Firefox on a Thumb Drive

15 July 2004 56 Comments

Utilizing the advice from the good people over at Mozillazine, I was successfully able to setup Firefox on a thumb drive so I can use it wherever I go.

Here are the steps.

1. Download a fresh build of Firefox from their FTP site.

2. Extract the contents to a folder on your hard drive.

3. Create a directory called profile in the Firefox directory.

4. create a file called firefox.bat within the same directory that firefox.exe is in. Include the following line.

start firefox.exe -Profile “profile/”

5. Completely close all Firefox sessions and run this batch file.

6. Check the profile directory to ensure that it is populated with files and folders. If it isn’t, you haven’t closed Firefox completely.

7. COPY the contents of this folder to defaults/profile

8. Download and install extensions and if you have an existing set of bookmarks on another Firefox install, copy it into this directory from USER/Application Data/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/profilename/bookmarks.html

9. copy the entire Firefox folder to your thumb drive. Run it using the Firefox.bat file

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Tags: firefox, portable browser, thumb drive, usb stick

56 Responses to “Firefox on a Thumb Drive”

Jeff Clark 19 July 2004 at 5:13 pm #

Just out of curiosity, why would you want FireFox on a thumb drive anyways? I mean I’m a huge fan of it too, but I can handle IE while I’m at work or at my mom’s house for a while…
Jeff Clark 19 July 2004 at 6:13 pm #

Just out of curiosity, why would you want FireFox on a thumb drive anyways? I mean I’m a huge fan of it too, but I can handle IE while I’m at work or at my mom’s house for a while…
Jeff Clark 19 July 2004 at 6:13 pm #

Just out of curiosity, why would you want FireFox on a thumb drive anyways? I mean I’m a huge fan of it too, but I can handle IE while I’m at work or at my mom’s house for a while…
Jeff Clark 19 July 2004 at 6:13 pm #

Just out of curiosity, why would you want FireFox on a thumb drive anyways? I mean I’m a huge fan of it too, but I can handle IE while I’m at work or at my mom’s house for a while…
Jeff Clark 19 July 2004 at 6:13 pm #

Just out of curiosity, why would you want FireFox on a thumb drive anyways? I mean I’m a huge fan of it too, but I can handle IE while I’m at work or at my mom’s house for a while…
Jeff Clark 19 July 2004 at 6:13 pm #

Just out of curiosity, why would you want FireFox on a thumb drive anyways? I mean I’m a huge fan of it too, but I can handle IE while I’m at work or at my mom’s house for a while…
Jeff Clark 19 July 2004 at 6:13 pm #

Just out of curiosity, why would you want FireFox on a thumb drive anyways? I mean I’m a huge fan of it too, but I can handle IE while I’m at work or at my mom’s house for a while…
Jeff Clark 19 July 2004 at 6:13 pm #

Just out of curiosity, why would you want FireFox on a thumb drive anyways? I mean I’m a huge fan of it too, but I can handle IE while I’m at work or at my mom’s house for a while…
Fan of the fox 19 July 2004 at 8:52 pm #

Thanks a bunch, Aaron! I went out looking for how to do this and Google popped your site right up. As to why you would want Firefox on a thumbdrive Jeff- a couple reasons I can think of:

1) It’s just plain a better browsing experience.

2) All your favorite extensions & bookmarks ready to go at your fingertips, even while on the road (such as when making repair trips to another’s PC).

3) I can only recall one exploit thus far… do you really want to count IE’s?

4) Everything would be self-contained on the thumbdrive: pop it into someone else’s computer, surf the net without changing their average settings to your power-user settings, without leaving a mess in their history trail, without leaving them cookies, without leaving … you get the point.

5) No popups by default, a huge plus when trying to clean out some one else’s spyware- and adware-infected PC

6) No extensions installed that you didn’t put there – again handy when trying to clean out some one else’s infected PC.

7) See #1.

Thanks again Aaron, and happy browsing to all!
Fan of the fox 19 July 2004 at 9:52 pm #

Thanks a bunch, Aaron! I went out looking for how to do this and Google popped your site right up. As to why you would want Firefox on a thumbdrive Jeff- a couple reasons I can think of:

1) It’s just plain a better browsing experience.

2) All your favorite extensions & bookmarks ready to go at your fingertips, even while on the road (such as when making repair trips to another’s PC).

3) I can only recall one exploit thus far… do you really want to count IE’s?

