Create Firefox portable version yourself

Unfortunately, since Mozilla itself does not offer a portable version of Firefox, you have to create it yourself in a few simple steps.

There are some portable versions available for download on the internet, but I prefer to create my own.

The advantage of this is that I can be sure that I will not get an unwanted search engine or homepage, or any other changes from Firefox.

When asked why you need a portable version, well, you could use it to test or try out another version such as the Nightly or the Beta version, or users of another browser can test Firefox because they are considering their browser switch.

Or you can create the portable version on a USB stick, so you can always take it with you.

Another advantage is that a portable version is not installed and therefore has no influence on the installed version, because it has its own profile folder.

And if you are no longer interested in it, simply delete the folder with the portable version.

But if you only want a copy of your installed Firefox version, there is an info box at the end of the post showing how you can do this very easily.

And now a description of how to create a portable version yourself.

(The description refers to the creation under the Windows operating system.)

And please don't be alarmed by the large amount of text and images.
Basically, only 6 things are necessary for this, which I have described very precisely:

1. Download the .exe file from Firefox.
2. Create a new Firefox Portable folder.
3. Unzip the .exe file.
4. Delete unnecessary files.
5. Create a new subfolder (profile folder).
6. Create a batch file to start the portable version.

And now it starts:

First you need the original installation .exe file from Firefox, and not the installer.

To do this, go to the Mozilla download page for Firefox.

firefox download

Here you must not click on the upper download button, but scroll down a bit and click on this middle link.

and then reaches this page for the different languages ​​and bit versions for the current Firefox version.

Again, scroll down a bit and look for the version in your desired language.

Now you just have to choose the right version for your operating system, i.e. 32bit or 64bit, and then click on the download button for it, and then click on save file in the download popup.

By default, the download is then saved in the Downloads folder.

As you can now see, it is the desired .exe file from Firefox.

Next you have to create a new folder.

You can create this folder, for example, under My Documents...on another hard drive ...on a USB stick or, as in this example, on the desktop.

Very important, please never create this folder under C\:Programs, or not where the operating system is installed.

To do this, simply right-click on the desktop...New...Folder..

Now that you have created a folder, give it an appropriate name.
To do this, right-click on the folder: Rename
In this case:

Firefox Portable

Now open the download folder where the .exe file from Firefox is located.

Now mark this .exe file with the left mouse button... then right-click on it and: Cut..

and right-click again in the Firefox Portable folder you just created: Paste.

Now you have to unpack this exe file.

The easiest way to do this is with a free program such as 7-Zip.

7-Zip download

Again, please select the correct bit version.

Now right-click on the Firefox exe file...7-Zip...unpack here,

and then gets these 3 files.

Next, let's delete the two files I marked, as we no longer need them.

The only thing left is the core folder , which we have to give a different name to.

To do this, right-click on this folder: Rename

The new name is: Firefox

Then we have to right-click..New...Folder to create a folder,

which we call:

give profile folder .

Looks like this with the two folders.

Now only one file is missing with which we can start our portable Firefox.

There is a Firefox .exe file in the Firefox folder, but we are not allowed to use it . It would then access the existing installed Firefox or its profile.

And so this own start file is then created.

To do this, right-click again..New..Text Document..

In this text document we now insert this text:

start "" Firefox\firefox.exe -no-remote -profile profile folder

This content means:

This addresses the firefox.exe file located in the Firefox folder.

no-remote-profile means you can use the portable and installed versions of Firefox at the same time, regardless of which version is started first.

Profile folder means the portable version should use this folder for the Firefox profile, not the installed Firefox one.

Since we first created the folder ourselves, it obviously has no content.

With the first start of our portable Firefox, the profile folder is automatically filled with all the necessary files.

And this is what the entry in the new text document looks like:

So, the last thing we have to do is rename this .txt file.

As an example, I'll use the designation:

FirefoxStarter.bat

and very important, make a .bat out of the .txt file extension (batch file)

What is a batch file?

That was all, and our portable version is ready.

If you now click on this .bat file, Firefox will open portably with it.

So that you don't have to click on the Firefox Portable folder on the desktop each time to access the file, right-click on the .bat file: Send to...desktop shortcut.

Then it looks like this:

If you want, you can now give the shortcut on the desktop a different name or a different icon by right-clicking on the file and selecting the desired change.

When you click on the .bat file, a small black window opens for a split second. But this has no influence on the function.

If this small CMD window bothers you, you can also create an .exe file from the .bat file to prevent this.
Another advantage is that you can then integrate the icon into the .exe file.

I wrote a post about how to do that here.

Convert batch file to exe file

If you only want a copy of your existing Firefox version, you can simply copy the installation folder under C:\ Mozilla Firefox and your existing profile folder and paste it into the newly created Firefox Portable folder. Then rename both folders as described above, or adjust the names/path in the batch file.

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