Profile folder
Mozilla applications store a user's personal information in a unique profile. The first time you start any Mozilla application, it will automatically create a default profile; additional profiles can be created using the Profile Manager. The settings which form a profile are stored in files within a special folder on your computer — this is the profile folder. The installation directory also includes a "profile" folder but this folder contains program defaults, not your user profile data.
For information on the profile folder specific to certain applications, including how to find the profile folder, see the following articles:
For other applications, see the information below. Some of these folders may be hidden.
| Operating system | Profile folder location(s) |
|---|---|
| Windows 95/98/Me | C:\Windows\Application Data\Mozilla\ C:\Windows\Profiles\<Windows login/user name>\Application Data\Mozilla\ |
| Windows NT 4.x | C:\Winnt\Profiles\<Windows login/user name>\Application Data\Mozilla\ |
| Windows 2000 and XP | C:\Documents and Settings\<Windows login/user name>\Application Data\Mozilla\ |
| Windows Vista | C:\Users\<Windows login/user name>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\ |
| Unix | ~/.mozilla/ |
| Mac OS X | ~/Library/Mozilla/ ~/Library/Application Support/ |
For Windows users
On Windows systems, the default location of the profile folder containing your user data is under the "Application Data" folder in Windows XP and earlier or under the "AppData" folder in Windows Vista. In Windows 2000 and later, these folders are hidden. To find your profile folder:
- Windows 2000 and XP: Choose "Start → Run → Type in %APPDATA% → click OK"
- Windows Vista: Press "Windows key+R" (or choose "Start → Start Search") → Type in %APPDATA% → press Enter"
This will open a Windows Explorer window showing the contents of the "Application Data" folder in Windows 2000 and XP or the "AppData\Roaming" folder in Windows Vista [1]. You can then open successive folders until you get to the profile folder.
If you want to browse to the default profile folder locations for Windows 2000 or later you will need to enable viewing of hidden files and folders in your Windows Folder Options. You can also search for specific files in your profile folder using Windows Search. In Windows 2000 you must first enable viewing of hidden files and folders; in Windows XP and Vista, you must enable searching for hidden files and folders in the Search tool itself. If you need more help viewing or searching hidden files and folders in Windows 2000 or later, see this article.