4) Everything would be self-contained on the thumbdrive: pop it into someone else’s computer, surf the net without changing their average settings to your power-user settings, without leaving a mess in their history trail, without leaving them cookies, without leaving … you get the point.

5) No popups by default, a huge plus when trying to clean out some one else’s spyware- and adware-infected PC

6) No extensions installed that you didn’t put there – again handy when trying to clean out some one else’s infected PC.

7) See #1.

Thanks again Aaron, and happy browsing to all!
Fan of the fox 19 July 2004 at 9:52 pm #

Thanks a bunch, Aaron! I went out looking for how to do this and Google popped your site right up. As to why you would want Firefox on a thumbdrive Jeff- a couple reasons I can think of:

1) It’s just plain a better browsing experience.

2) All your favorite extensions & bookmarks ready to go at your fingertips, even while on the road (such as when making repair trips to another’s PC).

3) I can only recall one exploit thus far… do you really want to count IE’s?

4) Everything would be self-contained on the thumbdrive: pop it into someone else’s computer, surf the net without changing their average settings to your power-user settings, without leaving a mess in their history trail, without leaving them cookies, without leaving … you get the point.

5) No popups by default, a huge plus when trying to clean out some one else’s spyware- and adware-infected PC

6) No extensions installed that you didn’t put there – again handy when trying to clean out some one else’s infected PC.

7) See #1.

Thanks again Aaron, and happy browsing to all!
Fan of the fox 19 July 2004 at 9:52 pm #

Thanks a bunch, Aaron! I went out looking for how to do this and Google popped your site right up. As to why you would want Firefox on a thumbdrive Jeff- a couple reasons I can think of:

1) It’s just plain a better browsing experience.

2) All your favorite extensions & bookmarks ready to go at your fingertips, even while on the road (such as when making repair trips to another’s PC).

3) I can only recall one exploit thus far… do you really want to count IE’s?

4) Everything would be self-contained on the thumbdrive: pop it into someone else’s computer, surf the net without changing their average settings to your power-user settings, without leaving a mess in their history trail, without leaving them cookies, without leaving … you get the point.

5) No popups by default, a huge plus when trying to clean out some one else’s spyware- and adware-infected PC

6) No extensions installed that you didn’t put there – again handy when trying to clean out some one else’s infected PC.

7) See #1.

Thanks again Aaron, and happy browsing to all!
Fan of the fox 19 July 2004 at 9:52 pm #

Thanks a bunch, Aaron! I went out looking for how to do this and Google popped your site right up. As to why you would want Firefox on a thumbdrive Jeff- a couple reasons I can think of:

1) It’s just plain a better browsing experience.

2) All your favorite extensions & bookmarks ready to go at your fingertips, even while on the road (such as when making repair trips to another’s PC).

3) I can only recall one exploit thus far… do you really want to count IE’s?

4) Everything would be self-contained on the thumbdrive: pop it into someone else’s computer, surf the net without changing their average settings to your power-user settings, without leaving a mess in their history trail, without leaving them cookies, without leaving … you get the point.

5) No popups by default, a huge plus when trying to clean out some one else’s spyware- and adware-infected PC

6) No extensions installed that you didn’t put there – again handy when trying to clean out some one else’s infected PC.

7) See #1.

Thanks again Aaron, and happy browsing to all!
Fan of the fox 19 July 2004 at 9:52 pm #

Thanks a bunch, Aaron! I went out looking for how to do this and Google popped your site right up. As to why you would want Firefox on a thumbdrive Jeff- a couple reasons I can think of:

1) It’s just plain a better browsing experience.

2) All your favorite extensions & bookmarks ready to go at your fingertips, even while on the road (such as when making repair trips to another’s PC).

3) I can only recall one exploit thus far… do you really want to count IE’s?

4) Everything would be self-contained on the thumbdrive: pop it into someone else’s computer, surf the net without changing their average settings to your power-user settings, without leaving a mess in their history trail, without leaving them cookies, without leaving … you get the point.

5) No popups by default, a huge plus when trying to clean out some one else’s spyware- and adware-infected PC

6) No extensions installed that you didn’t put there – again handy when trying to clean out some one else’s infected PC.

7) See #1.

Thanks again Aaron, and happy browsing to all!
Fan of the fox 19 July 2004 at 9:52 pm #

Thanks a bunch, Aaron! I went out looking for how to do this and Google popped your site right up. As to why you would want Firefox on a thumbdrive Jeff- a couple reasons I can think of:

1) It’s just plain a better browsing experience.

