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Set Firefox profile

Set a custom Firefox profile or use an existing profile for your tests that run on Firefox browsers in BrowserStack Automate.

Firefox profiles include custom preferences that you would like to simulate an environment for your test script. For example, you might want to create a profile that sets preferences to handle the download popup programmatically during your test run.

The following sections include sample code snippets to create a profile or use an existing profile with preferences that handle the download popup and successfully downloads the file.

Check out the available preferences at the MozillaZine Knowledge Base.

In this guide, you will learn about:

Creating a custom Firefox profile
Using an existing Firefox profile

Create a custom Firefox profile

Use the following sample code snippets to create a custom profile.

Selenium 4 W3C
Selenium Legacy JSON

      Java
    

      Node.js
    

      C#
    

      Python
    

      Ruby
    
import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.JavascriptExecutor;
import org.openqa.selenium.Platform;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxProfile;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxOptions;
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.DesiredCapabilities;
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver;

import java.net.URL;
import java.util.HashMap;

public class JavaSample {

  public static final String URL = "https://YOUR_USERNAME:YOUR_ACCESS_KEY@hub-cloud.browserstack.com/wd/hub";

  public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
    FirefoxProfile profile = new FirefoxProfile();
    profile.setPreference("browser.download.folderList", 1);
    profile.setPreference("browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting", false);
    profile.setPreference("browser.download.manager.focusWhenStarting", false);
    profile.setPreference("browser.download.useDownloadDir", true);
    profile.setPreference("browser.helperApps.alwaysAsk.force", false);
    profile.setPreference("browser.download.manager.alertOnEXEOpen", false);
    profile.setPreference("browser.download.manager.closeWhenDone", true);
    profile.setPreference("browser.download.manager.showAlertOnComplete", false);
    profile.setPreference("browser.download.manager.useWindow", false);
    // You will need to find the content-type of your app and set it here.
    profile.setPreference("browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk", "application/octet-stream");
    
    FirefoxOptions capabilities = new FirefoxOptions();
    capabilities.setCapability("browserName", "Firefox");
    capabilities.setCapability("browserVersion", "95.0");
    HashMap<String, Object> browserstackOptions = new HashMap<String, Object>();
    browserstackOptions.put("os", "OS X");
    browserstackOptions.put("osVersion", "Monterey");
    browserstackOptions.put("buildName", "Selenium Java Firefox Profile");
    browserstackOptions.put("sessionName", "Selenium Java Firefox Profile");
    browserstackOptions.put("userName", "YOUR_USERNAME");
    browserstackOptions.put("accessKey", "YOUR_ACCESS_KEY");
    capabilities.setCapability("bstack:options", browserstackOptions);
    capabilities.setProfile(profile);

    WebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL(URL), capabilities);
    driver.get("https://www.browserstack.com/test-on-the-right-mobile-devices");
    JavascriptExecutor jse = (JavascriptExecutor)driver;
    
    jse.executeScript("arguments[0].scrollIntoView();", driver.findElement(By.className("icon-csv")));
    jse.executeScript("window.scrollBy(0,-100)");
    Thread.sleep(2000);

    WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.className("icon-csv"));
    element.click();
    Thread.sleep(2000);

    jse.executeScript("browserstack_executor: {\"action\": \"fileExists\"}");
    jse.executeScript("browserstack_executor: {\"action\": \"getFileProperties\"}");
    driver.quit();
  }
}
const {
    Builder,
    By,
    Key,
    until
  } = require('selenium-webdriver');
const firefox = require('selenium-webdriver/firefox')
const fs = require("fs");
const webdriver = require('selenium-webdriver');
const bb = require('bluebird');
const sleep = require('util').promisify(setTimeout);

let profile = new firefox.Options();

profile.setPreference('browser.download.folderList', 1);
profile.setPreference('browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting', false);
profile.setPreference('browser.download.manager.focusWhenStarting', false);
profile.setPreference('browser.download.useDownloadDir', true);
profile.setPreference('browser.helperApps.alwaysAsk.force', false);
profile.setPreference('browser.download.manager.alertOnEXEOpen', false);
profile.setPreference('browser.download.manager.closeWhenDone', true);
profile.setPreference('browser.download.manager.showAlertOnComplete', false);
profile.setPreference('browser.download.manager.useWindow', false);
profile.setPreference('browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk', 'application/octet-stream');

