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Which is the true "default" profile?

  • 4 replies
  • 5 have this problem
  • 592 views
  • Last reply by xromad

xromad
xromad
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I followed this instruction:

Finding your profile without opening Firefox 

   Click the Finder icon in the dock. On the menu bar, click the Go menu, hold down the option or alt key and select Library. A window will open containing your Library folder.
   Open the "Application Support" folder, then open the "Firefox" folder, and then the "Profiles" folder.
   Your profile folder is within this folder. If you only have one profile, its folder would have "default" in the name.


However when I navigated to ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles, I found TWO folders with "default" in their names: qqjtl02n.Default User yxux26aj.default

Which is the ACTUAL one?

I followed this instruction: Finding your profile without opening Firefox Click the Finder icon in the dock. On the menu bar, click the Go menu, hold down the option or alt key and select Library. A window will open containing your Library folder. Open the "Application Support" folder, then open the "Firefox" folder, and then the "Profiles" folder. Your profile folder is within this folder. If you only have one profile, its folder would have "default" in the name. However when I navigated to ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles, I found TWO folders with "default" in their names: qqjtl02n.Default User yxux26aj.default Which is the ACTUAL one?

Chosen solution

On file level, it should be the one with timestamps indicating the last Firefox use that you know of.

Another way is to find the profiles.ini file, open it and see which one mentions Default=1. (more info)

A third one is to open about:profiles and look for the one telling "this is the profile in use".

If you wanted to know because of creating backups, it may do no harm to back up both folders.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (4)

Tonnes
Tonnes
  • Locale Leader
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Chosen Solution

On file level, it should be the one with timestamps indicating the last Firefox use that you know of.

Another way is to find the profiles.ini file, open it and see which one mentions Default=1. (more info)

A third one is to open about:profiles and look for the one telling "this is the profile in use".

If you wanted to know because of creating backups, it may do no harm to back up both folders.

xromad
xromad Question owner
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OK, using #2, the profile ending with .Default User had "Default=1".

I then used #3, and it confirmed .Default User as correct.

I'll delete the other one.

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Note that Firefox uses another location in the hidden ~/Library location to store the disk cache and other temporary files.

  • ~/Library/Caches/Firefox/Profiles/

If you use the Profile Manager to delete a profile and include the files then files on both locations are removed.

xromad
xromad Question owner
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I'll just use the Finder rather than Terminal.