Profiles in firefox

yrana2002 · 29-10-2005, 09:41 PM

Recently, I had to force firefox.exe to shut down as it was not responding. The next time when i opened it, it asked me for profiles. on selecting default, it said profile is currently in use. Please select another profiel.So, i created another one. but i realize there is no extensions or themes or plugins in this one, so how do irevert back ot the default profile?

alib_i · 29-10-2005, 10:34 PM

Most probably firefox.exe wasnt switched off by the time you started next firefox .. it sometimes happens.
Now you can use the Profile Manager to change your profile details.
Or you can Migrate most of the settings to new profile

BTW, next time this happens .. Cancel it .. dont start firefox for .. say 2 mins .. wait till you're sure FF is gone. Then start it.

EDIT: I'm not sure .. but most probably you can do the following to revert back too.
# Go to the Firefox's Profile folder ... which is
For WinXP :: C:\Documents and Settings\<Windows login/user name>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\
For Win98 :: C:\Windows\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\
# You will see 2 folders with weird 8 letter names ... one being "********.default" and other "********", where "********" is some random sequence of letters.
# Now, rename the "********.default" to "********"
and rename "********" to "********.default"
I think this should change your default profile back to normal !!
But I'm not sure ...
Change back to original config if this method doesnt work

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alibi

selva1966 · 29-10-2005, 10:41 PM

Sometimes Firefox crashes and then it is difficult to get the default user profile. I do not think waiting for two minutes will help. Atleast it has not worked for me. Even logging off the user does not help.

I have to re-start evey time this happens which is minimum twice or thrice everymonth.

alib_i · 29-10-2005, 10:58 PM

@selva ...
Waiting for some time always worked with me ...
But I've seen it NOT working with my friend too ..
Next time this occurs with you ... do this ..

# Go through running processes from Ctrl+Alt+Del -> Task Manager and kill Firefox.exe
# Locate the file called "parent.lock" in the profile folder of Firefox. (I've given the location of profile folder in previous post)
# Delete this file and start FF

More Info

It's a good idea to install Bookmark Backup Extension which can also take backup of you profile.

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alibi

yrana2002 · 29-10-2005, 11:16 PM

to alibi,
That step aint working. It is not allowing me to rename atleast one of the folders. I tried to disable read-only, but 'Acess denied' it says.
thannks anyways,
Savvvy!

alib_i · 29-10-2005, 11:28 PM

I didnt write it there .....
but Firefox needs to be closed while following those steps ..
Do it just after a restart ... without starting FF

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alibi

yrana2002 · 29-10-2005, 11:43 PM

well, I got the solution. For information, simply go to
Start->Run->firefox.exe -p
This -pis for the Profile Manager
If there's no dialog box coming up, press
Ctrl+Alt+Del, go to processes and end the process firefox.exe
Follow the step above & it will definitely work.
Sorry for the inconvenience to you all! And thanks alibi
Savvy!

selva1966 · 30-10-2005, 04:36 PM

@alib_i

I have installed SessionSaver so I do not kill the process. Have you installed SessionSaver?

It is a good seggestion to install Bookmark Backup. I think it will creat a backup every time browser is closed.

I now and then backup bookmarks with deadlink prog.