Is it possible to have a single profile for several users ?
I'm doing a fresh Windows 7 install. I have set up two Windows 7 user accounts for myself, one admin, one non-admin. I would like to use the same Firefox profile from both.
From within my admin account, I took advantage of the Profile Manager to create a second profile, on top of the one created at install in %AppData%. Let's call it Main Profile, because that's how I use it. I stored it on the root of my disk, away from the Users folder, thinking it could thus be accessed from both Windows user accounts. Also, I left in place the stub Firefox profile created at install in AdminUser\AppData, so that the Profile Manager opens each time I launch Firefox. Each time, I choose Main Profile, so that's where my user data accumulates for now.
When I switch to my non-admin account and manually launch Firefox's Profile Manager, I can't see the Main Profile created under my admin account, only a standard profile, presumably stored in NonAdminUser\AppData. I could of course create a new profile, in the same folder as Main Profile, and give it the same name. However, I suppose the existing Main Profile would then be replaced with fresh, empty files.
My aim is to work under my non-admin account as soon as the install is complete, using the admin account only when required for housekeeping. But I'd like the same Firefox available under both, seamlessly.
Is there a solution to that ? Except from using Firefox portable version, which I have (for the moment) opted out of, for speed and safety reasons.
Thank you.
Chosen solution
Firefox uses the profiles.ini file to find registers profile. You can use the Profile Manager and create a new profile and use the "Choose Folder" button to browse to an existing profile to use. Note that you have to make sure that all users have full read and write permission to this folder if you want to share it. Only one Firefox instance (user) can use a specific profile although you can open multiple instances with separate profiles simultaneously.
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Firefox uses the profiles.ini file to find registers profile. You can use the Profile Manager and create a new profile and use the "Choose Folder" button to browse to an existing profile to use. Note that you have to make sure that all users have full read and write permission to this folder if you want to share it. Only one Firefox instance (user) can use a specific profile although you can open multiple instances with separate profiles simultaneously.
cor-el said
You can use the Profile Manager and create a new profile and use the "Choose Folder" button to browse to an existing profile to use. Only one Firefox instance (user) can use a specific profile although you can open multiple instances with separate profiles simultaneously.
Let me see if I understand this correctly.
I now work under my admin account. I need to :
- Close Firefox (because only one instance of it can use a given profile).
- Switch users to my non-admin account.
- Launch Profile Manager.
- Click Create Profile.
- Click Next.
- Now I have a dialog box with a Choose Folder button and a field marked Enter New Profile Name, with Default User already in the field. What do I need to do with this field ? Leave it alone ? Write the name of the Main Profile I'm trying to "mount" ? Write a diffent name ?
- I leave this field alone and click Choose Folder.
- Now an Explorer windows opens and I navigate to Main Profile.
- Click Open (I think).
- Back to Profile Manager dialog box. The path to Main Profile now appears. I have a Finish button, but I also have the field Enter New Profile Name with Default User. What do I do ? Write Main Profile in that field, then click Finish ? Write something else ? Write nothing and click Finish ?
- Also, are you sure that if I click Finish now, the existing files will not be overwritten ? That seems to be the default behaviour of the software. How does Firefox "know" that there's something in there which shouldn't be overwritten ? After all, it said Create Profile, and I don't want to create a profile, I want to use a previously existing one.
You can give the profile any name you want, so you can use "Main Profile" in case you want to add more profiles. Each user has its own profiles.ini file in "\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\"
That is the name you see in the Profile Manager. Since you use "Choose folder" to specify a specific folder to use, this name is only meant for reference. Note that it is important to always specify a folder that doesn't other files in it. You must create this profile folder on beforehand.
You can see create profile as registering a profile in the Profile Manager. Specifying an existing profile via choose folder will make Firefox recognize (reuse) this profile if there is already data present.
Sorry. I'm still confused.
cor-el said
Each user has its own profiles.ini file in "\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\"
Doesn't that mean that it's not possible to share a profile accross user accounts ?
cor-el said
Note that it is important to always specify a folder that doesn't [have ?] other files in it.
Do you mean : no files apart from those of the profile I want to reuse ? Or no files at all ? If the latter, how can I reuse what's in the profile ?
To clarify what I'm trying to do :
I want to be able to use Firefox under one account, then switch to another and find the changes previously made in the other account, then make some more changes, then switch back to the first account and again find the latest changes made in the other account, etc. Not just import once a profile made in another account.
Only files that belong in a profile and that have been created by Firefox should be in the profile folder. If you have used a profile before, but it has been removed via the Profile Manager without using the option to remove the files then you can use choose folder to re-register such a profile.
The point is that is you use the Profile Manager to remove a profile and click the button to remove the files then all file in this folder will been removed. We have seen cases that somebody created a profile on the desktop or in the documents folder and not in a sub folder and lost all files by deleting the profile folder.
Thank you. This seems to have worked.
I "created a new profile" with Profile Manager under my non-admin account, "choosing as folder" the folder containing the files of the profile I wished to share.
Now I have the same history, bookmarks, add-ons, restorable sessions, etc, under both accounts. When I create a bookmark and switch to the other account, it's there.
However, you said : cor-el said
Note that you have to make sure that all users have full read and write permission to this folder if you want to share it.
I'm not sure my settings are right. I'm not familiar with permissions, and there are a lot of different permissions / sharing settings in Properties.
1. What is the relevant folder to check ? Profiles, or <name of profile> which is inside the former ?
2. When I first checked <name of profile> / Properties / Security / Group or user names, Administrators had full control, but Users had not. I think I gave them full control, but could you please point me to the proper settings, so that I could be sure ?
As administrator you always should have full access. You can set the owner of the folder as the user to ensure proper permissions for this user or add the user to a trusted group.