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Create DEFAULT firefox profile via command line before the first run

  • 1 reply
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  • Last reply by cor-el

droidus
droidus
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Hi,

I want to setup a number of addons via command line on a completely fresh Firefox ESR installation on Linux (i.e. while Firefox hasn't been opened yet for the first time by the user). To do this, I first need a default profile directory, but the .mozilla folder is missing from the home path when I install Firefox (it is only created when I run the browser for the first time).

So I tried to create a profile immediately after installing FF:

firefox -createprofile default-esr

This creates the .mozilla folder containing a XXXXXXXX.default-esr directory and the profiles.ini file with the following contents:

[Profile0] Name=default-esr IsRelative=1 Path=XXXXXXXX.default-esr

[General] StartWithLastProfile=1 Version=2

However when I run FF for the first time later on, it completely skips this profile and instead generates a new default one, YYYYYYYY.default-esr-1, and profiles.ini is edited with the following contents:

[Profile1] Name=default-esr-1 IsRelative=1 Path=YYYYYYYY.default-esr-1

[Profile0] Name=default-esr IsRelative=1 Path=XXXXXXXX.default-esr Default=1

[General] StartWithLastProfile=1 Version=2

[Install3B6073811A6ABF12] Default=YYYYYYYY.default-esr-1 Locked=1

I can revert to the profile that I explicitly created by going to about:profiles and setting it again as the default, but this defeats the purpose because I want to prepare my profile via the command line without having to open FF to change a setting. Is this possible?

Hi, I want to setup a number of addons via command line on a completely fresh Firefox ESR installation on Linux (i.e. while Firefox hasn't been opened yet for the first time by the user). To do this, I first need a default profile directory, but the .mozilla folder is missing from the home path when I install Firefox (it is only created when I run the browser for the first time). So I tried to create a profile immediately after installing FF: firefox -createprofile default-esr This creates the .mozilla folder containing a XXXXXXXX.default-esr directory and the profiles.ini file with the following contents: [Profile0] Name=default-esr IsRelative=1 Path=XXXXXXXX.default-esr [General] StartWithLastProfile=1 Version=2 However when I run FF for the first time later on, it completely skips this profile and instead generates a new default one, YYYYYYYY.default-esr-1, and profiles.ini is edited with the following contents: [Profile1] Name=default-esr-1 IsRelative=1 Path=YYYYYYYY.default-esr-1 [Profile0] Name=default-esr IsRelative=1 Path=XXXXXXXX.default-esr Default=1 [General] StartWithLastProfile=1 Version=2 [Install3B6073811A6ABF12] Default=YYYYYYYY.default-esr-1 Locked=1 I can revert to the profile that I explicitly created by going to about:profiles and setting it again as the default, but this defeats the purpose because I want to prepare my profile via the command line '''without having to open FF''' to change a setting. Is this possible?

Modified by droidus

All Replies (1)

cor-el
cor-el
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  • Top 10 Contributor
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You can possibly install extensions and make other changes to settings via a policies.json or autoconfig file.