Firefox Tweak : Sharing (Synchronize) Firefox Profiles Bookmarks, Extension, etc between Window XP and Windows Vista!

If you are using a system with Windows XP and Windows Vista and also use Firefox on both installations then you may find it annoying to manually synchronize profile settings like Bookmarks, Extensions, Passwords, History, Cookies, Preferences, etc between two Firefox installations!

It may be the case the you want to synchronize both firefox but left wondering how to do it? Also some may be using Google’s Browser sync which takes up lots of bandwidth! So here lets do it Geeky way without transferring single byte to or from any third party site!

#Before Going Ahead

Lets describe example scenario so that it will be easier to grasp the things.

1. I have installed Windows XP first.
2. I am using firefox on XP first.Also I have 2 Firefox profiles on windows XP. (Why and How I created two profiles?)
3. Say today I have installed Windows Vista and also a new firefox.
4. I am in Vista currently and my Vista installation drive is C: and XP is on D: Drive. (This may looks different if you switch between Operating Systems)
5. My user name is Devil on both installations.

#Lets do it (Before you gets bored 😉

A. Copying profile.ini

1. Open Windows Explorer [Hot-Key: Windows Key + E ].

2. Go to Windows XP’s Firefox Profile Folder. (Note:-Replace D: and Devil with your XP’s installation drive and user name respectively. Also save your path in text file for later use)

D:Documents and SettingsDevilApplication DataMozillaFirefox

1. Copy profile.ini file present in above folder (to clipboard) [Hot-key: Ctrl + C]

2. Now Go to Vista’s Firefox Profile Folder. (Note:- Replace C: and Devil with your Vista’s installation drive and user name respectively)

C:UsersDevilAppDataRoamingMozillaFirefox

Here note that AppData folder may be hidden and you may need to to unhide it by changing settings in Folder Options. You can alternatively click on Windows Explorers address bar any type the following:

%AppData%MozillaFirefox

1. Now you may find a profile.ini already existing in above folder. Delete it or rename it if you want to play safe!

2. Now paste profile.ini here which we were copied in step 3.

B. Modifying profile.ini :

1. Open profile.ini.

2. The content may look like as follows:

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1
[Profile0]
Name=default
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/fu77kq9n.default
Default=1
[Profile1]
Name=Guest
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/Guest

1. Now modify IsRelative=0 and Path=<Full Path>.

2. You can INSERT Path you have saved in above Step A.2 between “Path=” and “Profiles”. Also change ‘/’ after Profiles to ”.

3. With these changes Path=Profiles/Guest will become Path=D:Documents and SettingsYogiApplication DataMozillaFirefoxProfilesGuest.

4. Repeat above modifications for all entries.

5. Final content of profile will look like as follows:

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1
[Profile0]
Name=default
IsRelative=0
Path=D:Documents and SettingsYogiApplication DataMozillaFirefoxProfilesfu77kq9n.default
Default=1
[Profile1]
Name=Guest
IsRelative=0
Path=D:Documents and SettingsYogiApplication DataMozillaFirefoxProfilesGuest

Thats it all! Keep Syncin! 🙂