How to run Firefox 2 & Firefox 3 at the same time

I use Firebug for all the front-end development and debugging. Unfortunately its not yet available for Firefox 3 beta. Its not just Firebug, there still are quite a few other useful extensions that have not been updated for Gran Paradiso(internal name for Firefox 3).
But at the same time, I have my own reasons to test/try out Firefox 3. So I found out a way to run FF2 and FF3 simultaneously. Following are the steps to do so:
(I assume that Firefox 2 is installed on your machine. If not, click here to install it.)

Step 1. Create a new profile for your Firefox 3 installation.
Go to the profile manager of firefox (type “/path/to/firefox.exe -profilemanager -no-remote” on the command prompt) and create a new profile called FF3.

Step 2. Download Firefox 3. And install it.

Step 3. Right click on the Firefox 2 icon and go to Properties. Add the following to the end of your target “-P default -no-remote”. This will make sure that whenever you run firefox 2, it opens in your default profile.

Step 4. Right click on the Firefox 3 icon and go to Properties. Add the
following to the end of your target “-P FF3 -no-remote”. This will
make sure that whenever you run firefox 3, it opens in your newly created, FF3
profile.

Thats it. You are done. Enjoy.

About this entry

You’re currently reading “How to run Firefox 2 & Firefox 3 at the same time,” an entry on /kapil/blog

Published:: 5.9.08 / 2pm

Category:: extension, firefox, installation

Tags:

About

I have over 6 years of experience in architecting and developing web applications.

I am currently working at Akamai Technologies as a Sr. Software Engineer responsible for gathering/conceptualizing requirements and architecting the “Media Analytics” product, which is part of the Akamai HD Network. Previously at Akamai, I was working in the portal development team for the “Performance Analytics” suite of products, responsible for feature development and usability enhancements. At Akamai, I have gained an in-depth understanding of the business of online “Analytics”, and building & using large-scale software for it.

Prior to this, I worked as a Technical Architect at Info Edge (I) Ltd (company that owns high traffic portals like: Naukri.com, Jeevansaathi.com, Brijj.com, 99acres.com etc.). I was the first member of the Brijj.com technical team and was responsible for hiring and bootstrapping the complete team; and architecting the product. For Naukri.com, I played a key role in implementing and optimizing Lucene based distributed and scalable Resume Search Engine in Core Java. I was also responsible for performance tweaking (Apache & Lighttpd for high performance and low response time), and taking initiatives to deliver smart, fast and quality products for the company.

Apart from these, I have also undergone six months of extensive training experience at Tata Consultancy Services, responsible for re-writing existing Pro*COBOL code in equivalent PL/SQL scripts.