Using minefield and Firefox on the same machine

I'm using the normal Firefox 3.5.3 right now, but sometimes I read about some features that work in the development version(nicknamed Minefield) and I would like to take a look at them.

To that end, I've downloaded the .zip file with the latest dev-version from the mozilla servers.

Problem is that after I unzipped it and try to start it, what happens is that the current running instance of my normal Firefox is opened.

Does anybody know how to remedy this problem?

KdgDev

Posted 2009-10-04T20:32:20.020

Reputation: 4 708

Do you need them both open at the same time? – Sasha Chedygov – 2009-10-04T20:50:42.323

I don't want to close the normal one, but I would like to check out the special features of the development version. – KdgDev – 2009-10-04T21:10:34.530

Answers

the beauty of Sandboxie ...

every now and then i grab the portable version of the latest build (currently firefox-3.7a1pre.en-US.win32.zip) and run it in a separate sandbox.

not only can i run both browsers side by side simultaneously, Sandboxie also makes sure that no half-baked pre-release will ever make any permanent changes to the windows registry or may otherwise cause harm to the system, a win-win situation. :)

Molly7244

Posted 2009-10-04T20:32:20.020

Reputation:

That's really cool! Didn't know something like that existed. +1 – Sasha Chedygov – 2009-10-04T20:53:48.573

Firefox, when run normally, always looks for already present instances and doesn't open a new one if any is present.

However, You can bypass this behaviour by running a command (You can even make a shortcut to it):

firefox -no-remote -P PROFILE_NAME

You can create a profile by executing first:

firefox -P

(You should have a separate profile for the second instance of Firefox).

mgol

Posted 2009-10-04T20:32:20.020

Reputation: 246

I use this method for playing flash games. my normal profile loads flashblock and other stuff for locking down the browsing session. if i find one of the myriad flashgames out there that i like to play, i load a testing profile and add a bookmark to that site. if the game crashes the flash plugin (and thus the browser), my main browser session is unaffected. – quack quixote – 2009-10-05T01:55:57.147