Firefox Command Line Options

Firefox Command Line Options

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Command_Line_Options

Command line options are used to specify various startup options for Mozilla applications. For example, you can use command line configuration options to bypass the Profile Manager and open a specific profile (if you have multiple profiles). You can also control how Mozilla applications open, which components open initially, and what the components do when they open. This page describes the commonly used options and how to use them.

Syntax Rules

But first, let's describe the syntax rules that apply for all options.

• Command parameters containing spaces must be enclosed in quotes; for example, "Joel User".
• Command actions are not case sensitive.
• Command parameters except profile names are not case sensitive.
• Blank spaces ( ) separate commands and parameters.
• Each message option follows the syntax field=value, for example:
  • to=foo@nowhere.net
  • subject=cool page
  • attachment=www.mozilla.org
  • attachment='file:///c:/test.txt'
  • body=check this page
• Multiple message options are separated by comma (,), for example: "to=foo@nowhere.net,subject=cool page" . Comma separators must not follow or precede spaces ( ). To assign multiple values to a field, enclose the values in single quotes ('), for example: "to='foo@nowhere.net,foo@foo.de',subject=cool page" .

Using command line options

Command line options are entered after the command to start the application. Some options have arguments. These are entered after the command line option. Some options have abbreviations. For example, the command line option "-editor" can be abbreviated as "-edit". (Where abbreviations are available, they are described in the text below.) In some cases option arguments must be enclosed in quotation marks. (This is noted in the option descriptions below.) Multiple command line options can be specified. In general, the syntax is as follows:

application -option -option "argument" -option argument

Examples

The following examples show the use of the "-ProfileManager" command, which will open the Profile Manager prior to starting Firefox or Thunderbird:

Windows

Select Run from Windows Start menu. Type:

firefox -ProfileManager

Mac OS X

Go to Applications > Utilities. Open Terminal and type:

cd /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS
./firefox -ProfileManager

Linux

Open Terminal and type:

cd Thunderbird installation directory
./thunderbird -ProfileManager

The example above invokes the "-ProfileManager" command line option with Mozilla's Thunderbird mail client.

User Profile

-CreateProfile profile_name

Create a new profile named profile_name, but do not start application. profile_name must not contain spaces ( ).

firefox -CreateProfile JoelUser

-CreateProfile "profile_name profile_dir"

Creates a new profile named profile_name in the profile_dir directory, but do not start application. Note profile_name and profile_dir are quoted together.

NOTE: profile_dir must not exist and you must not already have a profile called profile_name.

firefox -CreateProfile "JoelUser c:\internet\moz-profile"

-ProfileManager

Start with Profile Manager. Short form: -P without a profile name.

-P "profile_name"

Bypass Profile Manager and launch application with the profile named profile_name. Useful for dealing with multiple profiles. Note profile_name is case sensitive. If you don't specify a profile name then the profile manager is opened instead. You must use an upper case P on Linux with versions older than 7.x, as there lower case invokes Purify mode (memory and leak detection). Other platforms accept both upper and lower case.

firefox -P "Joel User"

-profile "profile_path"

Start with the profile with the given path. Firefox, Thunderbird and SeaMonkey2.x only.

"profile_path" can either be an absolute path ("/path/to/profile") or a relative path ("path/to/profile").

Note: On Mac OS X specifying a relative path is not supported anymore from Firefox 4.0 and up due to a regression, see bug 673955.

-no-remote

Allows multiple copies of application to be open at a time.

firefox -no-remote -P "Another Profile"

Note: Since Firefox 9, this does really mean what its name implies on all platforms, i.e. instances created with this parameter do not accept or send remote commands, see bug 650078. That means that such instances won't be re-used. Also when using this argument a new instance is created in any case.

-migration

Start with Import Wizard.

-override /path/to/override.ini

Load the specified override.ini file to override application.ini (browser/app/application.ini). This can be used to suppress the Migration Wizard at startup by loading the following override.ini. Firefox only.

[XRE]
EnableProfileMigrator=0

Browser

-browser

Start with the browser component. Firefox and SeaMonkey only.

-url URL

Open URL in a new tab or window, depend on the browser option. -url can be omitted. You may list multiple URLs, separated by spaces. Firefox and SeaMonkey only.

Note: When opening multiple URLs, Firefox always opens them as tabs in a new window.

firefox www.mozilla.com
firefox www.mozilla.com developer.mozilla.org

-private

Opens Firefox in permanent private browsing mode. Firefox 3.6 and later only.

Not Applicable in Ubuntu for Firefox 20 and later.

-private-window

Opens a new private browsing window in an existing instance of Firefox. Firefox 20 and later only.

-private-window URL

Open URL in a new private browsing window. If a private browsing window is already open, a new tab is opened in the existing window. Firefox 29 and later only. Does not work in Firefox 31 on linux mint 17 - results in page being opened in non-private window.

-new-tab URL

Open URL in a new tab. Firefox and SeaMonkey2.x only.

-new-window URL

Open URL in a new window. Firefox and SeaMonkey2.x only.

-search term

Search term with your default search engine. Firefox and SeaMonkey 2.1 and later only.

-preferences

Open Options/Preferences window. Firefox and SeaMonkey2.x only.

-setDefaultBrowser

Set the application as the default browser. Firefox only.

Mail/News

-mail

Start with the mail client. Thunderbird and SeaMonkey only.

-news news_URL

Start with the news client. If news_URL (optional) is given, open the specified newsgroup. Thunderbird and SeaMonkey only.

thunderbird -news news://server/group

-compose message_options

Start with mail composer. See syntax rules. Thunderbird and SeaMonkey only.

thunderbird -compose "to=foo@nowhere.net"

-addressbook

Start with address book. Thunderbird and SeaMonkey only.