2) All your favorite extensions & bookmarks ready to go at your fingertips, even while on the road (such as when making repair trips to another’s PC).

3) I can only recall one exploit thus far… do you really want to count IE’s?

4) Everything would be self-contained on the thumbdrive: pop it into someone else’s computer, surf the net without changing their average settings to your power-user settings, without leaving a mess in their history trail, without leaving them cookies, without leaving … you get the point.

5) No popups by default, a huge plus when trying to clean out some one else’s spyware- and adware-infected PC

6) No extensions installed that you didn’t put there – again handy when trying to clean out some one else’s infected PC.

7) See #1.

Thanks again Aaron, and happy browsing to all!
Fan of the fox 19 July 2004 at 9:52 pm #

Thanks a bunch, Aaron! I went out looking for how to do this and Google popped your site right up. As to why you would want Firefox on a thumbdrive Jeff- a couple reasons I can think of:

1) It’s just plain a better browsing experience.

2) All your favorite extensions & bookmarks ready to go at your fingertips, even while on the road (such as when making repair trips to another’s PC).

3) I can only recall one exploit thus far… do you really want to count IE’s?

4) Everything would be self-contained on the thumbdrive: pop it into someone else’s computer, surf the net without changing their average settings to your power-user settings, without leaving a mess in their history trail, without leaving them cookies, without leaving … you get the point.

5) No popups by default, a huge plus when trying to clean out some one else’s spyware- and adware-infected PC

6) No extensions installed that you didn’t put there – again handy when trying to clean out some one else’s infected PC.

7) See #1.

Thanks again Aaron, and happy browsing to all!
Peter Davis 14 September 2004 at 8:22 pm #

BTW, Social Security isn’t funded by the rich people. Only the first $86,000 of W2 income is taxed for Social Security. Thus, if someone has $20,000,000 in income this year, they pay the same exact amount of Social Security tax as a person making $86,000.

BTW, even though I think Bush is retarded, there’s no way I’ll vote for Kerry.
Peter Davis 13 May 2005 at 10:30 am #

BTW, Social Security isn’t funded by the rich people. Only the first $86,000 of W2 income is taxed for Social Security. Thus, if someone has $20,000,000 in income this year, they pay the same exact amount of Social Security tax as a person making $86,000.

BTW, even though I think Bush is retarded, there’s no way I’ll vote for Kerry.
Peter Davis 13 May 2005 at 10:30 am #

BTW, Social Security isn’t funded by the rich people. Only the first $86,000 of W2 income is taxed for Social Security. Thus, if someone has $20,000,000 in income this year, they pay the same exact amount of Social Security tax as a person making $86,000.

BTW, even though I think Bush is retarded, there’s no way I’ll vote for Kerry.
Peter Davis 13 May 2005 at 10:30 am #

BTW, Social Security isn’t funded by the rich people. Only the first $86,000 of W2 income is taxed for Social Security. Thus, if someone has $20,000,000 in income this year, they pay the same exact amount of Social Security tax as a person making $86,000.

BTW, even though I think Bush is retarded, there’s no way I’ll vote for Kerry.
Peter Davis 13 May 2005 at 10:30 am #

BTW, Social Security isn’t funded by the rich people. Only the first $86,000 of W2 income is taxed for Social Security. Thus, if someone has $20,000,000 in income this year, they pay the same exact amount of Social Security tax as a person making $86,000.

BTW, even though I think Bush is retarded, there’s no way I’ll vote for Kerry.
Peter Davis 13 May 2005 at 10:30 am #

BTW, Social Security isn’t funded by the rich people. Only the first $86,000 of W2 income is taxed for Social Security. Thus, if someone has $20,000,000 in income this year, they pay the same exact amount of Social Security tax as a person making $86,000.

BTW, even though I think Bush is retarded, there’s no way I’ll vote for Kerry.
Peter Davis 13 May 2005 at 10:30 am #

BTW, Social Security isn’t funded by the rich people. Only the first $86,000 of W2 income is taxed for Social Security. Thus, if someone has $20,000,000 in income this year, they pay the same exact amount of Social Security tax as a person making $86,000.

BTW, even though I think Bush is retarded, there’s no way I’ll vote for Kerry.
Peter Davis 13 May 2005 at 10:30 am #

BTW, Social Security isn’t funded by the rich people. Only the first $86,000 of W2 income is taxed for Social Security. Thus, if someone has $20,000,000 in income this year, they pay the same exact amount of Social Security tax as a person making $86,000.

