Firefox on a Thumb Drive

by Aaron Brazell on July 15, 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

Tagged as: firefox, portable browser, thumb drive, usb stick

{ 56 comments }

1 Jeff Clark 07.19.04 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…
2 Jeff Clark 07.19.04 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…
3 Jeff Clark 07.19.04 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…
4 Jeff Clark 07.19.04 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…
5 Jeff Clark 07.19.04 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…
6 Jeff Clark 07.19.04 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…
7 Jeff Clark 07.19.04 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…
8 Jeff Clark 07.19.04 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…
9 Fan of the fox 07.19.04 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!
10 Fan of the fox 07.19.04 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!
11 Fan of the fox 07.19.04 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!
12 Fan of the fox 07.19.04 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!
13 Fan of the fox 07.19.04 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!
14 Fan of the fox 07.19.04 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!
15 Fan of the fox 07.19.04 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!
16 Fan of the fox 07.19.04 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!
17 Peter Davis 09.14.04 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.
18 Peter Davis 05.13.05 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.
19 Peter Davis 05.13.05 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.
20 Peter Davis 05.13.05 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.
21 Peter Davis 05.13.05 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.
22 Peter Davis 05.13.05 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.
23 Peter Davis 05.13.05 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.
24 Peter Davis 05.13.05 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.
25 Reece 08.21.05 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!
26 Reece 08.21.05 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!
27 Reece 08.21.05 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!
28 Reece 08.21.05 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!
29 Reece 08.21.05 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!
30 Reece 08.21.05 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!
31 Reece 08.21.05 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!
32 Reece 08.21.05 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!
33 Putor 10.19.05 at 7:39 am: Can you do the same or similar with IE?
34 Aaron Brazell 10.19.05 at 8:19 am: No Putor…. IE depends on the Windows runtime and cannot be used independent of the OS.
35 Putor 10.19.05 at 8:39 am: Can you do the same or similar with IE?
36 Putor 10.19.05 at 8:39 am: Can you do the same or similar with IE?
37 Putor 10.19.05 at 8:39 am: Can you do the same or similar with IE?
38 Putor 10.19.05 at 8:39 am: Can you do the same or similar with IE?
39 Putor 10.19.05 at 8:39 am: Can you do the same or similar with IE?
40 Putor 10.19.05 at 8:39 am: Can you do the same or similar with IE?
41 Putor 10.19.05 at 8:39 am: Can you do the same or similar with IE?
42 Aaron Brazell 10.19.05 at 9:19 am: No Putor…. IE depends on the Windows runtime and cannot be used independent of the OS.
43 Aaron Brazell 10.19.05 at 9:19 am: No Putor…. IE depends on the Windows runtime and cannot be used independent of the OS.
44 Aaron Brazell 10.19.05 at 9:19 am: No Putor…. IE depends on the Windows runtime and cannot be used independent of the OS.
45 Aaron Brazell 10.19.05 at 9:19 am: No Putor…. IE depends on the Windows runtime and cannot be used independent of the OS.
46 Aaron Brazell 10.19.05 at 9:19 am: No Putor…. IE depends on the Windows runtime and cannot be used independent of the OS.
47 Aaron Brazell 10.19.05 at 9:19 am: No Putor…. IE depends on the Windows runtime and cannot be used independent of the OS.
48 Aaron Brazell 10.19.05 at 9:19 am: No Putor…. IE depends on the Windows runtime and cannot be used independent of the OS.
49 Slant 11.02.05 at 8:27 pm: [Best mindless zombie voice] Must convert Jeff Clark’s mom to Firefox. :p
50 Slant 11.02.05 at 9:27 pm: [Best mindless zombie voice] Must convert Jeff Clark’s mom to Firefox. :p
51 Slant 11.02.05 at 9:27 pm: [Best mindless zombie voice] Must convert Jeff Clark’s mom to Firefox. :p
52 Slant 11.02.05 at 9:27 pm: [Best mindless zombie voice] Must convert Jeff Clark’s mom to Firefox. :p
53 Slant 11.02.05 at 9:27 pm: [Best mindless zombie voice] Must convert Jeff Clark’s mom to Firefox. :p
54 Slant 11.02.05 at 9:27 pm: [Best mindless zombie voice] Must convert Jeff Clark’s mom to Firefox. :p
55 Slant 11.02.05 at 9:27 pm: [Best mindless zombie voice] Must convert Jeff Clark’s mom to Firefox. :p
56 Slant 11.02.05 at 9:27 pm: [Best mindless zombie voice] Must convert Jeff Clark’s mom to Firefox. :p

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