FF 4.0 Beta 6 - Taskbar icons with multiple profiles

[wmarcello]

I just wanted to increase the visibility of this problem and mention that it still occurs with RC 1. Seems like this is the relevant bug:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=577867

[e6matt]

This is still an issue with the official release of FF4. I had 2 profiles with 2 separate pinned shortcuts in my Windows 7 taskbar. I could run both profiles separately, but only one of the shortcuts would show as active. I unpinned the shortcuts to see if pinning them again would fix anything, but now I can't even pin both shortcuts as separate items in the taskbar.

[BrianShea]

This is a big pain for me.
I had 3 different profiles, each with their own shortcut and customized icon. Each were pinned to Win7 taskbar. (both 64bit and 32bit).

When opening, each profile would be with each separate pinned icon. Now, with FF4, all of this behavior has changed. There seems to be just one instance of FF, no matter how many profiles are open.

I now am reverting to using Chrome for certain profiles, so I can keep things separate.

[x31forest]

Anyone have any workaround for this issue? It's still happening in the release version.

I tried the win7appid application from google code, and changed the appId of the lnk but it made no difference. I think the appid is set when the main window is opened and it's a hardcoded value.

[x31forest]

Ok, found a way to do this and it kinda works ( i can't get the icons for my 2 separate firefox shortcuts)

It was discussed in this: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=577867

I have 2 copies of firefox installed, one for me, one for my wife.
I edited the application.ini file in each, and changed the version Name=Firefox to Name=MyFirefox in the first firefox install, and then set the Name=HerFirefox in the second copy's application.ini.

The profiles are now looked up in %APPDATA%\Roaming\Mozilla\MyFirefox and %APPDATA%\Roaming\Mozilla\HerFirefox, each with the default profile being used.

I'll get back to the thread if I find any issues ( or fix my shortcut icon problem )

[BrianShea]

installing another copy of Firefox is a way to get it working, but I'll wait till they fix this 'feature'. Imagine having 5 profiles, each with it's own version of Firefox, each needing to be updated.

Currently, I turned off grouping of icons on the taskbar (w7-64bit) so I at least have two separate items on the taskbar for my profiles (when open). And also using Chrome and IE9 for other profiles as needed.

I've had to hold off upgrading my other computers to FF4 due to this.

Hopefully it will be fixed soon. When is FF5 due out?

[KWierso]

June or July.

[x31forest]

Yea, the fix should not be too hard. They should use the profile name in addition to what's currently used when setting the appId for the win7 taskbar.

By the way, the shortcut icon issues are fixed ( http://en.kioskea.net/faq/9481-firefox- ... ain-window )

[KilliK]

any progress with this problem?
i have tried FF5 beta2,FF6 aurora and FF7 nightly but the problem remains.different profiles are grouped in the same taskbar icon.
i thought it was going to be fixed with Firefox 5? or we have to wait for the final version? :/

[BrianShea]

any progress with this problem?
i have tried FF5 beta2,FF6 aurora and FF7 nightly but the problem remains.different profiles are grouped in the same taskbar icon.
i thought it was going to be fixed with Firefox 5? or we have to wait for the final version? :/

I gave up on it and now use a different browser instead.
I prefer to have everything in Firefox, but there is probably something technical here.

Rather than waste my time trying to get FF to work the way it used to, it's quicker to just use Chrome for 2nd profile.

I'm just surprised the power users haven't found this to be a problem.

[ffextensionguru]

any progress with this problem?
i have tried FF5 beta2,FF6 aurora and FF7 nightly but the problem remains.different profiles are grouped in the same taskbar icon.
i thought it was going to be fixed with Firefox 5? or we have to wait for the final version? :/

I have not heard anything in a while about changes to the Profile Manager UI. However, to easily manage the nearly 10 different versions of Firefox and the associated profiles I use the ProfileManager. There is one task bar icon which brings up an interface you can choose which profile you wish to run. I also have more info on my blog as well.

[KilliK]

still no fix with FF8 aurora and FF9 nightly.
back to Chrome.permanently.

[chodorowicz]

Yep, the only solution I've found is to use two version of FF for two profiles (I'm using stable and beta at the moment), but the solution is not perfect.

[ptsampoukas]

This is fixed in Firefox 10 (possibly earlier). The fix (bug https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=577867) alters the ID that Windows uses to group the taskbar icons together, based on the profile name.

Here are the instructions to apply it:
1. Open about:config
2. Right click on an empty space and press "new" => "boolean"
3. When prompted set the name to taskbar.grouping.useprofile and the value to true
4. Restart firefox