"Background Tasks Profiles" What is this?

[BuddhaNature]

I'm running Firefox 106.0.5 (64-bit) on a newly installed Windows 10 Pro 22H2 system. I'm completely new to Win10 so discovering things as I go.

Today I went to backup my Firefox Profiles folder and the two associated 'ini' files. This would be what I would normally backup when saving my Profile.

However, I now see there is a new folder at %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox The new folder is titled Background Tasks Profiles. What is this folder? Does it only exist on Win10 systems? What do the contents of this folder do? Is it now necessary for me to have to backup this folder when backing up my User Profile?

[therube]

> /Background Tasks Profiles/
> What do the contents of this folder do?

So just what is in there? What are the dates of said items?...
(Don't have it on my end.)

[dickvl]

See:
1775132 - Allow select background tasks to use a persistent/not ephemeral/not temporary profile
https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org ... oundtasks/

[therube]

(Could some translate that into English?)

[BuddhaNature]

Holy whatever!!!! I agree with therube though thanks very much dickvl for at least pointing in a direction.

As things so happen I can't qualify what the folder contains now as my new install of Win10, it turns out, had some corrupt system files — which were supposedly repaired by Win10 /sfc, but I would never trust that so I formatted the drive and kissed goodbye to Win10, pure dog of a system in my opinion. If I'm forced off of Win7 then it's Linux for me.

No sign of Background Tasks Profiles in my Win7 system thank God — must be a Win10 thing.

Thanks for the help.

[dickvl]

This seems to be about special tasks that run in the background and need to use their own Firefox profile folder.
Some of these profiles are persistent (non-ephemeral) and some are temporary and created when necessary and removed once the task has ended or Firefox is closed.
You can compare this with the Browser Toolbox that also uses its own chrome_debugger_profile profile stored in the profile folder.
https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org ... r_toolbox/

You can check profiles.ini as that file would have a BackgroundTaskProfiles section for persistent (non-ephemeral) profiles if I understand the source code.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/profiles.ini_file

[BuddhaNature]

Okay, so I decided to have another go with Win10 Pro.

So now I have the Background Tasks Profiles folder showing in my %APPDATA%\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox location. I have zipped up that folder and posted it here for anyone interested that can't replicate on their own machines. I also looked at my profiles.ini file and it has changed to show reference to this Background Tasks Profiles folder. My profiles.ini file now reads thus:

Code: Select all

[Profile0]
Name=Cramond.Default
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/xb4943cv.Cramond.Default
Default=1

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1
Version=2

[InstallF5844425D5DAF8E]
Default=Profiles/xb4943cv.Cramond.Default
Locked=1

[BackgroundTasksProfiles]
MozillaBackgroundTask-F5844425D5DAF8E-backgroundupdate=wi86lrqp.MozillaBackgroundTask-F5844425D5DAF8E-backgroundupdate

So by my reading of that ini file it would seem that if I want to backup my Firefox profile in future in Win10 I need to include the Background Tasks Profiles folder in my backup. Am I correct in assuming that? That isn't problematic in itself as the content of the folder is minuscule (at least so far).

In any case, as the profile.ini is changing this is obviously something directly to do with what Firefox is doing on Win10 systems — though what Win10 configuration settings I might have for the Win10 install might be affecting this situation I do not know. I'm totally new to Win10, I have no idea what in amongst all the settings might be having a bearing on what causes this folder to be created.

P.S. The version of Win10 that I am using is version 22H2 the ISO of which was released 18 October 2022 — maybe that is significant. It has been updated over the internet once so the current full version number is 10.0.19045 Build 19045.

[BobbyPhoenix]

I also have that folder, and it's dated back in August 2022. Inside is another folder "MozillaBackgroundTaskxxxxxxxbackgroundupdate that was last modified today. It appears to have something to do with the version that came out around then. Maybe something new they added. Nothing to worry about I'm sure.

[tonynyc]

Does it only exist on Win10 systems?

Looks like it, Windows 7 here, no such folder, using latest FF v 107..