Firefox 3 was released just yesterday, bringing a wealth of new features to be excited about. From faster launch time and better memory management to interface polish and glitz, and over 8 million downloads already, Firefox 3.0 is a gem among modern web browsers.
For those that do web development, though, the 3.0 release means another round of website compatibility testing in both the earlier release and now the current one. For the most part, this isn’t a new challenge, but Firefox can be a bit peculiar: Upon launching Firefox, it checks to see if another instance is already running, and if found, brings up a new browser window of the currently running version. So, launching Firefox 2.0 while 3.0 is running results in two 2.0 windows, and vice versa for 3.0. This effectively stops the casual user from simultaneously running both Firefox 2.0 and 3.0 side by side. As an added side effect, when you completely shut down Firefox and launch a different major version, your profile information can get skewed, resulting in sometimes strange bookmark appearance and lots of checking for updates to installed add-ons. With a little tweaking, though, Firefox 2.0 and 3.0 can be convinced to run independently, each with their own bookmarks and add-ons.
Mac OS X Instructions
Running two versions of Firefox under Mac OS X couldn’t be simpler. The freeware application MultiFirefox takes all the guesswork out of the process by automatically detecting Firefox versions in your main Applications folder and presenting you with a list from which to choose the Firefox versions you’d like to launch. Complete with self-updating (thanks to the ubiquitous Sparkle framework), MultiFirefox is the easiest way to pull off this multi-browser stunt.
Windows Instructions
If you already have Firefox (2.0 or 3.0) installed, it’s important to back up your crucial information before getting started. Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\YourName\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\
and copy your “Profiles” folder somewhere safe.
Once backed up, download Firefox 2 and/or Firefox 3, depending on what you already have installed. Launch each installer and begin setting up Firefox, but make sure to choose Custom settings. When asked for a place to install Firefox, change the path(s) to C:Program FilesMozilla Firefox 3
(or ...Mozilla Firefox 2
), instead of just “Mozilla Firefox”. In doing so, you’ll place Firefox 2 at C:Program FilesMozilla Firefox 2
, and Firefox 3 at C:Program FilesMozilla Firefox 3
. Both versions of Firefox should now be in separate folders. (If you already have one version of Firefox installed at C:Program FilesMozilla Firefox
, you may choose to leave that where it is and just install the other version in a separate folder, however you’ll have to make a note of which is where, and modify the following instructions accordingly.)
Create a new shortcut to Firefox 2.0 by right-mouse-button-dragging C:Program FilesMozilla Firefox 2firefox.exe
to your Desktop (for now), and choosing “Create Shortcuts Here”. Name the shortcut “Firefox 2”. Repeat for Firefox 3, changing “2” to “3” where appropriate.
You’re almost there, but now we have to tell Firefox to keep the two instances separate. Open the Properties window for the Firefox 3 shortcut, and add -ProfileManager
(space key, minus sign, ProfileManager) to the end of the string of text in the Target field. Click OK, then run that same shortcut to bring up Firefox’s Profile Manager. Rename the existing “default” profile to “firefox3”, and also create a new “firefox2” profile.
Once profiles are set, exit Firefox completely. With two profiles in place, each version of Firefox can have its own bookmarks, extensions, and other settings, without interfering with each other. Open up the properties windows for both the Firefox 2 and Firefox 3 shortcuts you made. Remove the -ProfileManager
addition from the Firefox 3 shortcut Target, replacing it with -no-remote -p firefox3
(space key, minus sign, no-remote, space key, minus sign, ‘p’ key, space key, firefox3). Add the same to the Firefox 2 shortcut, again changing the 3 to a 2. Both shortcuts should now have the -no-remote
option set, as well as -p
followed by the designated profile that matches that Firefox’s version. In short, Firefox 3 gets the firefox3 profile, and Firefox 2 gets the firefox2 profile.
Click OK on both shortcuts to confirm the changes, and finally double-click each to run Firefox 2 and 3 at the same time!
Also, don’t miss LifeHacker’s Power User’s Guide to Firefox 3 for some excellent 3.0 tips and tricks, as well as ArsTechnica’s briefing of what’s to come in Firefox 3.1.
Update: Here’s another excellent tutorial on running Firefox 2 and 3 at the same time, including notes on the -no-remote
switch and how it can make Firefox claim it’s “already running but not responding.” That firefox.exe switch appears to be a bit of a double-edged sword.
[…] If you wish to run both Firefox 2 and 3 simultaneously from your Mac or […]
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replacing it with -no-remote -p firefox3 (space key, minus sign, no-remote, space key, minus sign, space key, firefox3).
should be:
…. minus sign, ‘p’ key, space key…
although I think just saying “-no-remote -p firefox3” is good enough.
Thanks for the post.
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@douglas: Thanks for catching that! I’ve updated the post to include that fix :-)
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Works but when I want to open more than one tab by clicking on my shortcut I get this error:
Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system.
I can get around this by hitting “ctrl-n” to open a new browser window from within firefox but a lot of times when I’m working I just want to click the icon in my shortcut bar.
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@scott: If this is under Windows, you might try setting Firefox 2 or 3 as your default browser in Windows’ Add and Remove Programs control panel -> Set Program Access and Defaults. I’m not sure it will help, but it’s the best I can think of at the moment. I’ll keep a look out for a better solution, though.
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thanks very much! This was very helpful.
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Thanks lot and grate tutorial.
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Amazingly helpful, thanks so much for figuring this out. I’ll be sure to do this on my home computer as well.
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Thanks for the tip! Works perfectly.
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Would just be easier to put a popup box on your site saying “UPGRADE YOUR F**KING BROWSER AND GIVE US WEB DEVELOPERS A BREAK!!!”
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excellent tutorial collin!
Just followed the steps and now i’m able to test my design in both ff2 and ff3!
Thanks again!
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Thanks!
I did this for Windows and it seems to be CaSe SensAtiVe? When I didn’t match case, the profiler manager would come up asking which I wanted. When I made it right, it worked as advertised. Odd.
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Thank you very much! this post was really helpfull for my web designing stuff! thanx again!
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[…] the new desktop shortcut it would execute the new version without trying to access the old version. Here is a helpful tutorial which shows you exactly how to run 2 FF versions […]
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How To Run Firefox 2 and 3 Simultaneously…
With a little tweaking, though, Firefox 2.0 and 3.0 can be convinced to run independently, each with their own bookmarks and add-ons….
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works great! thanks
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how do you open the profile manager?
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to open the profile manager you need to open a command prompt. start-programs-accessories should be listed there. you need to go to the folder where firefox is installed. maybe need to goto another tutorial to see what to do from there.
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Thanks .. I’ll give it a try!
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it’s about time newer versions of firefox recognize prior version profiles and WARN the user before hijacking them… and go the extra mile of helping the user keep v2, v3, v3.5, v4 apart from new profiles
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