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I upgraded Firefox yesterday and now I have two separate icons on my task bar and an account that I never had before .... totally confused !

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  • Last reply by KensPC

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I downloaded an update of Firefox yesterday manually. I was also asked to open a Firefox Account which I never had before so I did. I now have two Firefox icons on my task bar. They both seem to be fully functional. If I click on one it opens what looks like my old version. If I click on the other it opens what I assume is the new version which is pretty bare bones ... no bookmarks toolbar. It looks to me that I now have two fully functional versions of Firefox. I don't want that. I want one fully updated version of the Firefox that I have come to know and love. I have been a Firefox user since it's beginning. I also have a Firefox account which I have no idea of how or why to use.

PLEASE HELP

I downloaded an update of Firefox yesterday manually. I was also asked to open a Firefox Account which I never had before so I did. I now have two Firefox icons on my task bar. They both seem to be fully functional. If I click on one it opens what looks like my old version. If I click on the other it opens what I assume is the new version which is pretty bare bones ... no bookmarks toolbar. It looks to me that I now have two fully functional versions of Firefox. I don't want that. I want one fully updated version of the Firefox that I have come to know and love. I have been a Firefox user since it's beginning. I also have a Firefox account which I have no idea of how or why to use. PLEASE HELP

Chosen solution

Hi KensPC, that's strange! Firefox 67 may create a new profile (a profile is a local settings folder), but it wouldn't normally create two shortcuts.

Are your two shortcuts customized with different "Target" paths? For example, either:

  • Right-click a desktop shortcut, then click Properties
  • Right-click a Firefox icon pinned to the Taskbar then right-click Mozilla Firefox, then click Properties

By default, Windows will show the Shortcut tab. The Target line normally looks like:

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"

However, it can be customized with Command-Line switches such as this one, to start in a specific profile:

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -P "DadStuff"

Do you see differences between the Targets of the two shortcuts that could explain their behavior?

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Chosen Solution

Hi KensPC, that's strange! Firefox 67 may create a new profile (a profile is a local settings folder), but it wouldn't normally create two shortcuts.

Are your two shortcuts customized with different "Target" paths? For example, either:

  • Right-click a desktop shortcut, then click Properties
  • Right-click a Firefox icon pinned to the Taskbar then right-click Mozilla Firefox, then click Properties

By default, Windows will show the Shortcut tab. The Target line normally looks like:

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"

However, it can be customized with Command-Line switches such as this one, to start in a specific profile:

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -P "DadStuff"

Do you see differences between the Targets of the two shortcuts that could explain their behavior?

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Are those the same Firefox version and update channel if you check this in "Help -> About Firefox" and possibly via about:support ?

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icon#1 name ---- Mozilla Firefox Target - E:\Program Files(x86)\MozillaFirefox\firefox.exe"

icon#2 name ---- Firefox Target - "C:\ProgramFiles\MozillaFirefox\firefox.exe"

Both of these icons are on my taskbar

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Hi KensPC, your second icon is the more common installation location. For the first one, why would Firefox be on the E drive? Is that a "Portable Firefox" installation, or a custom installation of regular Firefox?

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I have no idea. I had Firefox set up to ask permission for upgrades rather than auto upgrade. I got tired of the permission requests so I clicked on upgrade now. That's when everything went south and I ended up with the mess I have now. When I click on icon#1 it seems to be the version I have been using all along. I didn't realize it was on my E drive until a few minutes ago. It was always on my C drive. Icon#2 seems to be the new version. The homepage is not set up quite the same. One thing I noticed right away is that the bookmark icons are all generic,which is a pain. It is much harder to find individual websites because the icons are not customized by website logo

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What profile is each of the Firefox installation using?

Is this a .default or .default-<time-tamp> profile for the first on the c-drive and a .default-release profile for the second on the e-drive?

You see the used profile listed on the profile as default and possibly also on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page.

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I can't find the profiles.

I think the program on the E drive is some kind of backup.

I think I am just going to delete it and hope for the best