How to use Stable Firefox 3.10 and Latest Firefox 4 Simultaneously?

Recently, I encountered with a huge dilemma that whether to go with the stable version of Firefox 3.6 or the latest Firefox 4.0 beta 6. Both versions have its own set of pros and cons, as latest Firefox 4.0 b6 comes with HTML 5 support and also boasts a whole new look but since its in beta stage it sometimes encounters problems like many extensions doesn’t work, many add ons still are not compatible on 4.0 version platform and the list goes endless with frequent breakdown and many sites doesn’t open up too.

Sadly, you won’t be able to use your present Firefox version (say Firefox 3.6) with the latest beta release of Firefox 4.0 beta 6 and that’s quite an irritant to put you on a state of confusion that to go with the latest or stay with the stable?

The simple way would have been for me was to jump to other internet browsers like Google Chrome or Opera or even to the latest Internet Explorer 10, but that’s really not the wisest of the decisions if you are a Firefox lover like me and like you!

With a very basic and simple work around, you can use the latest as well as the stable both simultaneously and that too without any hassles. After installing the latest release of Firefox beta 6, you will find that all your data and settings with bookmarks get imported o the new version from your old (existing) one and that’s where the problem gets invited. What happens is both the versions of Firefox i.e. latest (Firefox 4.0 beta 6) and existing (Firefox 3.6) uses the same profile. Now, all you need to do is to set a specific profile for each build and you are done with using both the versions simultaneously.

For Windows 7 and Windows Vista

1. Exit Firefox. To close Firefox, at the top of the Firefox window, select the File menu, and then select Exit or you can select “save and exit” option by clicking on top right “x” button.

2. Now click on the Windows “Start” menu. In the Search box in the bottom left, type

firefox.exe -ProfileManager

3. Press Enter.

For Windows 2000 and Windows XP

1. Exit Firefox. To close Firefox, at the top of the Firefox window, select the File menu, and then select Exit or you can select “save and exit” option by clicking on top right “x” button.

2. Open the Windows Start menu and click Run….

3. In the Run dialog box, enter the following:

firefox.exe -ProfileManager

4. Click OK.

Now, after following the above procedure, you it should open the profile manager upon execution, and you’ll probably only see one profile named “default.” All you have to do is create a new profile for Firefox 4, but you may want to rename your existing profile to keep things tidy. I chose “Firefox3” and “Firefox4,” ideally use a name with no space in it.

As soon as you finish creating with both separate operating firefox profiles and naming it to firefox 3 and firefox 4 profiles, right-click each of your Firefox desktop shortcuts, open Properties, head to the Shortcut tab and add this to the end of the Target text: -p PROFILE -no-remote

By creating two separate profiles, Firefox 4 won’t have all the user data which you’ve accumulated in stable Firefox 3 version, but there is a quick fix for this, too. Go to the Windows directory %appdata%\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles and copy all the contents from your original profile to Firefox 4, overwriting everything which will further simplify your internet experience with a pinch of latest HTML 5.0 support.

So, now you are in a position wherein you can simultaneously use Firefox older as well as the latest release of Firefox version and yes don’t forget to keep updating your latest Firefox beta version. All your saved passwords, passwords as well as bookmarks get copied in your latest Firefox beta version. Now you can take a breather as you can now use both Firefox versions latest as well as the existing ones without any hassles. So why use one when you can use both!