Firefox Tip: Multiple Instances

It is sometimes useful to be able to log on to a site using two accounts. For example you may have to Gmail accounts. However, many sites only allow one concurrent login, meaning you have to log out or use another browser.

Firefox however can be made to start up using a different profile while another instance of the browser has another profile open. Firefox checks the system environment for a variable MOZ_NO_REMOTE. If this is set to 1 then opening Firefox will cause a new process to be opened and you will be prompted to choose another profile. I have found the easiest way to do this is to create a batch file to place on the desktop, every time you need a new instance of Firefox, just double click it :)

Code:

@echo off set MOZ_NO_REMOTE=1 rem Force Fx to open with the profile manager "C:\program files\mozilla firefox\firefox.exe" -profilemanager