Save/Sync firefox addons?

E

exe163

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Nov 15, 2005
Messages
1,366
Hi, I have few OS running in the same machine. Is there any way to conveniently save all addons from my main OS to all other OSs? Looking for something similar to Foxmark.
 
While it's possible to locate software to do this stuff, I personally just do it myself in about the same time by just backing up the three folders that make up Firefox (in Vista and Windows 7, I haven't run XP in so long I can't even begin to tell you how to do this on that OS anymore).

Regardless, on Vista/Windows 7 you'll need three folders:

\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox (if you're running the 64 bit version of either OS, it'll be \Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox)

\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Mozilla

\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla

The last two are hidden because AppData is a hidden system folder, you need to enable the ability to view such folders in the Explorer options to be able to see and access them.

Once you've copied those three folders to someplace else, you have a 100% perfect backup of Firefox, with everything as it was at the moment you made the backup: the cache, the addons, the extensions, the settings, etc.

I know that third party software basically goes in and makes copies of most of the content related to user profiles in Firefox, but I've had them fail on me so many times when it comes to restoring them that I finally gave up and figured out this better way of doing things. By copying those three folders, you've done more than just create a backup, you've basically recreated Firefox completely, bit-for-bit, and not just some of the profile data.

Works for me, maybe it'll work for you. When I do a clean install, I do that 3 folder copy to a safe location, reinstall the OS, and then drop those three folders right back into their same target locations, then run Firefox and about the only thing I have to do is click "Yes" when it asks to become the default browser on the new install. The rest is exactly where it was at the time I made the backup.

Hope this helps...
 
Joe Average said:
While it's possible to locate software to do this stuff, I personally just do it myself in about the same time by just backing up the three folders that make up Firefox (in Vista and Windows 7, I haven't run XP in so long I can't even begin to tell you how to do this on that OS anymore).

Regardless, on Vista/Windows 7 you'll need three folders:

\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox (if you're running the 64 bit version of either OS, it'll be \Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox)

\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Mozilla

\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla

The last two are hidden because AppData is a hidden system folder, you need to enable the ability to view such folders in the Explorer options to be able to see and access them.

Once you've copied those three folders to someplace else, you have a 100% perfect backup of Firefox, with everything as it was at the moment you made the backup: the cache, the addons, the extensions, the settings, etc.

I know that third party software basically goes in and makes copies of most of the content related to user profiles in Firefox, but I've had them fail on me so many times when it comes to restoring them that I finally gave up and figured out this better way of doing things. By copying those three folders, you've done more than just create a backup, you've basically recreated Firefox completely, bit-for-bit, and not just some of the profile data.

Works for me, maybe it'll work for you. When I do a clean install, I do that 3 folder copy to a safe location, reinstall the OS, and then drop those three folders right back into their same target locations, then run Firefox and about the only thing I have to do is click "Yes" when it asks to become the default browser on the new install. The rest is exactly where it was at the time I made the backup.

Hope this helps...
Click to expand...

I'm not saying you're wrong or anything, but I used to do the same and decided there had to be a better way. I had what I needed copied and instead of putting all of that back into the default Windows areas, I left the directory on another drive. After installing Firefox I edit the shortcut to include -profilemanager . I run the shortcut and it takes me to where I can select the profile I want to use. I type in the previous profile name I had and direct it to the directory where my old profile is stored and exit that. The next step is to remove the -profilemanager switch from the shortcut and you're set to go.

This makes for easy transferring of the profile to different systems and/or accounts. The exact same process can be used for Linux as well. Since I use Thunderbird for my email client I do the exact same with it.

This also comes in handy as I have a dual boot setup on my main machine. I keep the profiles on an NTFS partition/drive so I only use the single profile for both OSes.

 
Thanks for all the recommendations. I will try them out and see which works best for me.

While we are at it, I am wondering is there a way to share one "My Document" folder for multiple OSes? I currently have it on a separate storage drive, which is independent from other OS partitions. I am thinking about using one document folder for Vista32, Vista64, and Win7 64. Is this possible. I would be great to have all my OSes function as close as possible so I would not feel alienated working with non main OS.
 
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