this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2023
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How to fully separate Firefox instances on MacOs (lemmy.ml)
submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Hello!

Quick question: How do i completely separate (also with distinct names) Firefox instances?

What i mean by that:

On my old Intel Mac, i've made 4 copies of Firefox, one for work, safe browsing, and apps. I've renamed each with FF-name so i can quickly open them with spotlight. Each has it's own profile.

For that i "only" need to edit the Info.plist and all worked.

However since then i migrated to Apple Silicon and MacOs Ventura, which seems to interfere with my approach.

Do you guys have an alternative idea or better approach? Maybe docker containers or anything?

My main intent is that i have them as separate applications, so i can open them with spotlight and also do not accidentally share the wrong instance in a conference call.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (4 children)

firefox --Profile /path/to/separate/folder

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

This is the answer. I use firefox profiles a lot. They do not only give you the separation of the profiles, but also makes it easier to manage. Want a profile for work? Make one, sign up for firefox sync with your work e-mail, now log in also on your work phone, and your profile is there too. Do the same thing for your personal profile/e-mail/phone.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Also, you can manage your profiles at about:profiles.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Unfortunately that is not what I am looking for. I am already using named profiles. Like i stated in my original post as well as my answers below, this only works from Inside Firefox, however from the operating system pov it is still treated as the same application. Which means:

a) When i share the work profile, i also share all other profiles, as they are all Firefox b) When I quick access firefox via spotlight, i end up at the nearest, random profile / instance of firefox. c) There is no way to differentiate the profiles on an application level. d) I can not assign the instances to different desktops, as they are all Firefox.

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