let capabilities = {
    'browserName' : 'firefox',
    'browserVersion' : 'latest',
    'bstack:options' : {
        'os' : 'OS X',
        'osVersion' : 'Monterey',
        'userName': 'YOUR_USERNAME',
        'accessKey': 'YOUR_ACCESS_KEY',
        'buildName': 'Selenium NodeJS Firefox Profile',
        'sessionName': 'Selenium NodeJS Firefox Profile'
    }
}

const runTestWithCaps = async (capabilities) => {
    let driver;
    try {
      driver = new webdriver.Builder().
      usingServer('https://hub-cloud.browserstack.com/wd/hub').
        setFirefoxOptions(profile).
        withCapabilities(capabilities).
        build();
  
      await driver.get('https://www.browserstack.com/test-on-the-right-mobile-devices');
      const element = await driver.findElement(By.className('icon-csv'));
      await driver.executeScript('arguments[0].scrollIntoView();', element);
      await driver.executeScript('window.scrollBy(0,-200)');
      await driver.findElement(By.id("accept-cookie-notification")).click()
      await element.click();
      await sleep(5000);
      await driver.executeScript("browserstack_executor: {\"action\": \"fileExists\"}");
      await driver.executeScript("browserstack_executor: {\"action\": \"getFileProperties\"}");
    } catch (e) {
      console.log('Error ', e)
    } finally {
    //   await sleep(60000)
      await driver.quit();
    }
  }
  
  // runTestWithCaps({'browserName': 'firefox'});
  runTestWithCaps(capabilities);
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Threading;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Remote;
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using System.IO;
using System;
using System.Text;

namespace SeleniumTest
{
    class Program
    {
        public static void Main(string[] args)
        {

            FirefoxProfile firefoxProfile = new FirefoxProfile();
            firefoxProfile.SetPreference("browser.download.showWhenStarting", false);
            firefoxProfile.SetPreference("browser.download.folderList", 1);
            firefoxProfile.SetPreference("browser.download.manager.focusWhenStarting", false);
            firefoxProfile.SetPreference("browser.download.useDownloadDir", true);
            firefoxProfile.SetPreference("browser.helperApps.alwaysAsk.force", false);
            firefoxProfile.SetPreference("browser.download.manager.alertOnEXEOpen", false);
            firefoxProfile.SetPreference("browser.download.manager.closeWhenDone", true);
            firefoxProfile.SetPreference("browser.download.manager.showAlertOnComplete", false);
            firefoxProfile.SetPreference("browser.download.manager.useWindow", false);
            firefoxProfile.SetPreference("browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk", "application/octet-stream");

            FirefoxOptions capabilities = new FirefoxOptions();
            Dictionary<string, object> browserstackOptions = new Dictionary<string, object>();
            browserstackOptions.Add("os", "OS X");
            browserstackOptions.Add("osVersion", "catalina");
            browserstackOptions.Add("useW3C", "true");
            browserstackOptions.Add("buildName", "Selenium C# Firefox Profile");
            browserstackOptions.Add("userName", "YOUR_USERNAME");
            browserstackOptions.Add("accessKey", "YOUR_ACCESS_KEY");

            capabilities.AddAdditionalOption("bstack:options", browserstackOptions); 
            capabilities.Profile = firefoxProfile;

            RemoteWebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(
              new Uri("https://hub-cloud.browserstack.com/wd/hub"), capabilities
            );

            // Navigate to the link
            driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://www.browserstack.com/test-on-the-right-mobile-devices");
            IJavaScriptExecutor jse = (IJavaScriptExecutor)driver;

            Thread.Sleep(2000);

            // This will scroll the page till the element is found
            driver.ExecuteScript("arguments[0].scrollIntoView();", driver.FindElementByClassName("icon-csv"));
            driver.ExecuteScript("window.scrollBy(0,-100)");
            Thread.Sleep(2000);

