remote commandline. For more information, see this article:
Opening a new instance of Firefox with another profile