Profile in use: Difference between revisions
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When Firefox, Thunderbird, or Mozilla Suite is in use, it locks the active [[Profile folder|profile]] to keep other programs from altering the contents or causing conflicts. This lock is normally transparent to the user, but sometimes the profile remains locked when it's not expected. | When Firefox, Thunderbird, or Mozilla Suite is in use, it locks the active [[Profile folder|profile]] to keep other programs from altering the contents or causing conflicts. This lock is normally transparent to the user, but sometimes the profile remains locked when it's not expected. If you launch the application, see the [[Profile Manager]] and are told that your profile is already "in use", that means the profile is locked. | ||
In Firefox 1.5, instead of a prompt to select a profile, a "Close Firefox " dialog will tell you that Firefox is already running but is not responding and that you should close the existing Firefox process or restart your system. | |||
==How to return to your original profile== | ==How to return to your original profile== | ||
If you experienced this problem and created a new profile, thereby causing all your bookmarks and settings to disappear, you can use the [[ | If you experienced this problem and created a new profile, thereby causing all your bookmarks and settings to disappear, you can use the [[Profile Manager]] to return to your original profile. If your original profile is still locked, try the solutions below. | ||
==How to unlock your profile== | ==How to unlock your profile== | ||
The application may not have shut down completely the last time it was used and the task or process may still be running "in the background", even though there are no open application windows. [[Kill application | Ending the running process]] is normally sufficient to unlock the profile. If the profile remains locked, try these other solutions: | |||
* | *Go through your [[Kill application | task or process list]] to see if multiple instances of the application are still running or not responding. End each instance found or restart the system. | ||
* The application may have shut down abnormally, leaving the lock in place. To fix this, delete the file named "parent.lock" (Windows), "lock" (Linux), or ".parentlock" (Mac OS X) in your [[Profile folder#Where is my profile folder? | profile folder]]. In OS X you need to use a free utility like Onyx or Maintain to turn on visibility for invisible files to show ".parentlock". This file contains no information, and deleting it will unlock the profile. | * The application may have shut down abnormally, leaving the lock in place. To fix this, delete the file named "parent.lock" (Windows), "lock" (Linux), or ".parentlock" (Mac OS X) in your [[Profile folder#Where is my profile folder? | profile folder]]. In OS X you need to use a free utility like Onyx or Maintain to turn on visibility for invisible files to show ".parentlock". This file contains no information, and deleting it will unlock the profile. | ||
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* Thunderbird will report that an instance of the application is in use or that another window is open if it has trouble locating the profile. For example, if you previously backed up a profile and then restored it to a new location, you must edit the profile.ini file in the application data directory so that Thunderbird can find it. If you make a typographical mistake or later rename the drive letter in which the profile is located, you will receive an error message like this. So for those who move their profile location from the application default location, make sure the profile.ini points to the correct location. | * Thunderbird will report that an instance of the application is in use or that another window is open if it has trouble locating the profile. For example, if you previously backed up a profile and then restored it to a new location, you must edit the profile.ini file in the application data directory so that Thunderbird can find it. If you make a typographical mistake or later rename the drive letter in which the profile is located, you will receive an error message like this. So for those who move their profile location from the application default location, make sure the profile.ini points to the correct location. | ||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
Revision as of 18:59, 1 December 2005
When Firefox, Thunderbird, or Mozilla Suite is in use, it locks the active profile to keep other programs from altering the contents or causing conflicts. This lock is normally transparent to the user, but sometimes the profile remains locked when it's not expected. If you launch the application, see the Profile Manager and are told that your profile is already "in use", that means the profile is locked.
In Firefox 1.5, instead of a prompt to select a profile, a "Close Firefox " dialog will tell you that Firefox is already running but is not responding and that you should close the existing Firefox process or restart your system.
How to return to your original profile
If you experienced this problem and created a new profile, thereby causing all your bookmarks and settings to disappear, you can use the Profile Manager to return to your original profile. If your original profile is still locked, try the solutions below.
How to unlock your profile
The application may not have shut down completely the last time it was used and the task or process may still be running "in the background", even though there are no open application windows. Ending the running process is normally sufficient to unlock the profile. If the profile remains locked, try these other solutions:
- Go through your task or process list to see if multiple instances of the application are still running or not responding. End each instance found or restart the system.
- The application may have shut down abnormally, leaving the lock in place. To fix this, delete the file named "parent.lock" (Windows), "lock" (Linux), or ".parentlock" (Mac OS X) in your profile folder. In OS X you need to use a free utility like Onyx or Maintain to turn on visibility for invisible files to show ".parentlock". This file contains no information, and deleting it will unlock the profile.
- Netscape 7 or another Mozilla-based program may be using the profile. Try shutting down this program to unlock the profile. Additionally, you should create separate profiles for each different application. Especially if you use both Mozilla Suite and Netscape 7, corruption can result from sharing the same profile between two different programs. (This problem is unlikely with Firefox and Thunderbird, since they do not share profiles with other applications in the way that Mozilla Suite and Netscape 7 can share profiles.)
- If you are running the application from removable media on a Windows system, open the "profiles.ini" file (located up a few levels in the folder hierarchy from your profile folder) and make sure that the drive letter and path to your profile are correct.
- This problem can also occur if you don't have the rights to edit the files in the profile (or create the lock file in the first place). Please note that this can happen if you try to use a profile from a filesystem mounted with read-only (e.g. a remote Windows share which doesn't have "allow network users to change my files" checked). This can be pretty tricky to diagnose because there is no lock file in the profile, yet the same message appears (profile in use). Incidentally, Linux users may have ~/.thunderbird and/or ~/.mozilla-thunderbird in their home directories if they have had more than one version of Thunderbird installed.
- Thunderbird will report that an instance of the application is in use or that another window is open if it has trouble locating the profile. For example, if you previously backed up a profile and then restored it to a new location, you must edit the profile.ini file in the application data directory so that Thunderbird can find it. If you make a typographical mistake or later rename the drive letter in which the profile is located, you will receive an error message like this. So for those who move their profile location from the application default location, make sure the profile.ini points to the correct location.
