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Open Firefox in Private Mode by Default

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Opening a Firefox Private Window is oftentimes the first step persons who value privacy do when they open their browser.  That made me think:  can you configure Firefox to open in private mode by default?  It turns out you can.

about:config

When you type about:config in the address bar of Firefox, you are brought to a screen listing hundreds of options you can update to customize your Firefox experience.  about:config rightly comes with a warning that by modifying these options you may cause problems with your install; luckily the setting we want to update is simply a boolean.

about:config

browser.privatebrowsing.autostart

Update the browser.privatebrowsing.autostart setting, which defaults to false, to true.  Updating this setting ensures that Firefox windows and tabs open in private mode.  You will need to close and reopen your browser for the updated setting to kick in.

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Discussion

  1. neiker

    Also is available in Preferences -> Privacy -> Never remember history

  2. André Jaenisch

    Hallo, David,

    same question like Fakultet:

    Can I translate this article into German and link back to it? Which license applies?

    Kind regards,

    André

  3. Reynald

    Won’t this store cookies on the private firefox mode since it now opens standardly? Or will it be a separate firefox mode everytime I open firefox?

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