            // Find element by class name and then click"             
            driver.FindElementByClassName("icon-csv").Click();
            Thread.Sleep(1000);
            driver.ExecuteScript("browserstack_executor: {\"action\": \"fileExists\"}");
            driver.ExecuteScript("browserstack_executor: {\"action\": \"getFileProperties\"}");
            driver.Quit();
        }
    }
}
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys
from selenium.webdriver.common.desired_capabilities import DesiredCapabilities
import time
from selenium.webdriver.firefox.options import Options as FirefoxOptions

options = FirefoxOptions()
options.set_preference('browser.download.folderList', 1)
options.set_preference('browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting', False)
options.set_preference('browser.download.manager.focusWhenStarting', False)
options.set_preference('browser.download.useDownloadDir', True)
options.set_preference('browser.helperApps.alwaysAsk.force', False)
options.set_preference('browser.download.manager.alertOnEXEOpen', False)
options.set_preference('browser.download.manager.closeWhenDone', True)
options.set_preference('browser.download.manager.showAlertOnComplete', False)
options.set_preference('browser.download.manager.useWindow', False)
# You will need to find the content-type of your app and set it here. We are downloading a gzip file.
options.set_preference('browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk', 'application/octet-stream')
# options.update_preferences()

caps = {
        "os" : "OS X",
        "osVersion" : "Catalina",
        "buildName" : "firefoxprofile- node",
        "sessionName" : "firefoxprofile- node",
        "local" : "false",
        "userName" : "YOUR_USERNAME",
        "accessKey" : "YOUR_ACCESS_KEY",
}
options.set_capability('bstack:options', caps)
options.set_capability('browserVersion', '95')
options.set_capability('browserName', 'Firefox')

driver = webdriver.Remote(
    command_executor='https://hub.browserstack.com/wd/hub',
    options=options)

# Navigate to the link
driver.get("https://www.browserstack.com/test-on-the-right-mobile-devices")

# Accept the cookie popup
test=driver.find_element_by_id("accept-cookie-notification").click()
time.sleep(2)

# Find element by class name and store in variable "element"
element = driver.find_element_by_class_name("icon-csv")
driver.execute_script("arguments[0].scrollIntoView();", element)
driver.execute_script("window.scrollBy(0,-100)")
time.sleep(2)

# Click on the element to download the file
clicked = element.click()
time.sleep(2)
driver.quit()
require 'rubygems'
require 'selenium-webdriver'

# Input capabilities
options = Selenium::WebDriver::Firefox::Options.new
options.add_preference('browser.download.folderList', 1)
options.add_preference('browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting', false)
options.add_preference('browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting', false)
options.add_preference('browser.download.useDownloadDir', true)
options.add_preference('browser.helperApps.alwaysAsk.force', false)
options.add_preference('browser.download.manager.alertOnEXEOpen', false)
options.add_preference('browser.download.manager.closeWhenDone', true)
options.add_preference('browser.download.manager.showAlertOnComplete', true)
options.add_preference('browser.download.manager.useWindow', false)
# You will need to find the content-type of your app and set it here.
options.add_preference('browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk', 'application/octet-stream')

options.browser_version = '95'
bstack_options = {
    "os" => "OS X",
    "osVersion" => "Sierra",
    "buildName" => "Final-Snippet-Test",
    "sessionName" => "Selenium-4 Ruby snippet test",
    "userName" => "YOUR_USERNAME",
    "accessKey" => "YOUR_ACCESS_KEY",
}
options.add_option('bstack:options', bstack_options)

driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for(:remote,
  :url => "https://hub-cloud.browserstack.com/wd/hub",
  :capabilities => options)

driver.navigate.to "https://www.browserstack.com/test-on-the-right-mobile-devices"
test = driver.find_element(id:"accept-cookie-notification").click
sleep(4)

element = driver.find_element(class:"icon-csv")
driver.execute_script("arguments[0].scrollIntoView();", element)
driver.execute_script("window.scrollBy(0,-100)")
sleep(2)

clicked = element.click()
sleep(2)
driver.quit

Use an existing Firefox profile

Using an existing profile from your local machine involves the following steps:

Creating the Firefox profile locally
Setting the Firefox profile in test scripts

Create the Firefox profile locally

In the Firefox browser, enter about:profiles in the address bar.
Create a new profile and click Launch profile in new browser.
Enter about:config in the address bar
Search for the following preferences in the search bar. If a preference is not autopopulated, you can add it manually.
- browser.download.showWhenStarting to false
- browser.download.folderList to 1
- browser.download.manager.focusWhenStarting to false
- browser.download.useDownloadDir to true
- browser.helperApps.alwaysAsk.force to false
- browser.download.manager.alertOnEXEOpen to false
- browser.download.manager.closeWhenDone to true
- browser.download.manager.showAlertOnComplete to false
- browser.download.manager.useWindow to false
- browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk to application/octet-stream

Check out the official Mozilla documentation for detailed information.