BTW, even though I think Bush is retarded, there’s no way I’ll vote for Kerry.
Reece 21 August 2005 at 1:50 pm #

Sure, you can just use IE if you need to… but when you have lots of bookmarks, adblock and other extentions, and your passwords organized by firefox, it makes a lot of sense to carry all that with you. Just hope you don’t loose you thumb drive or you need to change all your website passwords!
Reece 21 August 2005 at 2:50 pm #

Sure, you can just use IE if you need to… but when you have lots of bookmarks, adblock and other extentions, and your passwords organized by firefox, it makes a lot of sense to carry all that with you. Just hope you don’t loose you thumb drive or you need to change all your website passwords!
Reece 21 August 2005 at 2:50 pm #

Sure, you can just use IE if you need to… but when you have lots of bookmarks, adblock and other extentions, and your passwords organized by firefox, it makes a lot of sense to carry all that with you. Just hope you don’t loose you thumb drive or you need to change all your website passwords!
Reece 21 August 2005 at 2:50 pm #

Sure, you can just use IE if you need to… but when you have lots of bookmarks, adblock and other extentions, and your passwords organized by firefox, it makes a lot of sense to carry all that with you. Just hope you don’t loose you thumb drive or you need to change all your website passwords!
Reece 21 August 2005 at 2:50 pm #

Sure, you can just use IE if you need to… but when you have lots of bookmarks, adblock and other extentions, and your passwords organized by firefox, it makes a lot of sense to carry all that with you. Just hope you don’t loose you thumb drive or you need to change all your website passwords!
Reece 21 August 2005 at 2:50 pm #

Sure, you can just use IE if you need to… but when you have lots of bookmarks, adblock and other extentions, and your passwords organized by firefox, it makes a lot of sense to carry all that with you. Just hope you don’t loose you thumb drive or you need to change all your website passwords!
Reece 21 August 2005 at 2:50 pm #

Sure, you can just use IE if you need to… but when you have lots of bookmarks, adblock and other extentions, and your passwords organized by firefox, it makes a lot of sense to carry all that with you. Just hope you don’t loose you thumb drive or you need to change all your website passwords!
Reece 21 August 2005 at 2:50 pm #

Sure, you can just use IE if you need to… but when you have lots of bookmarks, adblock and other extentions, and your passwords organized by firefox, it makes a lot of sense to carry all that with you. Just hope you don’t loose you thumb drive or you need to change all your website passwords!
Putor 19 October 2005 at 7:39 am #

Can you do the same or similar with IE?
Aaron Brazell 19 October 2005 at 8:19 am #

No Putor…. IE depends on the Windows runtime and cannot be used independent of the OS.
Putor 19 October 2005 at 8:39 am #

Can you do the same or similar with IE?
Putor 19 October 2005 at 8:39 am #

Can you do the same or similar with IE?
Putor 19 October 2005 at 8:39 am #

Can you do the same or similar with IE?
Putor 19 October 2005 at 8:39 am #

Can you do the same or similar with IE?
Putor 19 October 2005 at 8:39 am #

Can you do the same or similar with IE?
Putor 19 October 2005 at 8:39 am #

Can you do the same or similar with IE?
Putor 19 October 2005 at 8:39 am #

Can you do the same or similar with IE?
Aaron Brazell 19 October 2005 at 9:19 am #

No Putor…. IE depends on the Windows runtime and cannot be used independent of the OS.
Aaron Brazell 19 October 2005 at 9:19 am #

No Putor…. IE depends on the Windows runtime and cannot be used independent of the OS.
Aaron Brazell 19 October 2005 at 9:19 am #

No Putor…. IE depends on the Windows runtime and cannot be used independent of the OS.
Aaron Brazell 19 October 2005 at 9:19 am #

No Putor…. IE depends on the Windows runtime and cannot be used independent of the OS.
Aaron Brazell 19 October 2005 at 9:19 am #

No Putor…. IE depends on the Windows runtime and cannot be used independent of the OS.
Aaron Brazell 19 October 2005 at 9:19 am #

No Putor…. IE depends on the Windows runtime and cannot be used independent of the OS.
Aaron Brazell 19 October 2005 at 9:19 am #

No Putor…. IE depends on the Windows runtime and cannot be used independent of the OS.
Slant 2 November 2005 at 9:27 pm #

[Best mindless zombie voice] Must convert Jeff Clark’s mom to Firefox. :p
Slant 2 November 2005 at 9:27 pm #

[Best mindless zombie voice] Must convert Jeff Clark’s mom to Firefox. :p