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firefox / thunderbird: Different behavior on first run after having copied configuration folder

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Hi community,

I want to configure a guest account on a ubuntu system. This is done by configuring a standard account and link the guest account to the standard account.

For firefox that means, that the .mozilla directory of the guest account points to the .mozilla-directory of the standard account. (The files in the standard account are not changes, so every new guest session starts with the same preconfigured environment.)

When starting firefox in the guest session, most of the settings, e.g. homepage, installed language packs, coockie settings, are recognized. Strange enough, the language packs have to be enabled again. Somehow firefox in the guest session realizes that firefox is run the first time in the newly created guest account. In my use case, firefox starts up in English because the German language pack is disabled. In the configured standard account the language packs are enabled, active, etc..

With thunderbird the behaviour is different: Copying the .thunderbird (or appdata/roaming/thunderbird-folder in Windows) leads to a completely configured thunderbird. No "first run"-questions or -settings have to be answered.

My questions are: 1) How does firefox realize that is has a "first run" situation? Why is copying the .mozilla-folder not enough for transfering the profile(s)? How can firefox be configured to use the existing .mozilla-directory without asking first run questions? 2) How can firefox in a first run situation (with complete profiles and correct profile.ini) be started with e.g. an enabled German language pack.

Thanks a lot

Martin

Hi community, I want to configure a guest account on a ubuntu system. This is done by configuring a standard account and link the guest account to the standard account. For firefox that means, that the .mozilla directory of the guest account points to the .mozilla-directory of the standard account. (The files in the standard account are not changes, so every new guest session starts with the same preconfigured environment.) '''When starting firefox in the guest session''', most of the settings, e.g. homepage, installed language packs, coockie settings, are recognized. Strange enough, the '''language packs have to be enabled again'''. Somehow firefox in the guest session realizes that firefox is run the first time in the newly created guest account. In my use case, firefox starts up in English because the German language pack is disabled. In the configured standard account the language packs are enabled, active, etc.. With thunderbird the behaviour is different: Copying the .thunderbird (or appdata/roaming/thunderbird-folder in Windows) leads to a completely configured thunderbird. No "first run"-questions or -settings have to be answered. '''My questions are:''' 1) How does firefox realize that is has a "first run" situation? Why is copying the .mozilla-folder not enough for transfering the profile(s)? How can firefox be configured to use the existing .mozilla-directory without asking first run questions? 2) How can firefox in a first run situation (with complete profiles and correct profile.ini) be started with e.g. an enabled German language pack. Thanks a lot Martin

Gewysig op deur nobugswanted

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I would like to add that copying the .mozilla folder instead of linking results in a first run situation, too. So it's not a question of file permissions. In both cases the content of the profiles.ini file is identical and points to the same (by name and content) profile folders. Firefox does not ask for a profile. It starts with the correct/intended default profile. Starting firefox with "firefox -p profilename" does not change that behaviour.

Martin

Gewysig op deur nobugswanted

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