How can I prevent my user profiles from disappearing?
My Firefox shortcuts are configured to launch with the Profile Manager ("-p"). On launch, I create a profile, which works perfectly.
After a system reboot, the profile is missing, but the folder still exists in the Mozilla App Data folder, where it would normally be. I can create a new profile with the existing data, but this kind of defeats the purpose of the Manager utility.
Is there a reason Profile Manager doesn't retain the list of profiles that are stored on my system?
Opaite Mbohovái (2)
Does Firefox open if you don't use the -p switch to bring up the Profile Manager?
If not, do you see the profiles.ini file in the folder above where you find those Profiles? If so, open the profiles.ini file in any text program, like Notepad, and see if all the Profiles that you have created are listed there. If none are listed there, or only the "default" is listed there - that's why you don't see any Profiles listed in the Profile Manager window - although I would expect the "default" to appear there at least.
If no profiles.ini file is found in the same folder as the \Profiles\ folder - that is another reason that why you don't see any Profiles listed in the Profile Manager window. The Profile Manager "reads" that file to display your various Profiles.
Overall, sounds like you have something botched up or there is a file "locked" or set to "read-only" that needs to be "written to" to keep track of each new Profile as it is being created.
I would rather suspect that some software is protecting the profiles.ini file on system boot and thus removes all profiles that have been created during the previous Windows session.
There is software like Advanced SystemCare with its Surfing Protection feature that can protect files in the Firefox profile folder against changes. If you have such software then check the settings or uninstall this software.