Use your desktops "run" option? Usually alt+f2.
I've made my own profile picker using yad years ago, since mozilla's doesn't suit my usecase.
this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2026
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Few options off the top of my head:
- Open a terminal (e.g. Ctrl+Alt+T) and type "firefox -p &". The & operator runs the process in the background so it will continue to run even when the terminal is closed
OR
- Use your desktops equivalent to windows "run". So for example, on KDE use Krunner (Alt+F2 or Alt+Space usually launches it) and type in "firefox -p"; it usually defaults to running a command. There is also a dedicated "Run Command" plasmoid that can be added to your desktop. On Gnome, I think the "run a command" dialogue will do the same (also Alt+F2 I believe).
OR
- Add an app entry to your desktops menu for Firefox Profile Manager. On KDE if you type Profile, "Profile Manager - Firefox" already exists as a Krunner action; so you can easily get it from your menu or krunner just typing Profile. If it doesn't exist then you can use your desktop's menu editor to copy the firefox entry and add the -p as the command line argument. On KDE that done most easily by right clicking on the menu icon and selecting "edit applications..." or search for menu editor. Other desktops will be very similar.
surround it by nohup and put & at the end of the command.
it would be better to run the command using the key combo of alt + f2 and then putting the command there instead of using a terminal window so that you don't have to bother with nohup.
I’m not familiar with the -p flag on Firefox but in general, adding & to the end of your command backgrounds it and disown detaches it from your shell so it doesn’t close.
firefox -p &; disown should do what you’re looking for, if I’m understanding you right
You don't need disown if you're closing the terminal. Just
firefox -p &
I swear I have done these kindsof things without having an option that was a word. maybe just & im not sure. I just recall doing it and never recall using disown.
~$ firefox -p &; disown bash: syntax error near unexpected token `;'
just omit the ;
firefox -p & disown
Looks like I’ve gotten too spoiled with zsh, I guess that doesn’t work with bash. Doing it in two separate commands should work tho, ie firefox -p & and then disown
~~it should be enough to put a space between & and ; like this:
firefox -p & ; disown but I'm not 100% sure.~~
I'm also very spoiled by zsh, and I also remember encountering this issue.
I actually started up bash to test this when op first responded, and the space had the same problem
Thanks for the correction.
I read the bash documentation and I think you simply don't need the ;. The & is already a command separator, just like ;
Tested with bash: sleep 100 & echo test prints right away.
If you don't want to fiddle with a terminal at all you can just make a keybind/shortcut. Depends on your DE or WM as to how to do that.
In the terminal session you launched firefox from:
Ctrl-Z # Temporarily suspend process
bg # Put that process into the background
exit # Cleanly close the terminal session
Or launch Firefox (or whatever application) with a ’&' at the end to put it in the background from the start.
If you use kde, you can search for "profile manager", and it will show up, and can be launched from the app menu.
At least works for me. Before this was added, the KDE search/app menu also lets you run commands directly, so I would just run firefox -p in there. No need for a terminal.
I'm pretty sure you can just right click the firefox icon and it will have a profile manager menu entry.
Maybe it is just an arch linux thing, but it is defined in the .desktop file in the installed package.
if you want to launch a thing from X/wayland, maybe consider getting a run box. there are plenty of options. your desktop environment may already have one.
Instead of disowning use exec or xdg-open
Why did the other commenters parse the title as a question? I expected directions from OP.
Because it clearly is, despite the missing question mark.