Firefox Account - How to STOP making new "service" device entries
I do a lot of OS switching - I test various Linux distros on my 5 laptops and one really old 32 bit system for my mother-in-law and I am wondering if I can use FireFox Accounts over and over without making a new service device every time I need something from FF Accts :P
This has bugged my off and on for a long time but I have mostly ignored the issue ... until last week I discovered I had like 20 some odd devices on my account -- going back 2 years or more. Now, I signed out of many of them and I am down to about 15 -- mostly because I am a little confused about how FF Accts determines what to sync ... especially since I use FF for testing and the shouldnt be that much in each 'sync' device ...
So, is there a way to use FF Accts 'sync' to get my data to a new device without making a new 'synced' device?
Thx/Bill
PS - a few FF releases in the past I got what I wanted by just copying the .mozilla directory to the new system but that broke a few releases ago :P too bad stuff has to change :(
Also, please understand that I am on Android, iOS, MacOS, and Linux daily so trying to 'gather' what I am submitting this question on will not lend itself to trying to solve my insanity >< Sorry!
All Replies (3)
Wow... I guess I am totally alone with this issue. :(
Would this work?
(A) Connect a new Firefox installation to your Firefox Account (B) Sync (may take quite a while) (C) Disconnect the new Firefox installation from your Firefox Account -- declining the option to nuke all your local data
I think in theory that should avoid a persistent connection.
As you may know, you can customize your "device" descriptions for each installation so the important ones that you would never want to disconnect are more easily recognizable in the list. On desktop versions of Firefox, that would be on the Settings/Preferences page, Sync panel. On Android and iOS, I think it's in the account settings.
Are you creating new profiles and connect these to Sync to make this happen ?
If you want to transfer via Sync then you will have to connect a new device (profile folder), but I would assume that updating Firefox using a specific profile wouldn't cause extra devices to get connected. If you create new profiles on a desktop device then you can possibly transfer files directly to initialize a profile, but you will still have to connect to Sync if you want to keep profiles synced all the time. You can only transfer data to/from a mobile device via Sync, but on a desktop device you can access the profile folder.