Firefox install on external drive
Is it possible to install Firefox (or at least the profiles) onto an external SSD (i.e., not the C: drive)? If so, how?
Note: this is not about migration/backup/recovery of profiles. Nor is it about where files are downloaded by default.
Windows 11 is consuming nearly all of the C: drive. I badly need to get Firefox (and later Thunderbird) onto my E: drive. I further note that the installer gives no options whatsoever as to the destination drive.
Most of the help I've found on the web is clearly outdated.
Thanks. jt
Wubrane rozrisanje
Normally, Firefox establishes two .ini files on your user profile folder. These .ini files can point to profiles located on other drives, but I am not aware of a way to move the .ini files themselves to other drives.
There is a third party rebuild of Firefox intended for removable media that is more self-contained. You could take a look:
https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable
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https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/custom-installation-firefox-on-windows
You will want the full offline setup and not the small online stub installer. https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/#product-desktop-release
James, much thanks. That is very helpful.
Do you know if Automatic Updates of the custom installation will end up where I want them, or will I have to manually repeat the custom installation process as updates become available?
Note -- from https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/custom-installation-firefox-on-windows we read: "In the next screen, you can choose whether to install the optional Mozilla Maintenance Service which allows application updates to occur in the background, without requiring you to click [Yes] in the Windows User Account Control (UAC) dialog."
I can clearly disable this. But, if enabled, where will the update go?
Wubrane rozrisanje
Normally, Firefox establishes two .ini files on your user profile folder. These .ini files can point to profiles located on other drives, but I am not aware of a way to move the .ini files themselves to other drives.
There is a third party rebuild of Firefox intended for removable media that is more self-contained. You could take a look:
Well, I tried the MSI and did not see a way to get it to install on E:. I could download to E:, but not install.
As installed on C: (without porting my profiles) it loads C: with about 400 MB.
So, I'm wondering if I need to bite the bullet on portableapps.com. That would help me with: Firefox, T-bird, GIMP, and maybe a couple of small footprint apps (e.g. VLC; WizTree already has a portable version). Maybe I can pick up some new things to replace Adobe, which is a serious data space hog.
Thanks all'ya'all.
jonathan67 said
Well, I tried the MSI and did not see a way to get it to install on E:. I could download to E:, but not install.
Select the Windows 64-bit in drop menu list and not the MSI to get the Firefox Setup 127.0.exe to do custom location install.
Portable apps version of Firefox is basically the official build but with a custom launcher to keep the Profile self contained with the Firefox folder so you can say even run it completely off a usb flash drive for example. They have been doing this for a couple decades now with permission from Mozilla.
Again, thank you all.
Currently, I've had to install Firefox on the C: drive.
I tried Firefox as installed by PortableApps on the A: drive and it worked great. BUT, other programs that wanted to run the default HTML (etc) files couldn't find Firefox. Example, if I clicked "open file" in Duplicate Cleaner Pro or WizTree, they failed to get Firefox to open those files. I could have tried to chase those problems down, but... yeah, I have another life to live.
As installed (default installation) version consumes ~2GB of space on the C: drive, 1.6 Gig of which is in various profiles. I probably need to eject a number of addons (some of which are not currently enabled) to see if I can save some space.
Then, I'm going to have to look at the .ini changes recommended / stub installer / etc. For now, this is a lower priority.... I have other programs consuming far more than 2GB to deal with.
See also:
You need to use the Profile Manager to create the profile folder on E-drive.