Firefox Community Forum

At startup, Firefox starts with an account setup screen. I have been using current setup for 3 years. Tried troubleshoot mode to no avail. Had same problem 3 years ago.

Yes, I'd like to use the same account on both of my profiles.

I understand that for some users, this may be confusing.

In my case, the only reason for different profiles is that I need to use a Proxy Server for some websites, and no proxy for other websites. Manually switching proxy settings is painful, and doing so causes traffic for my other tabs/windows to go to the proxy, which I do not want.

I have a main (set of) windows (and its tabs) going straight to the internet, then I have a separate window (and its tabs) configured to go through a proxy (SOCKS5 in this case). I want all other settings, bookmarks, passwords, etc. to be identical to both. I end up having to logout of my main profile, log into the other profile to sync settings, log out of there, and log back into my main profile.

Is there a valid technical reason why an account on the same FireFox installation cannot be shared between two profiles?

I can do this on multiple computers (same account, different computers/profile), seems odd it is restricted to not allow on the same computer.

I have an alternative solution: Install FireFox natively, then install FireFox as AUR or FlatPak, but not sure this will collide as this both uses the same profile directory. Hum...

Wayne

I was positively surprised recently when the new Firefox profile manager (about:profilemanager) was introduced. https://www.tech2geek.net/how-to-use-the-new-updated-profile-manager-in-firefox-2025/ is an article about that.

However, I thought it's just a new visual UI with an in-browser switcher for the existing profiles (that I already had setup). However, it does not appear so.

The differences I see:

1. 1. 1. old profile management

• was managed by `about:profiles` or when starting FIrefox with `-P`
• is saved in `~/firefox` and the `profiles.ini` clearly and quite obviously mentions them there, so it's easy to manage them.

I also found this old support article: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-remove-switch-firefox-profiles

1. 1. 1. new profile management

• automatically asks on startup if more than one profile exists
• is managed by `about:profilemanager` or with the Firefox burger menu
• seems to be saved in `~/.mozilla/firefox/Profile Groups` (Linux path here) in some .sqlite files, and I do not quite understand the format. Not mentioned in `profiles.ini`.
• also, when you change something here (even like opening a profile?), you cannot open `about:profiles` anymore, because it says "Some Firefox process has made changes to your profile, […] you need to restart Firefox", only after a restart further changes would be possible, which I find quite confusing but it also indicates somehow the features belong together?

And this seems to be the new one: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-management#w_whats-the-difference-between-profiles-and-multi-account-containers

1. 1. Questions

• What are the differences here (I may have missed)?
• How can the new profile feature save so few files? Is it technically called "profile groups"?
• And the most important: How can I migrate an old profile? (In order to use the new features and GUI etc. I quite like)

I have used Firefox for years, both out of conviction and to help protect my privacy, even though I often put up with images and forms not displaying on web pages.

Then, three times in two months, after restarting Firefox, I found all my tabs, bookmarks and browser history had disappeared. The only thing I did between restarts was to run Wise Care 365 to clear some space on my laptop, something I had done hundreds of times before.

The first time the loss occurred I found I had a new profile, a feature I neither wanted nor was consulted about. At least I was able to get back to my original profile. The next two times this proved impossible.

Firefox "support" was of no use. Multiple searches produced nothing which helped. After agonising hours, I was able to retrieve my bookmarks and my Firefox browser history through Microsoft Edge. But as a writer and (award-winning) journalist I cannot afford to risk losing my research and links.

So although I disapprove of some Microsoft business practices. I am moving to Edge. If I have missed something that makes sense of this, I would be pleased to hear it. In the meantime, Mozilla needs to improve its product and customer service.

Wishing its customers well,

Francis Shennan

Running Windows 11. Recently there is a small gear symbol on the Firefox icon in the Taskbar. I don't want it there and it's irritating as hell. Apparently it has something to do with profile. I don't care what it has to do with, I want it to go away. I went to about:config and set browser.profiles.enabled to false, but every time I restart Firefox, it apparently gets set to true again.

There is no reason for Firefox to have forced this visual change on users. How do I make the gear go away permanently? The gear goes or Firefox gets uninstalled and I'll go back to Chrome.

HI there,

Glad you folks have included an update to the 'profiles'. However, I'm having trouble with it. I previously created two profiles using 'about:profiles' function. However, only of them has mapped on to the new profiles feature. When I try to add a profile in the new way to do it, I can only create a new one, I can't transfer a pre-existing.

See attachments. One shows the new profile manager with the 'work' profile. The second shows the 'about:profiles' with both 'work' and 'life'. How to I add 'life' to the new profile manager?

I've used Firefox as my default for years and years. Yesterday I got some popover telling me I had to create a new profile or I'd lose all my Firefox data, history, bookmarks, etc. It would not let me avoid this. So I did. Still lost all my history, started over. Today it's doing the same thing. What's up? I don't want to move to Chrome.

When i open firefox, i can choose what profile to open. I have two screens, so i was wondering if it was possible to be able to open both profiles i use, and have one on each screen. If not possible, would it be considered for an update in the future? It would make it easier, so i can have my personal profile on one screen, and my work profile on the other.

i previously set up profiles using about:profiles, but with the new profiles feature i don't see any of them showing up. i haven't found any articles that allow me to convert the files from about:profiles to use the new one.

i am not logged in to firefox on the others either.

is there a way to link the profile files on my computer to save my bookmarks and history? i don't know if there will be continued support for these files and want to make sure my bookmarks are saved for all of them. i would prefer to stay logged out of the other profiles.

Attached images include screenshots of the empty profiles (one from clicking the profiles from dropdown, one from clicking "manage profiles", and one with blacked out personal data from going to about:profiles).

I have previously made additional profiles on 'about:profiles', now Firefox has added an integrated profile manager accessible by clicking my profile on the top right. My old profiles are not available on this profile manager, but they are still available on 'about:profiles', so how can I transfer them without having to remake new ones?

Hi folks -

I've just seen the update that firefox now allows "profiles" for different purposes (e.g. work, fun, etc.) which seems really handy. But I'm trying to wrap my head around how to approach restructuring my current setup. In particular, do these profiles *all* sync with my mozilla account? Or do I need a separate mozilla account for each profile? (if so, that sort of defeats some of the utlity here unless you're sharing the PC).

I can't tell from the support article, doesn't seem to address this, but you do need to login again if you set up a new profile.

Thanks, Patrick

I switched to Firefox a few months ago and I've been using the "about:profiles" page to mimic chrome's profile feature. I have 3 profiles, each with their own Mozilla account. How can I migrate these to the new profiles system?

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.

new firefox update today plus windows update - get message "The bookmarks and history system will not be functional because one of Firefox's files is in use by another application. Some security software can cause this problem." Have tried to restore - no luck. Other bookmarks - empty.

Lost all bookmarks

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.