Mozilla Firefox
Contents
Terminology
INSTALL_DIR
One of:
-
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
-
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
PROFILE_DIR
%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\THE_NAME_OF_THE_PROFILE_HERE
The "old way"
The examples shown for the "old way" are estimated to have been used between Firefox versions 3.6.x and 17 ESR, but it's been long enough now that I don't know for sure.
Enable old extensions that fail Compatibility Check
Note: I've not tested this approach in many years.
Unfortunately this has to be done each time a major version of Mozilla Firefox is released and it is a per-user setting. We'll assume you're running Mozilla Firefox 14 for the purposes of these directions.
- Open Mozilla Firefox
- Type
about:config
in the address bar. - Right-click and select New
- Choose Boolean
- For the name type
extensions.checkCompatibility.14.0
and set the value tofalse
- Close Mozilla Firefox and reopen.
I use this method to enable Aardvark in recent Mozilla Firefox releases. I may eventually get around to trying HackTheWeb that is supposed to be its successor.
Display bookmarks toolbar
The current way
The current approach is to set the values within PROFILE_DIR\xulstore.json
:
{
"chrome://browser/content/browser.xul":
{
"PersonalToolbar":
{
"collapsed":"false",
"currentset":"personal-bookmarks"
}
}
}
The old way
- Edit
PROFILE_DIR\localstore.rdf
- Insert a new line or change an existing line to include the following setting
<RDF:Description RDF:about="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#PersonalToolbar"
collapsed="false" />
See the #Complete_example on this page for what a trimmed down, but completely functional file looks like. Not only is this setting illustrated but others as well.
Maximize on startup
The current way
The current approach is to set the values within PROFILE_DIR\xulstore.json
:
{
"chrome://browser/content/browser.xul":
{
"main-window":
{
"sizemode":"maximized"
}
}
}
The old way
Snippet
- Edit
PROFILE_DIR\localstore.rdf
- Insert a new line or change an existing line to include the following setting
<RDF:Description RDF:about="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#main-window"
sizemode="maximized" />
Disable profile migrations
This is used to turn off the prompt to migrate settings from other browsers on first launch.
- Edit or create
override.ini
- Insert or update the
EnableProfileMigrator
value
[XRE]
EnableProfileMigrator=false
This file can be placed in the following locations:
-
INSTALL_DIR\browser\override.ini
-
PROFILE_DIR\browser\override.ini
If you place it in the former directory, it will effect everyone using Firefox for the first time. If the second, it will effect both existing and new Firefox profiles.
References
Current config files
PROFILE_DIR\xulstore.json
Tested and confirmed to work with Mozilla Firefox 46 and 47, this appears to be the way to apply settings to a specific user profile. This file does the following:
- Maximizes window on application launch
- Displays the main menu (hidden by default)
- Displays the bookmarks toolbar (hidden by default)
{
"chrome://browser/content/browser.xul":
{
"main-window":
{
"sizemode":"maximized"
},
"toolbar-menubar":
{
"autohide":"false"
},
"PersonalToolbar":
{
"collapsed":"false",
"currentset":"personal-bookmarks"
}
}
}
Historical config files
PROFILE_DIR\localstore.rdf
Here is a complete copy of the file that I once used for lab environments (where I didn't have to worry with merging in the changes to existing files). Here we're maximizing the window in addition to displaying the bookmarks toolbar.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--
$Id$
$HeadURL$
Purpose:
#1)
Set the Firefox window to maximized. This file would be copied
over on every login, thereby preventing the window from coming up
sized smaller. Users are able to size it themselves during their
browsing session however.
#2
Always show Bookmarks Toolbar
-->
<RDF:RDF xmlns:NC="http://home.netscape.com/NC-rdf#"
xmlns:RDF="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">
<RDF:Description RDF:about="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#PersonalToolbar"
collapsed="false" />
<RDF:Description RDF:about="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#sidebar-title"
value="" />
<RDF:Description RDF:about="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#main-window"
sizemode="maximized" />
<RDF:Description RDF:about="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul">
<NC:persist RDF:resource="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#main-window"/>
<NC:persist RDF:resource="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#sidebar-box"/>
<NC:persist RDF:resource="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#sidebar-title"/>
<NC:persist RDF:resource="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#PersonalToolbar"/>
</RDF:Description>
</RDF:RDF>