Setting the Firefox profile in test scripts

Use the following sample code snippets to use an existing Firefox profile.

Selenium 4 W3C
Selenium Legacy JSON

      Java
    

      Node.js
    

      C#
    

      Python
    

      Ruby
    
import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.JavascriptExecutor;
import org.openqa.selenium.Platform;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxProfile;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxOptions;
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.DesiredCapabilities;
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver;

import java.net.URL;
import java.util.HashMap;

public class JavaSample {

  public static final String URL = "https://YOUR_USERNAME:YOUR_ACCESS_KEY@hub-cloud.browserstack.com/wd/hub";

  public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
    FirefoxProfile profile = new FirefoxProfile();
    profile.setPreference("profile", "/Users/test/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/x0w613zr.firefox_profile");
    
    FirefoxOptions capabilities = new FirefoxOptions();
    capabilities.setCapability("browserName", "Firefox");
    capabilities.setCapability("browserVersion", "95.0");
    HashMap<String, Object> browserstackOptions = new HashMap<String, Object>();
    browserstackOptions.put("os", "OS X");
    browserstackOptions.put("osVersion", "Monterey");
    browserstackOptions.put("buildName", "Selenium Java Firefox Profile");
    browserstackOptions.put("sessionName", "Selenium Java Firefox Profile");      
    capabilities.setCapability("bstack:options", browserstackOptions);
    capabilities.setProfile(profile);

    WebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL(URL), capabilities);
    driver.get("https://www.browserstack.com/test-on-the-right-mobile-devices");
    JavascriptExecutor jse = (JavascriptExecutor)driver;
    
    jse.executeScript("arguments[0].scrollIntoView();", driver.findElement(By.className("icon-csv")));
    jse.executeScript("window.scrollBy(0,-100)");
    Thread.sleep(2000);

    WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.className("icon-csv"));
    element.click();
    Thread.sleep(2000);

    jse.executeScript("browserstack_executor: {\"action\": \"fileExists\"}");
    jse.executeScript("browserstack_executor: {\"action\": \"getFileProperties\"}");
    driver.quit();
  }
}
const {
    Builder,
    By,
    Key,
    until
  } = require('selenium-webdriver');
const firefox = require('selenium-webdriver/firefox')
const fs = require("fs");
const webdriver = require('selenium-webdriver');
const bb = require('bluebird');
const sleep = require('util').promisify(setTimeout);

let options = new firefox.Options('/Users/test/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/x0w613zr.firefox_profile');

let capabilities = {
    'browserName' : 'firefox',
    'browserVersion' : 'latest',
    'bstack:options' : {
        'os' : 'OS X',
        'osVersion' : 'Monterey',
        'userName': 'YOUR_USERNAME',
        'accessKey': 'YOUR_ACCESS_KEY',
        'buildName': 'Selenium NodeJS Firefox Profile',
        'sessionName': 'Selenium NodeJS Firefox Profile'
    }
}

const runTestWithCaps = async (capabilities) => {
    let driver;
    try {
      driver = new webdriver.Builder().
      usingServer('https://hub-cloud.browserstack.com/wd/hub').
        setFirefoxOptions(options).
        withCapabilities(capabilities).
        build();
  
      await driver.get('https://www.browserstack.com/test-on-the-right-mobile-devices');
      const element = await driver.findElement(By.className('icon-csv'));
      await driver.executeScript('arguments[0].scrollIntoView();', element);
      await driver.executeScript('window.scrollBy(0,-200)');
      await driver.findElement(By.id("accept-cookie-notification")).click()
      await element.click();
      await sleep(5000);
      await driver.executeScript("browserstack_executor: {\"action\": \"fileExists\"}");
      await driver.executeScript("browserstack_executor: {\"action\": \"getFileProperties\"}");
    } catch (e) {
      console.log('Error ', e)
    } finally {
    //   await sleep(60000)
      await driver.quit();
    }
  }
  
