If you created multiple profiles in the Firefox browser and want to create a desktop shortcut to a specific Firefox profile, this step-by-step guide will help you do that. You do not need a third-party add-on or software to create a desktop shortcut to a specific profile and open the browser with that profile.
Like Google Chrome, you can create multiple profiles in the Mozilla Firefox browser. Whether you want to create a profile for video streaming or browsing, you can do everything normally with any profile. If the two in-built profiles are not enough for you, you can create a custom profile and personalize it as per your requirements.
The problem starts when you want to switch from one profile to another. Although Google Chrome has a user-friendly option to switch between profiles, Firefox doesn’t have a similar option. You need to open about:profiles to switch from the current profile to another once. If you often change your profile due to any reason, you can create a desktop shortcut and pin it to Taskbar or Start Menu to open Firefox with that profile quickly.
How to create desktop shortcut to specific Firefox profile
To create a desktop shortcut to a specific Firefox profile, follow these steps:
- Open File Explorer on your computer.
- Navigate to this path: C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
- Right-click on exe and select the Show more options.
- Select the Send to > Desktop (Create shortcut) option.
- Right-click on the desktop shortcut and select Properties.
- Enter -P “profile-name” at the end of the Target box.
- Click the OK button.
- Double-click on the desktop shortcut to open Firefox with a specific profile.
To learn more about the aforementioned steps, continue reading.
At first, you need to create a desktop shortcut of the Firefox browser. If you already have one and want to convert it to be opened with a specific profile, you do not need to follow the next few steps and jump into the 5th step directly.
To get started, open the File Explorer on your computer and navigate to this path:
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
It is the default installation directory of the Firefox browser. However, if you selected something else while installing this browser, you need to open that directory. Then, right-click on the firefox.exe file and select the Show more options.
Alternatively, you can press Shift+F10 to open the old context menu. Next, select the Send to > Desktop (Create shortcut) option.
Following that, go to the Desktop, right-click on the desktop shortcut of the Firefox browser, and select the Properties option.
Put your cursor at the end of the Target box and enter the following text:
-P "profile-name"
Don’t forget to replace the profile-name with the original profile name of your Firefox browser that you want to open.
Next, click the OK button to save the change. After that, you can double-click on the desktop shortcut to open the Firefox browser with the selected profile.
To verify, you can enter about:profiles in the address bar after opening the Firefox browser to check if This is the profile in use and it cannot be deleted message is showing under your profile name or not.
Once you are done with creating the desktop shortcut, you can pin it to the Taskbar as well as Start Menu.
How do I create a desktop shortcut in Firefox?
To create a desktop shortcut in the Firefox browser, you need to click on the padlock icon visible in the address bar first. Then, you can drag it on your desktop. A shortcut will be created automatically for the particular website. However, if you want to create a shortcut for the app itself, you need to use the Properties menu.
How do I have two Firefox profiles open at the same time?
You can have two Firefox profiles opened at the same time like Google Chrome. Whether you want to open two or three profiles simultaneously, you can do so with the help of the aforementioned guide. At first, you need to open a desktop shortcut of a specific profile. Then, you can open one profile using the desktop shortcut and another one from the Start Menu. Alternatively, you can enter about:profiles in the address bar in the Firefox browser and click the Launch profile in new browser button visible under a specific profile. It will open a new window with the desired profile.
That’s all! Hope this tutorial helped you create a desktop shortcut to the specific Firefox profile.
Read: Firefox Profile Manager lets you create, remove or switch Firefox profiles
