Firefox Community Forum

Can you add a configuration setting to Mozilla Firefox to disable Create New Profile, configurable in the policies.json file? (A second option but a much uglier one would be to disable being able to select a file location for a new profile. Then you could make the default profile directory write only, which would also accomplish the same thing.) (A third option would be to able to configure extensions by default upon installation in the ExtensionSettings policy.)

To explain, I use LeechblockNG on Firefox on Ubuntu. Very helpful. By placing a policies.json file (see at bottom) in /etc/firefox/policies/ directory, I can create a system wide policy. I can make the LeechblockNG extension mandatory and to be installed upon every new profile creation. That all works very well. HOWEVER, there is NO way to be able to set those options in the new profile. So LeechblockNG is installed with default options (which are no blocking at all), which effectively bypasses the addon.

I am also writing the author of the leechblock extension to see if there is any way to set the options for leechblock upon installation (the third option above).

But I know other people have this same question, and at present, if I am correct, there is no way to block new profile creation, or the Profile Manager window in Firefox.

So could you please add that option to the Firefox policies.json configuration? Something like "DisableNewProfiles": true would do it.

Thanks!

My current policies.json file in /etc/firefox/policies/ directory: { "policies": { "BlockAboutConfig": true, "BlockAboutProfiles": true, "PrivateBrowsingModeAvailability": 1, "DisableSafeMode": true, "ExtensionSettings":{ "*": { "installation_mode": "blocked", "blocked_install_message": "Prohibited install more extensions." }, "leechblockng@proginosko.com": { "installation_mode": "force_installed", "install_url": "https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/downloads/file/4374316/leechblock_ng-1.6.6.xpi" } } } }

If I'm not mistaken, between FF146 and FF147 it appears the location of the profile directory has changed. It was:

   /home/<user>/.mozilla/firefox  

and now is

   /home/<user>/.config/mozilla/firefox

Is that correct?

I have an account for standard support release versions, I am now using extended support release version 140.7.0 and a popup notification keeps nagging me to make a new profile. How do I do this?

My power just went out for a second, now Firefox its acting like I've never used it.

I've never had this problem. Firefox has worked just fine for years. I have never had an issue with FireFox. Now I'm being told to select a profile like there isn't a set of folders with files dating back to 2021 sitting next to these fresh new folders full of files all dated to today.—I don't know shit by the way, Google told me where the profile stuff is or something idk im pissed.

How do I get Firefox to recognize the same old mountain of files its been using to store bookmarks, passwords, and all the rest is right under its stupid nose? And no the about:profiles page just gives me another blank profile to choose.

funfunfun

I just update firefox but all my none of my bookmarks loaded. I share my computer with my husband. He has a different account on this same computer and his bookmarks are showing up on my side, but mine are nowhere to be found. Previously we have had separate bookmark lists and all was fine. I don't know where my bookmarks went.

How do I get them back and put on "my side" and still have my husband's on his side?

I recently reinstalled Debian 13 on my workstation. This included installing Firefox-esr from the Debian repositories so the version before and after the reinstall is the same. Despite this, Firefox refused to start until I created a new profile - insisting that my profile was from an older version.

To add insult to injury, it offers a method to import data from Chromium (which I use rarely) but not from a previous Firefox profile.

Firefox Sync works so far as it goes, but not everyone wants to use it. Importing from a local profile should be easier to implement than remotely syncing - especially given that Firefox clients may not be the same on different devices.

And, of course, the initial point is that Firefox should accept a user profile when it was created by the same version. After all, when I upgrade Firefox on Debian, I'm not required to create a new profile. Why should I be forced to do it when I reinstall the same version?

I am using a very old system that is running out of storage space. There is an 8.73 GB folder that I would like to empty to free up space. C:\dtemp\Profiles contains several folders that were created 10.27.21: 2qzfs15q.default, eybandys.default, f81zrqic.default-release, pctnmazu.default-release-1, and yns5cb3s.default-release.

Can I delete any of these folders?

I don't have a Profiles menu under the Account button on the main toolbar. My Firefox was just updated and the update tab info talked about the new profiles feature as if it was available. Is this rolling out in phases or should I be seeing it?

I have version 144.0, updated on 10/14/2025.

Thanks.

I made the mistake to following Mozilla's advice on why my tabs stopped coming back after I closed out, despite the fact that I had that selected in my settings. Now I'm stuck with an "Old Firefox Data" folder on my desktop and I can't remove it because I need administrator privileges -- but it's my personal PC. WTF

Hi, I do not understand the new profile management feature of Firefox and how it relates to sync. I am logged into my Mozilla account that syncs bookmarks, and I use the default profile that I renamed to "personal". When I switch to a newly created "work" profile, I am no longer signed in.

Will the new profiles "personal" and "work" be synced to my account once I log on to both? I am using Firefox on several PCs and I don't want to recreate profiles such as "personal" and "work" on all the PCs manually?

Thanks for a reply.

I'm setting up Firefox on a new computer. I haven't done this for a while and the interface has changed, so I'm not sure how it works.

I want to move my Firefox profile to a directory in the Documents library to simplify backup. Following the Mozilla instructions I found, I opened about:profiles and clicked the Create New Profile button. I deleted the contents of the directory that Create New Profile created and copied the contents of the default profile directory to it. The last step is to tell Firefox to use my new profile instead of its default.

But the about:profile page lists three profiles: default-release, default, and my new one. The first two have a Set as default profile button; the last does not. So it appears that I can tell Firefox to use the default-release profile or the default profile, but there's no way I can tell it to use my new profile. I can only Launch profile in new browser -- presumably something I'll have to do every time I run Firefox.

This makes no sense. How can I tell Firefox to use my new profile -- not to launch a new browser with it, but to use it, period? If I can't, why can't I? Every version of Firefox I've ever installed up to now allowed this.

Also, the default-release profile section of about:profiles has the note "This is the profile in use and it cannot be deleted." So it appears that Firefox uses the default-release profile instead of the default profile as its default profile. What is the default-release profile? Why isn't the default profile the default profile?

I thought original profile would save all my bookmarks, history, passwords, etc. I created a second profile for work, but that also does not contain any of my bookmarks, history, passwords, etc. I imported my bookmarks and other history/passwords from EDGE. I did this in my work profile because I couldn't get my original profile to import anything. I signed into work with my main firefox e-mail and exported bookmarks to HTML so I could upload it in my original profile. The original profile now wont log in and says I need a different e-mail account, so I'll lose everything on my original profile. It is ridiculous that my profiles don't have the same log on and don't use the same e-mail. I need someone to help me recover my system to normal working function. This has been a horrible experience and profiles are unusable.

Hello,

I received a popup tab about creating separate profiles. I am still not seeing an option to create another profile, in my case keep personal and work browsing separate on my work computer. The articles I have read do not seem to fit my situation. Firefox is up to date. Thank you for your help.

Do I have to be logged into an account to use profiles? I'm on my work computer on which I don't log into my account and "Profiles" option does not show up on my toolbar.

bold text Firefox has been my browser forever. When I tried to open it this morning I was invited to create a profile, so no profile, no Firefox..... I've never had to do this before and am reluctant because of the apparent threat of losing all my passwords and bookmarks. I'm 85 years of age so don't need this complication. Any help would be appreciated, complicated high tech answer will probably be beyond me. Brian.