Hi 1bit, was automatic session restoration working before and recently stopped working?

When your session is not restored automatically, is it possible to restore it manually from the menu? Either:

• "3-bar" menu button > Restore Previous Session
• (menu bar) History > Restore Previous Session

If they are missing or grayed, do you have any old windows listed under either:

• "3-bar" menu button > Library > History > Recently Closed Windows (and within each restored window, Recently Closed Tabs)
• "Library" toolbar button > History > Recently Closed Windows (and within each restored window, Recently Closed Tabs)
• (menu bar) History > Recently Closed Windows (and within each restored window, Recently Closed Tabs)

If there's nothing, I wonder if the file is getting cleared/removed? We can talk about settings to check as the next step.

This is worth investigating:

I also noticed that the default browser check is greyed out and at the top it says "Your browser is being managed by your organisation." and wondered if this is part of the problem? it seems to be something new to firefox

So I'm guessing you are not using an office PC managed by an IT department. Could you check the Policies list: type or paste about:policies in the address bar and press Enter to load the page. This will list modifications to your Firefox applied through "policies" (either in the Windows Registry or in a policies.json file). Anything there?

there is no option "restore previous session"...? the browser locked up before and I had to terminate the process, when i started the browser after that all the tabs were returned so it works for a crash but not via settings...

there is nothing under Library->History->Recently Closed Windows (or Tabs)

heres what it says in about:policies:- The Enterprise Policies service is active but there are no policies enabled.

I use the computer at home in a standard windows account.

1bit said

there is no option "restore previous session"...? the browser locked up before and I had to terminate the process, when i started the browser after that all the tabs were returned so it works for a crash but not via settings... there is nothing under Library->History->Recently Closed Windows (or Tabs)

Thank you for checking that. Do you have Firefox set to clear history when it closes? That will also clear session history. You can check on that here:

• Windows: "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Options
• Mac: "3-bar" menu button (or Firefox menu) > Preferences
• Linux: "3-bar" menu button (or Edit menu) > Preferences
• Any system: type or paste about:preferences into the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it

In the left column, click Privacy & Security

Then on the right side, scroll down to the History section and observe the setting:

• Firefox will: Remember history -- this is okay
• Firefox will: Never remember history -- problem
• Firefox will: Use custom settings for history -- need to investigate further:

(A) Make sure you do NOT have a checkmark for "Always use private browsing mode"

(B) Make sure you do NOT have a checkmark for "Clear history when Firefox closes". If you want to use that feature with some types of data: use the Settings button to the right of it to confirm that Browsing & Download History are not being cleared.

heres what it says in about:policies:- The Enterprise Policies service is active but there are no policies enabled. I use the computer at home in a standard windows account.

I think the policy message can also appear if an "Autoconfig" policy is forcing certain settings.

Autoconfig file

This is a file that can set initial preference values and/or lock them to specific values. The file naming scheme is flexible, which makes it a bit harder to describe what you're looking for, but here goes:

You'll want to look in your Firefox program folder, which typically is in one of these locations (varies for 32-bit / 64-bit):

• C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\pref
• C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\pref

Caution: Do not double-click script files! The default action for a script file it to execute as a Windows system script. (Typically this would just not work, but why risk it.)

Make sure Windows is showing hidden files: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14201/windows-show-hidden-files

A file named channel-prefs.js is normal. Any other file in this folder is suspicious and could be used to pre-set or lock preferences. Remove any such files to a neutral location for further analysis at your leisure. You can rename the file with a .txt extension and examine it for the name of another file that contains the locking code.

More info:

• Customize Firefox using AutoConfig
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Locking_preferences

1bit said

heres what it says in about:policies:- The Enterprise Policies service is active but there are no policies enabled.

Hello 1bit,

Would you please read this article :

https://techdows.com/2019/06/fix-firefox-says-your-browser-is-being-managed-by-your-organization.html

You can inspect the Mozilla and Firefox keys with the Windows Registry Editor in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and possibly in HKEY_CURRENT_USER with the Windows Registry Editor to see whether GPO policy rules are active.

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\

Note that the mere presence of the "MozillaFirefox" key is sufficient to make Firefox display this notification, so if you have the Firefox key then remove it and only leave the Mozilla key or remove this key as well if it is empty.

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\ =>
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\

^ See the screenshots in the article I linked to.