-options

Open Options/Preferences window. Thunderbird only.

-offline

Start with the offline mode. Thunderbird and SeaMonkey only.

-setDefaultMail

Set the application as the default email client. Thunderbird only.

Calendar

-calendar

Start with the calendar client. Sunbird only.

-subscribe URL or -url URL

Subscribe to the given URL. Sunbird only.

-showdate date

Show your schedule of the given date. Sunbird only.

sunbird -showdate 08/04/2008

Other Components

-editor URL or -edit URL

Start with editor (Composer) for the given URL (where URL is optional). SeaMonkey only.

seamonkey -edit www.mozilla.org

-jsdebugger

Start application with Browser Toolbox (formerly Browser Debugger). That is different to Venkman debugger (see option -venkman).

-jsconsole

Start application with the Error Console.

The Error Console is deprecated in Firefox, and is now only made available if you set the devtools.errorconsole.enabled preference to true. Use the Web Console instead, for web content, or the Browser Console for chrome content.

Beginning with Firefox 28, -jsconsole will start Firefox with Browser Console instead.

-inspector URL

Start with the DOM Inspector, if installed, and inspect the given URL (where URL is optional).

-venkman

Start with the JavaScript debugger, Venkman, if installed.

-purgecaches

Gecko (layout engine) has a javascript cache, which is not reset on startup. This clears it.

-chat

Start with the IRC client, ChatZilla, if installed.

XULRunner

-app /path/to/application.ini

Start a new process running the XULRunner application at path/to. Also works with Firefox version 3 and above.

--register-global

Registers XULRunner on the system for all users. Must be run as admin / root.

--register-user

Registers XULRunner for a single user.

--unregister-global

Unregisters XULRunner for all users.

--unregister-user

Unregisters XULRunner for a single user.

--install-app path/to/myapplication.(xpi|xulapp)

Installs the XULRunner application at path/to onto the system. Applications are installed into the default location for your system (program files|Applications|usr/lib) at vendorname/applicationName.  Applications may be uninstalled per usual methods for your system.

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla XULRunner\1.8.0.4\xulrunner\xulrunner.exe" --install-app "C:\Users\Billdo\Desktop\myapplication.xpi"

/opt/xulrunner/1.8.0.4/xulrunner/xulrunner --install-app ~/Desktop/myapplication.xulapp

​/Library/Frameworks/XUL.framework/xulrunner-bin --install-app ~/Desktop/myapplication.xpi

Chrome

-chrome chrome_URL

Load the specified chrome.

firefox -chrome chrome://inspector/content

-register chrome_URL

Register the specified chrome, but do not start application.

Add-ons

Gecko 1.9.2 note

-install-global-extension and -install-global-theme have been removed from Gecko 1.9.2 and upwards.

-install-global-extension /path/to/extension

Installs the extension into the application directory. The parameter is the path to the extension. You must have administrative privileges.

-install-global-theme /path/to/theme

Same as above, but for themes. You must have administrative privileges.

Note: Since Firefox 2.0.0.7, use of the -install-global-extension and -install-global-theme command line arguments have been restricted to only allow installing add-ons that are on local disks or mapped drives. Installing from a network share directly will no longer succeed.

-safe-mode

Launches the application with all extensions disabled, for that launch only. (Extensions are not loaded, but are not permanently disabled in the Extension Manager data source).

Locale

-UILocale locale

Start with locale resources as UI Locale.

firefox -UILocale en-US

Remote Control

-remote remote_command

Execute remote_command in an already running application process (see remote control).

firefox -remote "openURL(www.mozilla.org, new-tab)"

Miscellaneous

-tray

Start application minimized to system tray. Useful with autorun.

-silent

Don't open default windows. Useful with those command-line arguments that open their own windows but don't already prevent default windows from opening. Firefox, Thunderbird3.x and SeaMonkey2.x only.

-console

Start application with a debugging console. Note: Windows only.

If you would like the console messages to appear in the console you used to launch the application, you can use the Gecko Console Redirector. Precompiled binaries are available in the zipped archive https://github.com/matthewkastor/Redirector/archive/master.zip under Redirector-master\Gecko\Console Redirector\bin\Release Copy all the dll's and the exe to wherever you want. Then run Console Redirector.exe /?

-h or -help or -?

Print the list of all available command line options. Note that on Windows this only works with a redirection such as |more (bug 355889). This option is available only in a command console.

-v or -version

Print application version. Note that on Windows this only works with a redirection such as |more (bug 355889). This option is available only in a command console.

-osint

Tells the application that it is being launched by the OS shell. This should not be specified unless the caller provides all of the functionality provided by the OS shell when launching the application (bug 384384).

-requestPending

Tells the application that there will be a Windows DDE request to open the same url specified on the command line. This should not be specified unless the caller provides all of the functionality provided by the OS shell when launching the application (bug 354005).

X11 options

These options are only available for an application build for and running atop the X11/X.org display and window system to be found on Linux and other Unix-based systems.

--display=DISPLAY

Set the X display to use

--class=WM_CLASS

Set the WM_CLASS resource class of the X11 windows created by the application.

--sync

Make X calls synchronous

--g-fatal-warnings

Make all warnings fatal

Other options need to be documented

• -print-xpcom-dir
• -print-xpcom-dirlist
• -kill
• -killAll
• -f
• -ftimeout
• -fwait
• -unsetDefaultMail
• -foreground
• -new-instance
• GTK options