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Two pinned firefox icons in windows = two totally different browsers

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  • Last reply by cor-el

b.northquest
b.northquest
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So I'm on my dad's computer, he's old and doesn't get the computers. Anyway he has two pinned Firefox's and I told him to delete one and he said no way because they open different firefoxs, and sure enough they do. One opens with a completely different homepage and completely different set of data and saved passwords and websites than the other. The only difference I could tell is that it seems like one he's created a firefox account for and the other doesn't have it. But why would a shortcut open up a different instance of firefox like this? Is this some scam browser that's cloning his firefox browser? Or is this some weird thing that is an only firefox option?

The browser I'm on now says this under about:support

Name Firefox Version 113.0.2 Build ID 20230522134052 Distribution ID Update Folder C:\ProgramData\Mozilla-1de4eec8-1241-4177-a864-e594e8d1fb38\updates\E370DFFC6E748E8F Update History Update Channel release User Agent Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/113.0 OS Windows_NT 10.0 19045


And the other browser says this: Name Firefox Version 109.0 Build ID 20230112150232 Distribution ID Update Folder C:\ProgramData\Mozilla-1de4eec8-1241-4177-a864-e594e8d1fb38\updates\308046B0AF4A39CB Update History Update Channel release User Agent Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/109.0 OS Windows_NT 10.0 19045


Maybe somehow they just didn't realize each other when a new one was installed?

Any help would be appreciated.

So I'm on my dad's computer, he's old and doesn't get the computers. Anyway he has two pinned Firefox's and I told him to delete one and he said no way because they open different firefoxs, and sure enough they do. One opens with a completely different homepage and completely different set of data and saved passwords and websites than the other. The only difference I could tell is that it seems like one he's created a firefox account for and the other doesn't have it. But why would a shortcut open up a different instance of firefox like this? Is this some scam browser that's cloning his firefox browser? Or is this some weird thing that is an only firefox option? The browser I'm on now says this under about:support Name Firefox Version 113.0.2 Build ID 20230522134052 Distribution ID Update Folder C:\ProgramData\Mozilla-1de4eec8-1241-4177-a864-e594e8d1fb38\updates\E370DFFC6E748E8F Update History Update Channel release User Agent Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/113.0 OS Windows_NT 10.0 19045 And the other browser says this: Name Firefox Version 109.0 Build ID 20230112150232 Distribution ID Update Folder C:\ProgramData\Mozilla-1de4eec8-1241-4177-a864-e594e8d1fb38\updates\308046B0AF4A39CB Update History Update Channel release User Agent Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/109.0 OS Windows_NT 10.0 19045 Maybe somehow they just didn't realize each other when a new one was installed? Any help would be appreciated.

All Replies (1)

cor-el
cor-el
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That both look like pending updates that haven't been applied for some reason (maybe blocked by security software) as Firefox would normally be installed in "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\". The first one in the current 113.0.2 release and the second one a leftover from an older 109 update. Do you have a Firefox installation in "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\" and if that is the case, what version is this ?

What profile folders are they using as with different browsers I assume that both are locked to their own profile (i.e. at some point a new/second has been created) ?

You can use the button on the "Help -> More Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page (Root directory).

Best would be to avoid using the Firefox 109 version and check whether it contains data that isn't available in the 113 profile and remove that version, but be cautious with removing profiles.

Firefox uses two locations in the hidden "AppData" location for the Firefox profile folder. One location for your personal data (e.g. bookmarks) and another location for temporary files like the disk cache.

Primary location used for the main profile that keeps your personal data (Root Directory on about:profiles).

  • C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>

Secondary location used for the disk cache and other temporary files (Local Directory on about:profiles).

  • C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>

See also: Firefox 67 and newer use a dedicated profile for each Firefox installation and lock this profile to prevent other Firefox installations from using this profile.