firefox profile ?

anilbh · 02-21-2006, 05:41 AM

When firefox starts up I get a a box asking me to click on the profile to use .
Within firefox there is no mention of any profile . In Mozilla there is a switch-profile option... Is this fine ? Can switch the dialog box off ?

Dtsazza · 02-21-2006, 07:53 AM

It sounds like Firefox didn't shut down cleanly at some time. Firefox does in fact have profiles, but unless you tell it to, it won't ask you about them and will just use the default one. However, when it's running it "locks" the profile to prevent two different instances of the browser both trying to change it at once - so that if you start up a separate instance of the browser (not just a new window!) this profile won't be available (as it's locked) and it will ask you which profile you want to use. When Fx exits, it removes the lock file, letting other instances use that profile again; so if it doesn't shut down properly, that profile stays locked and Fx gets confused on startup.

To solve this problem, you need only delete the lock file (which, by the way, is completely safe and side-effect-less):

Code:

rm ~/.mozilla/firefox/{random characters}.default/lock

(obviously replace '{random characters}' with the actual string - use ls or autocomplete to find it)

itz2000 · 02-21-2006, 08:53 AM

preform

Code:

killall mozilla-firefox
killall firefox

and re start firefox! ;]

anilbh · 02-21-2006, 10:41 PM

And this has been happening for a long time .
Thank you

itz2000 · 02-22-2006, 02:05 AM

you succeded?

anilbh · 02-22-2006, 08:31 PM

Yes . With a few problems . I deleted the one with .default and one with my name too . I finally got rid of it by clicking on "Don't ask at startup "

Now I cannot get it back

itz2000 · 02-23-2006, 09:38 AM

I don't think it was necsery to delete it, I really though killall wouldhave been enough.

not sure though :S

anilbh · 02-23-2006, 10:42 AM

I tried killall too . I dont think that worked...

anilbh · 02-25-2006, 09:03 PM

Now I want to get back to the profile choice . The reason ... many things set up in a profile have vanished . Also the folders in Thunderbird . Of course it does not take much time to set that up . But I would like things back with the least work .

anilbh · 02-25-2006, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dtsazza

It sounds like Firefox didn't shut down cleanly at some time. Firefox does in fact have profiles, but unless you tell it to, it won't ask you about them and will just use the default one. ....
To solve this problem, you need only delete the lock file (which, by the way, is completely safe and side-effect-less):

Code:

rm ~/.mozilla/firefox/{random characters}.default/lock

(obviously replace '{random characters}' with the actual string - use ls or autocomplete to find it)

How does one tell Firefox to use profiles ?
The reason is that I lost some settings in Thunderbird , including the filters.

anilbh · 02-26-2006, 11:34 PM

Found the answer to this one.
If you want to activate/reactivate profiles . Look for the profiles.ini file in Thunderbird / Firefox directories . And set

StartWithLastProfile=0 ( Case sensitive ).