Using Zotero Standalone with multiple installations of Firefox on the same drive?

jgmeyer
Sorry if this has been answered before (I couldn't find it, but maybe the answer's obvious and I'm just oblivious, I dunno): can you use a single installation of Zotero Standalone with multiple separate installations of Firefox on the same disk? ZSA works beautifully with my normal Firefox, however it refuses to cooperate with my installation of Firefox Portable; if I try to start it while FFP is running, I get the following error:

"Your Zotero database is currently in use. Only one instance of Zotero using the same database may be opened simultaneously at this time. If Firefox with the Zotero extension is open, please close it and restart Zotero Standalone."


If I try the reverse (opening FFP while ZSA is running) the Browser starts fine (and I can even save webpages via the Zotero right-click context menu), but any attempt to open files from the ZSA window opens them in external processes/viewers or launches my main Firefox installation and opens them in a tab in that one. In addition, Zotero for Firefox cannot alternate between connector mode and normal without restarting FFP, and if I click the Zotero icon on the add-on bar while ZSA is running, I get the following message:

"Zotero is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Zotero process, or restart your system."


(Clicking the icon after closing ZSA relaunches the application; restarting FFP restores it to opening the Zotero for Firefox pane)



Weirdly, however, as long as FFP is started after either ZSA or my main FF, I am able to use ZSA with BOTH installations running simultaneously. Which...is directly contradictory to what I thought was the entire reason for the error messages in the first place.



So anyway, I guess this is just a really long-winded way of asking if anyone has any ideas, and should what I'm trying to do even work?
  • adamsmith
    I'm a bit confused about your set-up:
    You're running Zotero on Firefox portable, but you have it pointed to the same db as the two other Zotero installations? And the database for all three is on the USB-stick/external HD?

    In general I don't think Zotero is tested with Zotero portable, so you may be able to create weirdness using it.
  • jgmeyer
    Sorry I wasn't clear; all three are installed on the same HDD (owing to some weirdness a while back, I ended up installing FFP on my computer (in a folder on the Desktop; so, "C:\Users\myname\Desktop\...\FirefoxPortable") to run as a separate process from my normal one ("C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox") for work stuff so any boneheaded mistakes I made would be less likely to cause me to lose important stuff in the middle of fiddling with something.

    Zotero Standalone, and the Zotero add-on in both are all pointing at the same database (storing them in "C:\Users\myname\AppData\Roaming\Zotero\Zotero\Profiles\2i4spgk4.default\zotero"), ZSA and FFP just don't seem to want to link up properly.

    Actually, to add on to the weirdness, I just tried this with my portable external HDD (forgot I had Zotero and FFP installed on it), and THAT copy (once updated) doesn't have the same problem as the one installed on my HDD! I am very confused.


    I suppose it makes sense that this is not a very widely encountered problem. I wouldn't have noticed it if I had kept running my FFP from an external device, it seems.
  • aurimas
    Are you using any flags to start these Firefox/ZSA installations? I find that -no-remote flag causes communication issues (I think as expected)
  • jgmeyer
    Not that I'm aware of, but I imagine that such flags might be built into the "FirefoxPortable.exe" launcher/app used to launch the FFP install. Would that be listed in about:config?
  • aurimas
    edited April 28, 2013
    Unfortunately I'm not aware of any place in FF to check this, but I can see the flags using http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx (which is a great alternative to windows task manager anyway).

    Edit: You should be able to see it using Windows Task Manager too (you need to enable the Command column, I believe), but I can't give you step-by-step instructions, since I disabled it long time ago.

    On a fresh install of FF portable, Firefox is started with only one flag, which is -profile (and that's not a problem).

    Also on a clean install of FFP, I can start ZSA after starting FFP.

    If I do add the "-no-remote" flag, I get the same exact message you are describing. If you are starting FFP from a shortcut, right-click it, go to Properties and check the Target field for any trailing flags. If you're starting directly from FirefoxPortable.exe, try reinstalling FFP.
  • jgmeyer
    Well that's interesting. Following up on that and looking for what setting I had changed, I find that setting the FirefoxPortable.ini to say "AllowMultipleInstances=false" allows me to use ZSA properly. I guess that's the solution to my problem, although this does make me wonder if there was a setting conflict between the browser and Zotero.

    Oh, and thanks! :)
  • aurimas
    edited April 29, 2013
    That would do it. AFAIK, the only way to run multiple instances of Firefox is through the -no-remote flag. From my experience this would cause problems communicating with ZSA as well as Word/LibreOffice plugins.

    I added a warning about this to http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/portable_firefox

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