  // runTestWithCaps({'browserName': 'firefox'});
  runTestWithCaps(capabilities);
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Threading;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Remote;
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using System.IO;
using System;
using System.Text;

namespace SeleniumTest
{
    class Program
    {
        public static void Main(string[] args)
        {

            FirefoxProfile firefoxProfile = new FirefoxProfile("/Users/test/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/<name_of_your_profile>");

            FirefoxOptions capabilities = new FirefoxOptions();
            Dictionary<string, object> browserstackOptions = new Dictionary<string, object>();
            browserstackOptions.Add("os", "OS X");
            browserstackOptions.Add("osVersion", "catalina");
            browserstackOptions.Add("useW3C", "true");
            browserstackOptions.Add("buildName", "Selenium C# Firefox Profile");
            browserstackOptions.Add("userName", "YOUR_USERNAME");
            browserstackOptions.Add("accessKey", "YOUR_ACCESS_KEY");

            capabilities.AddAdditionalOption("bstack:options", browserstackOptions); 
            capabilities.Profile = firefoxProfile;

            RemoteWebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(
              new Uri("https://hub-cloud.browserstack.com/wd/hub"), capabilities
            );

            // Navigate to the link
            driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://www.browserstack.com/test-on-the-right-mobile-devices");
            IJavaScriptExecutor jse = (IJavaScriptExecutor)driver;

            Thread.Sleep(2000);

            // This will scroll the page till the element is found
            driver.ExecuteScript("arguments[0].scrollIntoView();", driver.FindElementByClassName("icon-csv"));
            driver.ExecuteScript("window.scrollBy(0,-100)");
            Thread.Sleep(2000);

            // Find element by class name and then click"             
            driver.FindElementByClassName("icon-csv").Click();
            Thread.Sleep(1000);
            driver.ExecuteScript("browserstack_executor: {\"action\": \"fileExists\"}");
            driver.ExecuteScript("browserstack_executor: {\"action\": \"getFileProperties\"}");
            driver.Quit();
        }
    }
}
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys
from selenium.webdriver.common.desired_capabilities import DesiredCapabilities
import time

options = webdriver.FirefoxOptions()
options.set_preference('profile', "/Users/test/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/<name_of_your_profile>")

caps = {
  
        "os" : "OS X",
        "osVersion" : "Monterey",
        "buildName" : "firefoxprofile- python",
        "sessionName" : "firefoxprofile- python",       
        "browserName" : "Firefox",
}
options.set_capability('bstack:options', caps)

driver = webdriver.Remote(
    command_executor='https://YOUR_USERNAME:YOUR_ACCESS_KEY@hub.browserstack.com/wd/hub',
    options=options)

# Navigate to the link
driver.get("https://www.browserstack.com/test-on-the-right-mobile-devices")

# Accept the cookie popup
test=driver.find_element_by_id("accept-cookie-notification").click()
time.sleep(2)

# Find element by class name and store in variable "element"
element = driver.find_element_by_class_name("icon-csv")
driver.execute_script("arguments[0].scrollIntoView();", element)
driver.execute_script("window.scrollBy(0,-100)")
time.sleep(2)

# Click on the element to download the file
clicked = element.click()
time.sleep(2)
driver.quit()
require 'rubygems'
require 'selenium-webdriver'

# Input capabilities
profile = Selenium::WebDriver::Firefox::Profile.new("/Users/test/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/x0w613zr.firefox_profile")
options = Selenium::WebDriver::Firefox::Options.new(profile: profile)
options.browser_version = '97'
bstack_options = {
    "os" => "OS X",
    "osVersion" => "Catalina",
    "buildName" => "Final-Snippet-Test",
    "sessionName" => "Selenium-4 Ruby snippet test",
    "userName" => "YOUR_USERNAME",
    "accessKey" => "YOUR_ACCESS_KEY",
}
options.add_option('bstack:options', bstack_options)

driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for(:remote,
  :url => "https://hub-cloud.browserstack.com/wd/hub",
  :capabilities => options)

driver.navigate.to "https://www.browserstack.com/test-on-the-right-mobile-devices"
test = driver.find_element(id:"accept-cookie-notification").click
sleep(4)

element = driver.find_element(class:"icon-csv")
driver.execute_script("arguments[0].scrollIntoView();", element)
driver.execute_script("window.scrollBy(0,-100)")
sleep(2)

clicked = element.click()
sleep(2)
driver.quit

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