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Two Profiles on the Windows 11 Taskbar

  • 2 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • Last reply by Toad-Hall

dale303w
dale303w
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I'm trying to work out how to save two different profiles on the task bar (a profile for my work accounts and one for my personal accounts). I'm nearly there and even had it sort of working for a while but the solution wasn't reliable and something somewhere breaks it after a while. I was wondering if there's a more reliable version than the way I did it.

I basically followed the instructions for adding two firefox icons to the taskbar, replacing Firefox with Thunderbird with a few adjustments. (https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/s2k5tt/have_multiple_firefox_profile_and_taskbar_icons/)

  • Create two profiles.
  • Create a Shortcut (on the desktop) for Thunderbird.
  • Drag Shortcut to taskbar
  • Open Thunderbird from the new icon.
  • Enter Config Editor (Tools>Settings>Config Editor)
  • Add taskbar.grouping.useprofile=true and browser.startup.blankwindow=false to the advanced config settings
  • Close Thunderbird and open it up again. You should now get two Thunderbird icons on taskbar. Make sure both are pinned.
  • Right-click one of the Thunderbird icon,right click the instance within and then properties. Replace "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe"" with "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -no-remote -P WorkProfile" in the Target edit box.
  • Do the same with the other pinned icon but with "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -no-remote -P PersonalProfile" in the Target edit box.

One problem I have is naming the the two icons after I've created them. Sometimes for no apparent reason they stop working and I have to re-apply the target setting changes.

Any other, more reliable ways of achieving this?

I'm trying to work out how to save two different profiles on the task bar (a profile for my work accounts and one for my personal accounts). I'm nearly there and even had it sort of working for a while but the solution wasn't reliable and something somewhere breaks it after a while. I was wondering if there's a more reliable version than the way I did it. I basically followed the instructions for adding two firefox icons to the taskbar, replacing Firefox with Thunderbird with a few adjustments. (https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/s2k5tt/have_multiple_firefox_profile_and_taskbar_icons/) * Create two profiles. * Create a Shortcut (on the desktop) for Thunderbird. * Drag Shortcut to taskbar * Open Thunderbird from the new icon. * Enter Config Editor (Tools>Settings>Config Editor) * Add '''taskbar.grouping.useprofile=true''' and '''browser.startup.blankwindow=false''' to the advanced config settings * Close Thunderbird and open it up again. You should now get two Thunderbird icons on taskbar. Make sure both are pinned. * Right-click one of the Thunderbird icon,right click the instance within and then properties. Replace "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe"" with "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -no-remote -P WorkProfile" in the Target edit box. * Do the same with the other pinned icon but with "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -no-remote -P PersonalProfile" in the Target edit box. One problem I have is naming the the two icons after I've created them. Sometimes for no apparent reason they stop working and I have to re-apply the target setting changes. Any other, more reliable ways of achieving this?

Modified by dale303w

All Replies (2)

david
david
  • Top 10 Contributor
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To me, a more reliable way would be a simpler way: create two desktop icons, each using command line argument to open a specific profile. You could also easily apply different icons to them,

Helpful?

Toad-Hall
Toad-Hall
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Renaming is easier for shortcuts on desktop. But maybe you could try altering the icon for just one. You could try altering the icon by adding a different Tbird icon for one on taskbar. Unpin from Taskbar. Changed the Tbird icon in desktop shortcut. Then pinned to Task bar. Finally alter the Target.

Maybe that would leave you with two shortcuts but different icons?

Alternative is to just have one shortcut on desktop which starts the 'Profile Manager' and then you can choose which profile to open, Target : "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -P

However, you are wanting to '-no-remote' so enabling more than one instance of Thunderbird.

Or access another profile from within Thunderbird. Help > Troubleshooting information Under 'Application Basics' - near the bottom - Profiles - click on 'about:profiles' This opens in a new tab which you can choose to keep open if desired. It will list all profiles - to open another profile in a new window click on the appropriate 'Launch Profile' button.

Another alternative looking at this from another angle. Install another identical version of Thunderbird - but install into a different location. Maybe install a 64bit into : C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\ I suggest that because you said the other version was in C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\ Maybe you could install in another drive eg: D:// Create a folder called 'Program Files' Then download and when you want to install select the Custom option,and choose: D://Program Files So you end up with D://Program Files/Mozilla Thunderbird Then set it up to run on a specific profile Via 'about:profile' and select a 'Set as Default' for desired profile.

As you now have two separate versions of Thunderbird, you can have two separate desktop shortcuts and therefore two separate TBirds on Taskbar. AS each Thunderbird uses it's own profile as default. That would mean you do not need to alter the Target.

Example: Currently I have two completely different versions running. The version 115.14.0 is running from: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\ That is a 64bit which I deliberately installed in Program Files (x86)

The beta version 130.0b1 is running from "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird Beta\ That is 64 bit installed into the usual place for 64bit programs.

My profiles are all in the default location : C://Users.Username/Appdata/Roaming/Thunderbird/Profiles I have three profiles. A profile called xxxxxxxx.default is the default when 115.14.0 is running. Another profile called 'xxxxxxxx.default-beta' is the default when the beta 130.0b1 is running.

I can run both at same time. I do not need to state 'no remote' as each is an independent Thunderbird program. I do not need to select which profile as each auto runs on the profile I set it to use. Both shortcuts and those on Taskbar are also independent. Do not need to alter Target as they are independent. So even if I get an update nothing is effected.

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