Some days ago we talk to you of the differences between incognito and guest modes in a web browser. In short, with one we can access our data, such as passwords and history, while the other is a temporary profile that neither saves information nor can see any of what already exists. Neither of us protects us from Google or the operators, but that's another topic. What we are going to discuss here today is the guest profile, one that does not exist in Firefox.
As we have already explained, when we open a guest profile We open the browser as in an initial state, as if we opened it for the first time. When you close it, your profile and usage will be destroyed, and this is what you have to do if you share your computer with other people. Firefox doesn't have anything like Chrome, Brave or Vivaldi, where you can access one of these profiles from the options, but it is possible to do something similar. It costs more, but it is possible.
Creating a guest profile in Firefox
What you have to do is the following, and we are going to start by explaining how to achieve it from the graphical interface:
- We open Firefox.
- Let's go to about:profiles. Here we will see all the profiles that are available. We have to click on "Create a new profile."
- We will see a welcome window with an explanation about the profiles. We click "Next".
- The following window is the one that will do all the work:
- In the text box we have to indicate the name of the profile. For example, "Guest" or the name of the person who will use it. This is what will later appear in about:profiles.
- You can choose a folder to save it in or leave it in the default Firefox folder. If one is not chosen, the profile will be saved in the path that appears below the text box.
- Finally, click "Finish."
- The profile will now have been created. If, as expected, we continue to the about:profiles page, we will see the profile in the list. Among the profile options is "Open profile in new browser", a button that we have to click to open the new guest profile that we just created.
If we enter the profile folder before opening it, we will see that it only has one times.json file; it is empty. It will finish creating when we start it. It will start as if we had just installed Firefox and we must finish the configuration and install the extensions we need, if applicable.
Delete profile and some tips
Delete the profile It is very simple: in the previous screenshot you also see the "Rename" and "Delete" options. Can you guess what to choose to delete the profile? Sure: "Delete", and choose "Delete files" in the pop-up window afterwards. The folder will disappear, and most importantly, the profile will be deleted. I explain this because if tests are carried out or tools such as the Linux Mint Web Application Manager are used, they delete the folders they have created, but the profile remains latent in Firefox.
There is another way to create profiles and access them, but it is with the terminal. It is not better or worse, it is different:
- We will create profiles with command firefox -CreateProfile «path_to_folder name», where "name" is the name of the profile and "path_to_folder" the folder where it will be saved (it must exist).
- We can access the profiles with the command firefox -P. A small window will open, less beautiful than about:profiles, but we will not need to open the browser to create, rename, delete or choose sessions.
This article has put the guest profile in focus, but it is explained here It is valid for any scenario in which it is necessary to separate the use of the browser. If we want the profile to be temporary, we have to delete it when it is finished using it. If we want it to be permanent, which can be used on the same computer by several users, we can name the profile and leave it. Here things are stored, something that must be taken into account.
This is the best way to use a guest profile in Firefox, at least until Mozilla adds a native option.