How to run Firefox when your profile is missing or inaccessible

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  • Creator: Joni
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Firefox stores and loads your settings and user data in a special folder called a profile. Every time you launch Firefox, it looks for this folder and pulls information from it.

Profiles are stored in the Mozilla~/.mozilla/~/Library/Mozilla/ or ~/Library/Application Support/ folder by default. If this profile is moved, renamed, deleted or corrupted, you may see an error message stating that Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible. Try one of these methods to resolve this issue.

Profile was moved or renamed

If you know where your profile is, try one of the following methods to help Firefox find it.

  • Move the profile folder back to its original location.
  • Restore the profile's original name if you've changed it.
  • Create a new profile using the Profile Manager. Make sure to click on Choose Folder and select the new location for your profile before you finish the Create a new profile wizard.

Profile was deleted

If you've deleted or lost your profile folder and have no way of restoring it, follow these steps to create a new profile:

Your new profile will not contain settings or user data from your deleted or lost profile.

Option 1: Use the Profile Manager wizard

Follow the steps in the Profile Manager - Create, remove or switch Firefox profiles article to create a new profile.

Option 2: Manually delete the profiles.ini file

If you're unable to access the Profile Manager, you can manually change the profiles.ini file by following these steps:

  1. Click on the Start menu and type %APPDATA%\Mozilla\ in the search box.
  2. Click on the Firefox folder and delete the profiles.ini file.

When you start Firefox, a new profile will be created.

  1. Navigate to your Library folder. If your Library folder is hidden, see the next section to unhide it.
  2. Click on the Application Support folder, then go to the Firefox folder.
  3. Delete the profiles.ini file.

When you start Firefox, a new profile will be created.

How to unhide your Library folder

  1. Open Finder and navigate to your home folder by highlighting Desktop, then Control+clicking at the top of the Finder window.
    mac home
  2. Click on View at the Finder menu at the top of the screen.
  3. Click on Show View Options.
  4. Put a check mark next to Library to unhide the folder.

Attribution: MozillaZine: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_cannot_be_loaded