Several copies of Firefox

[mac_audio]

Is there a way to run multiple copies of Firefox on my Mac?

My favorite browser is Firefox and I would like to be able to run two separate instances of Firefox on my Mac at the same time.

I want to do this because I have two daily uses for Firefox, and I want to keep work and personal things segregated.

Once copy would be for all things related to audio, and the second copy would be for work and personal.

 

[chabig]

I don't see any advantage to doing what you suggest. Just open your stuff in two windows if you want to keep them separate.

 

[kohlson]

Sounds like you want 2 different "personas." You could try opening a private window for the other instance, but this won't remember things. This may or may not work for your environment. Alternately, you could use a different browser.

 

[mac_audio]

Sounds like you want 2 different "personas." You could try opening a private window for the other instance, but this won't remember things. This may or may not work for your environment. Alternately, you could use a different browser.

I think Firefox has the best features, and I no longer trust Chrome.

Would be nice to be able to use all of the features I love about FireFox and have two separate copies of it, so for instance, I could go to copy 1 and access my_personal_email@yahoo.com and then switch to copy 2 and go to my_work_email@yahoo.com and not have to log out and log in.

I tried using Safari for a while, but don't like changes they have made to it.

 

[chabig]

How is using two copies any better than using one copy. It makes no difference. Open my_personal_email@yahoo.com in one window or tab and my_work_email@yahoo.com in another.

 

[mac_audio]

How is using two copies any better than using one copy. It makes no difference. Open my_personal_email@yahoo.com in one window or tab and my_work_email@yahoo.com in another.

Because a lot of websites prohibit that. Maybe because the cookies for yahoo are stored in the same place?

I used to used Firefox and Chrome to accomplish this, but I no longer like or trust Chrome, and so I'm either looking for a browser that has all of the features that Firefox has, like being able to see adn delete cookies or finding a way to run two separate copies of Firefox from my Mac.
[doublepost=1537644986][/doublepost]I cannot be logged into two email accounts at the same time on the same browser, and since I use two-factor authentication, it is a real pain to have to get a phone call or text message and log in again to switch between email accounts.

 

[chown33]

Browser cookies are managed by user account. I'm not aware of any browser that does it by tab or by window. Even two copies of the same app running under the same user account will generally use the same location for the browser's local storage (i.e. where it stores cookies, cache, etc.).

If you create a new user account on your Mac (System Preferences > Users & Groups), and ran the existing single copy of Firefox, you can maintain different cookies, logins, history, etc. for the two separate Mac accounts.

You can switch between the Mac accounts with Fast User Switching:
https://support.apple.com/kb/ph25396?locale=en_US

 

[jtara]

How is using two copies any better than using one copy. It makes no difference. Open my_personal_email@yahoo.com in one window or tab and my_work_email@yahoo.com in another.

Did you actually try that? I don't use Yahoo (who still does?) but I can tell you as a software developer (I often have to log in to multiple accounts, e.g. my own personal account, developer account, "master" company developer account, etc. simultaneously) where that does NOT work:

- Google
- Apple
- IBM

This is because they all follow the "single sign-on paradigm. Once you are logged-in to any of their services, when you open a page in a new window, you don't need to sign-in again. Even if different services. e.g. Google doesn't differentiate between signing-in for search vs signing-in to developer resources vs. GMail. When you log-out, you have logged-out from all, as well.

So, I use two different browsers. My default is Chrome. If I have to open a window on a different account, I typically use Safari for the second.

For some of the browsers, you may find they have "developer edition", or beta, or some other special build that keeps it's cookies in a separate location.

 

[Longkeg]

After I wrote the following reply I realized that it been years since I’ve played with this kind of thing and the tech may be different now. Take it following for whatever it’s worth and please set me straight if I’m in error:

You can have as many copies of the Firefox app as you like but it will not behave the way you want. What you want to do is not possibly because all Firefox data, bookmarks, preferences, cookies, etc., live “under the hood” in various places within the MacOS itself. It’s never a good idea to play around with these folders/files, as it can really mess up your Mac. When you open Firefox it scans these files and picks up the new session where the last one left off. It doesn’t matter whether you open copy A, B, C or whatever. The apps will always refer back to those saved preference files and open Firefox accordingly regardless of which copy you choose.

To do what you describe would require a separate system library, which would require a separate OS running on a separate hard drive. Not the most elegant solution IMO.

 

[mac_audio]

After I wrote the following reply I realized that it been years since I’ve played with this kind of thing and the tech may be different now. Take it following for whatever it’s worth and please set me straight if I’m in error:

You can have as many copies of the Firefox app as you like but it will not behave the way you want. What you want to do is not possibly because all Firefox data, bookmarks, preferences, cookies, etc., live “under the hood” in various places within the MacOS itself. It’s never a good idea to play around with these folders/files, as it can really mess up your Mac. When you open Firefox it scans these files and picks up the new session where the last one left off. It doesn’t matter whether you open copy A, B, C or whatever. The apps will always refer back to those saved preference files and open Firefox accordingly regardless of which copy you choose.

To do what you describe would require a separate system library, which would require a separate OS running on a separate hard drive. Not the most elegant solution IMO.

I think using different browsers is probably the most practical way to do what I want. The only problem is that the more I read about browser security and privacy the more it seems like we are all doomed. I think everything I read today about safe open-source browsers cancelled each other out!

Not sure what to do...

 

[jtara]

The only problem is that the more I read about browser security and privacy the more it seems like we are all doomed. I think everything I read today about safe open-source browsers cancelled each other out!

Not sure what to do...

The safest browser is one that runs in Linux distro that you load from CD-ROM and runs from RAM (with no access to your hard/flash drive).

Alternately, run a Linux distro in a VM, and do not grant any access to your MacOS filesystem.

 

[chabig]

I think using different browsers is probably the most practical way to do what I want. The only problem is that the more I read about browser security and privacy the more it seems like we are all doomed. I think everything I read today about safe open-source browsers cancelled each other out!

Not sure what to do...

I like chown’s idea. The best way to keep your personal stuff separate from your work stuff is to have two accounts, one for each, and fast user switch between them.

 

[mfjdn]

I know this is a long time after the original post, but I also found myself wanting to do this, and there is a really easy way to do this now. This is only any good if you want to run multiple copies of the same (presumably latest) version. If you want to run older versions for development, etc, you'll have to use other techniques.

This uses Firefox "profiles", which have been in Firefox (and predecessors) for ages, but used to be quite fiddly to use (command line options). In recent versions of Firefox, there is now a nice easy UI to use. Each profile is like a separate user account for Firefox, and has its own history, settings, bookmarks, add-ons, and local storage (including cache and cookies).

Simply type about:profiles into the address bar, which will take you to the profile editor. You'll see at least one "default" profile, and if you've ever used "nightly" or "beta" versions of Firefox you'll see additional profiles for those too. Click the "Create a New Profile" button at the top, and follow the wizard, which starts with a good explanation of what profiles are. For most cases, simply giving it a sensible name (say, "Work") and allowing the default folder (under Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles as for your default profile) is probably fine.

Now, for every profile that's not currently in use, you'll see buttons underneath, including "Launch profile in new browser". Click that button, and it will launch an entirely separate copy of Firefox using that profile. You can verify that it's using the new profile by looking at the settings, which will all be set to the new user defaults.

Yes, it's a bit of a pain to go through about:profiles to launch the extra copies, but once it's launched it's just another icon in your Dock. It might be a good idea to change some cosmetic settings in each profile so that you can easily recognise which one you're looking at.

There are also some solutions circulating using Automator to start Firefox with an alternate profile. That is still an option even if you use Profile Manager like this.

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