Computer FAQs & Tips

At some instance, you were browsing Internet elsewhere and wishing you could have your version of firefox (installed at home?) with all your settings at that time so you could do what you ‘d want to do with the browser or just want to use it in the way you were used to be.

OK, there are some guys out there made it possible by recompile or rebuild firefox into a portable version by making a few modifications to the original software. However they are not officially available through Mozilla website. I guess a lot of people are happy with it, but there might be “minority people” would preferred the version downloaded from official vendor (Mozilla) like myself.

“minority people”! I’d like to welcome you to this blog and have a read on “Do It Your own” article. It is possible to make your own portable version and it is very simple to get it done.

Did I say “simple”? Yes it is, and here is how.

Below instruction is basically for Windows users.
Linux users, I am sure you can translate this instruction into a linux a version.

Setting it up

• First, download a copy of firefox from http://getfirefox.com
• Install it to your computer as per normal
• Complete the install with default wizard prompted
• Create these foldersC:\Portables\Mozilla\Firefox
  C:\Portables\Mozilla\_profiles\firefox
  
• Go to your firefox installed directory
  (ie. C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox)
• Select all files (Ctrl + A) and Copy (Ctrl + C)
• Paste them in C:\Portables\Mozilla\Firefox
• Now open Notepad
• Paste the following lineSTART Firefox\firefox.exe -profile _profiles\firefox
• Save as Firefox.cmd into C:\Portables\Mozilla directory
• Done!
• Now take a deep breath to release your concentration before you start your new fresh portable firefox…
• Double click on Firefox.cmd and enjoy

You will notice all your thunderbird profile and inboxes will be saved under C:\Portables\Mozilla\_profiles\firefox folder

Bring it with you

• Get yourself a USB Flash Disk or similar. I personally called it PDD (Portable Disk Drive)
• Copy entire Portables folder (created in previous step) from your C: drive to your PDD
• Use it anywhere by double click on Firefox.cmd
• Your Firefox profile and inboxes will be loaded from [drive_letter]:portables\Mozilla\_profiles\firefox where drive_letter is your PDD drive ( eg. F: )

The installed version of firefox is not needed anymore, you can now uninstall it from your computer and forget about it.