Firefox on a USB memory stick!

gutzalpus · Post by **gutzalpus** » January 30th, 2004, 8:41 pm

Is anyone else having the problem that using this script eliminates functionality of "save link target as" and "save page as"? I don't think it should be in the faq just yet given that it causes a fairly major bug in Firebird's functionality.

Walter K · Post by **Walter K** » January 31st, 2004, 4:29 am

Here is a modified script that I used. There might be a need to create a Desktop folder under Profiles - that's the folder Firebird tries to use the first time it saves a file. I change folder instead. The script has a few extra vars defined just to be safe and configurable.

NOTE: There is a modified script version later in the thread.

echo off
set myUsbRoot=%cd%
rem get rid of trailing slash if running of disk root
FOR %%a IN (A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z) DO IF %%a:\==%cd% set myUsbRoot=%%a:

set USERNAME=usbuser
set USERPROFILE=%myUsbRoot%\Profiles\%USERNAME%
set APPDATA=%USERPROFILE%\Application Data

rem setting temp dirs
set TEMP=%myUsbRoot%\temp
set TMP=%TEMP%

rem make sure all needed dirs exist
ECHO Creating required folders
if NOT exist "%USERPROFILE%" mkdir "%USERPROFILE%"
if NOT exist "%APPDATA%" mkdir "%APPDATA%"
if NOT exist "%TEMP%" mkdir "%TEMP%"
if NOT exist "%TMP%" mkdir "%TMP%"

set fbHome=%myUsbRoot%\MozillaFirebird
if exist "%fbHome%\MozillaFirebird.exe" ECHO Starting...
if exist "%fbHome%\MozillaFirebird.exe" start %fbHome%\MozillaFirebird.exe %1 %2 %3
echo on

Post by **alanjstr** » January 31st, 2004, 1:34 pm

walter: you would want to modify your prefs.js for the download dir.

TheDormouse · Post by **TheDormouse** » January 31st, 2004, 2:06 pm

Does anyone know if an autorun.inf works on a USB keychain? That would be nice: plug it in and Firebird starts.

Walter K · Post by **Walter K** » January 31st, 2004, 2:37 pm

alanjstr wrote:walter: you would want to modify your prefs.js for the download dir.

The script I have is to make default .zip build to run from a USB drive. All other customizations/plugins/etc. are the next steps if one needs those extras.

scragz · Post by **scragz** » January 31st, 2004, 9:23 pm

I can't get this to work; it still uses the default appdata dir. I even removed my existing appdate/phoenix folder, but it created another one.

Pgr · Post by **Pgr** » February 1st, 2004, 4:34 am

This batch file and all is very nice to have... but wouldn't it be better to have the default FB package being fully functional, regardless of the drive where it is installed?

I mean, is there a bug for this? Is it being worked on? (with all due respect for all the people who work on bugs - I know you're busy)

I think it's a very cool thing - very unlike Microsoft :-)

- to have software that doesn't assume tons of things about your system - it just adapts.

And taking your browser, bookmarks, extensions, etc. around with you on a USB drive sounds to me like a feature that can delight many potential FB users. And it seems we're very near achieving it!

Post by **alanjstr** » February 1st, 2004, 11:40 am

The market for a portable browser probably is not very large. Firebird allows you to install it anywhere. The point of this "hack" is to take your profile anywhere, too. Unfortunately, that is not how it was engineered.
http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=150453
http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=157662

IGAU · Post by **IGAU** » February 1st, 2004, 11:51 am

The market probably isn't very large, but the benefits for those who would use it are. Also, I cant think of many browsers or other pieces of software that would allow you to do this. It gets my vote... and great work on that batch file walter.

TheDormouse · Post by **TheDormouse** » February 1st, 2004, 11:59 am

IGAU wrote:The market probably isn't very large, but the benefits for those who would use it are.

While the market for Firebird to do this might be small, doing this for Thunderbird might be quite desirable to a lot of people. And I have a feeling that once the "portable profile" works for Firebird it could easily be ported to Thunderbird.

mai9 · Post by **mai9** » February 1st, 2004, 12:52 pm

I am not sure if the market is that small. A lot of geeks and non-geeks I know have bought a pendrive to carry their files around.

In fact, you can find computers everywhere today, and a pendrive makes that computer *your* computer. A very cheap alternative to laptops IMHO.

critter · Post by **critter** » February 1st, 2004, 7:00 pm

Slimeboy wrote:My school blocks .exe files so i cant run firebird. But i will talk and see if i cant get a special provesion.

rename MozillaFirebird.exe to explorer.exe

Pgr · Post by **Pgr** » February 2nd, 2004, 5:07 am

About how big is the market for portable browsers: most people don't know they want it, but they might get friendly with the idea after they tried it.

A portable IE is a totally useless piece of crap (same as a non-portable IE :-)

) because IE exists everywhere you go (windows world), it is the same everywhere except for your "Favorites". But FB is really customizable with themes, extensions, etc. So portable browser seems to be especially adequate feature for FB.

I just thought of something that hadn't ocurred to me before, while I was writing the previous paragraph. What about inter-platform portability on a USB drive? Like having two directories with the binaries for Win32 and Linux, and a single profile folder with Extensions/Themes/Bookmarks/Options/etc. This way even multi-platform users could enjoy the benefits of having a single browser... Is this possible?

Jaycatt · Post by **Jaycatt** » February 4th, 2004, 10:13 am

Okay, so I've tried the batch file that Walter K suggested above, and it works fine for when the USB is showing as Drive G:, but when I move the USB stick to another computer where it comes up as drive E:, when I start Firebird I'm asked to create a new Profile since it can't find the default. I check all the variables (i.e. %cd%) and they are indeed showing the correct drive letters. Is there another change I'm missing? Or do I need to make a new Profile for each of the other drive letters I may be encountering?

I'm using Windows XP, if that makes any difference.

Thanks to all that can help. I'm just looking for an easy way to carry a browser around as I troubleshoot PCs out in the field, mostly so I can always get my bookmarks and have a working Java client (you'd be surprised how many people don't have Java working on the PCs I visit).

Antrex · Post by **Antrex** » February 4th, 2004, 3:33 pm

Hey, this is really the kind of thing i never knew i wanted

Gotta go get myself a usb drive some day soon....