I'm getting this error when I'm trying to create a shortcut on the Desktop for a different Firefox profile.

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Could not save properties due to insufficient write access to:
‘/home/username/Desktop/Firefox 2’.

In the properties of the Firefox shortcut under Application tab I want to replace the command

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/usr/lib/firefox/firefox %u

with

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firefox -no-remote -p "profilename"

so that I can create a separate shortcut for a different firefox profile which I'm unable to.

Output of

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ls -l

on home directory:

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total 32
drwxr-xr-x 2 username username 4096 Jan  1 04:05 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x 2 username username 4096 Dec 31 15:44 Documents
drwxr-xr-x 3 username username 4096 Jan  1 04:40 Downloads
drwxr-xr-x 2 username username 4096 Dec 31 14:58 Music
drwxr-xr-x 4 username username 4096 Dec 31 22:13 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x 2 username username 4096 Dec 31 14:58 Public
drwxr-xr-x 2 username username 4096 Dec 31 14:58 Templates
drwxr-xr-x 2 username username 4096 Dec 31 14:58 Videos

on root directory:

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total 52
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root     7 Dec  7 08:11 bin -> usr/bin
drwxr-xr-x   4 root root  4096 Dec 31 14:09 boot
drwxr-xr-x  20 root root  4020 Jan  1 15:16 dev
drwxr-xr-x  76 root root  4096 Jan  1 16:31 etc
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root  4096 Dec 31 14:07 home
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root     7 Dec  7 08:11 lib -> usr/lib
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root     7 Dec  7 08:11 lib64 -> usr/lib
drwx------   2 root root 16384 Dec 31 11:26 lost+found
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root  4096 Dec  7 08:11 mnt
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root  4096 Jan  1 04:26 opt
dr-xr-xr-x 275 root root     0 Jan  1  2022 proc
drwxr-x---  14 root root  4096 Jan  1 10:12 root
drwxr-xr-x  23 root root   540 Jan  1 15:50 run
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root     7 Dec  7 08:11 sbin -> usr/bin
drwxr-xr-x   4 root root  4096 Dec 31 13:39 srv
dr-xr-xr-x  13 root root     0 Jan  1  2022 sys
drwxrwxrwt  13 root root   320 Jan  1 15:58 tmp
drwxr-xr-x   9 root root  4096 Jan  1 16:31 usr
drwxr-xr-x  12 root root  4096 Jan  1 15:16 var
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root    19 Dec 31 13:41 zoneinfo -> /usr/share/zoneinfo

I'm using KDE Plasma on Arch Linux.

The easiest would be if you create such a desktop file altogether. In /usr/share/applications (as root) for example. Just make sure you name it different than plain firefox.

As a sidenote. You can create several profile launcher entries when you right-click the firefox application if you like. That has to be done by editing the /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop file. You need to create desktop actions in that file. As root of course. Something like:
[Desktop Action Profile X]
Name=Open Profile X
Exec=firefox -no-remote -p "profilename"

Make sure that the particular desktop action's name is listed under Actions=...., in the file.
This way you can add as many entries you like and access them by just right clicking the Firefox application icon.
By default there's only "open new window" and "open private window". But you can add whatever you like.
And not only for firefox btw.

Here's such an example with Brave browser/Youtube. https://imgur.com/a/McLNrks

It doesn't necessarily have to be in the firefox file. You can launch it from a terminal if you like. Same method. Create the desktop action within the desktop file. It's an alternative to have a cluttered interface, full of all kinds of desktop files. https://imgur.com/a/L30WnXj

Thanks a lot! This is really a cool feature. I will try this with konsole and other apps as well. So cool!

dzon wrote:It doesn't necessarily have to be in the firefox file. You can launch it from a terminal if you like. Same method. Create the desktop action within the desktop file. It's an alternative to have a cluttered interface, full of all kinds of desktop files. https://imgur.com/a/L30WnXj

Also, can you tell me how do you add the icons to the actions? How do you find out the name of the icon present on your system. And is it possible to use an url for the icon? Like "https://www.abcd.com/file/image/icon.png" ?

The icon?
[Desktop Action Whatever]
Name=Whatever
Icon=/path/to/icon
Exec=whatever
Ps: it's a good habit to backup some of these application files. Especially the ones that get updated a lot.
You could make persistent ones in ~/.local/share/applications, but sometimes they clash with the ones in /usr/share/applications. It's a bit of trial really. So, backing up heavily modified ones is a good thing. You can then always retrieve whatever you made.

Actually I wanted to know where the icons are stored. Anyways I got it.
Right click an application -> Edit Application -> Click on icon -> Copy the name of the icon you want -> Add it to the .desktop file under Desktop Action as Icon="name of the icon".

it's a good habit to backup some of these application files.

Sure, I'll back them up. Thanks.

You can set shortcuts to websites if you want in a certain application. You don't specifically have to create a whole bunch of shortcuts for that.
I personally have a couple of ssb's to have quick access to certain sites ( which is especially handy in some tiling mode like krohnkite). But for the purpose of the topic....https://imgur.com/a/5WWClju
As for immediate searches, you can set Milou ( search widget) and Krunner to do that. https://imgur.com/a/BjFwQZp
Then again, I hate keyboards and shortcuts. I like a heavy focus on mouse behaviour. I'm lazy that way.