Open Firefox in Private Mode from Windows 8 Desktop

4 Parts:

Steps

Video: Open Firefox in Private Mode from Windows 8 Desktop

Questions and Answers

Comments

You're watching VisiHow. In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to open Firefox directly into private mode from the Windows 8 desktop.

1. 1
   To get started, the first thing we need to do is go down to the taskbar at the bottom of the screen

   .

   We are going to be adding the Firefox icon to the taskbar.

   

   Advertisement

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
2. 2
   Scroll to the far left until the cursor is over the Windows icon in the bottom left corner

   .

   We could also press the Windows key, which is directly to the left of the space bar.

   

   Advertisement

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
3. 3
   Press that key now or click the Windows icon in the bottom left-hand corner to open the Start page

   .

   We may or may not have Firefox pinned to this page.

   

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
4. 4
   If we don't, go to the bottom of the screen and click on the down arrow

   .

   

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
5. 5
   The Firefox icon should be located under "M", for "Mozilla Firefox"

   .

   

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
6. 6
   If Firefox can't be found easily, we can use the search bar in the top right-hand corner of the screen

   .

   

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
7. 7
   Left click once in the search bar, and then type in Firefox

   .

   "Mozilla Firefox" appears on the left under "Apps".

   

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
8. 8
   Put the cursor over "Mozilla Firefox" and right click one time to bring up a menu

   .

   

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
9. 9
   Select the second option, which is "Pin to taskbar"

   .

   Left click on this option, and this will pin the Mozilla Firefox browser to our taskbar.

   

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
10. 10
    Now, we can press the Esc key at the top left corner of the keyboard to go back to the "Apps" menu

    .

    

    Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
11. 11
    Press Esc once more to return to the desktop

    .

    

    Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
12. 12
    Now, move the mouse back down to the taskbar, where we will see the newly added Firefox icon

    .

    

    Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
13. 13
    A single right click on Firefox will open the Firefox menu

    .

    

    Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
14. 14
    Under the "Tasks" section, the option at the very bottom is "New private window"

    .

    Clicking on this option will "Open a new window in private browsing mode".

    

    Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
15. 15
    A single left click on this option will open Firefox into the private browsing mode

    .

    We will know this because it will say "You're browsing privately" at the top, and it has a little masquerade mask off to the left. In this mode, Firefox will not remember anything. There's also a purple private mode icon in the upper right area near the options to minimize, maximize or close the window.

    

    Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
16. 16
    When we're done browsing, we can press the white "x" in the red box to close the window

    .

    

    Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
17. 17
    This concludes our tutorial on how to open Firefox into private browsing mode without opening the regular browser on your Windows 8 desktop

    .

    For additional help with this or other tutorials, or for any suggestions or comments you may have, please use the section below, and we will get back to you.

    Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help

How to pin the Firefox private browser to the tray?

How to pin the Firefox private browser to the taskbar?

1. 1
   Press the Windows key.

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
2. 2
   Type "firefox".

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
3. 3
   Right-click "Mozilla Firefox" above.

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
4. 4
   Select "Open file location".

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
5. 5
   Right-click the "Mozilla Firefox" shortcut.

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
6. 6
   Select "Copy".

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
7. 7
   Minimize Windows.

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
8. 8
   Right-click an empty space on the desktop.

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
9. 9
   Select "Paste".

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
10. 10
    Right-click the new shortcut on the desktop.

    Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
11. 11
    Select "Properties".

    Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
12. 12
    In the "Target:" field, enter " -private" after the line

    .

    Ascertain that you put a space between the quotation mark and the dash. Your line may look like this:

    • D:\Program Files (x86)\Firefox\firefox.exe" -private

    Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
13. 13
    Click and drag the icon to the taskbar

    .

    This will pin the private browser to your taskbar.

    Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help

If you have problems with any of the steps in this article, please ask a question for more help, or post in the comments section below.

Comments