How to Locate Your Firefox Profile Folder

Firefox allows you to create multiple profiles for saving your bookmarks, user names and extensions. To manage those profiles, it is helpful to locate your Firefox profile folder on your computer. Once you locate the profile folder, you will be able to backup your profiles or move them to a new location.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Computer with Internet access

Find Your Firefox Profile Folder on Your Computer

1. Click 'Start' from the desktop and then choose 'Run' from the menu.
2. In the 'Open' line, type '%AppData%' (without the quotes) and press the 'OK' button. This will automatically open the 'Application Data' folder on your computer.
3. Browse through the list of folders until you find the 'Mozilla' folder. Double-click the folder.
4. Find the 'Firefox' folder and double-click to open the folder.
5. Locate the 'Profiles' folder and double-click it as well.
6. Find the 'xxxxxxxx.default' folder and open it up. The Xs represent 8 random letters and numbers that will be unique to your computer.
7. Locate the profiles found in this folder.

Tips & Warnings

• These directions are for locating the Firefox profile folder in Windows XP and 2000. Visit the Firefox support page for comprehensive help with other operating systems (see Resources below).
• Download Firefox 2 at the Mozilla Web site (see Resources below).
• To use Firefox, your computer needs to meet minimum hardware requirements. For Windows, the minimum requirement is a 233 Mhz processor, 64 MB of RAM, 50 MB of free space on your hard drive and Windows 98 or greater. The minimum requirements for a Mac are a PowerPC G3 processor, 128 MB of RAM, 75 MB of space on your hard drive and Mac OS X 10.2.x. If you are using Linux, the minimum requirements are a 233 Mhz processor, 64MB of RAM, 50 MB of available hard drive space and Linux kernel 2.2.14.
• To prevent someone else from having access to your personal information, go to the 'Tools' menu and choose 'Options' and then the 'Privacy' tab. Here you will be able to tell Firefox to delete all of your information.
• Using multiple profiles on Firefox is for advanced users only. Only attempt to locate your Firefox profile folder if you are very comfortable with computers.
• These directions were written for Firefox 2.00.2. If you are running a prior version of Firefox, these steps may not work for you.