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Restore previous session option missing, no way to load previous session(s), add ons not helped

BeccaPaintmore
BeccaPaintmore
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Firefox crashed when I had 10 or so tabs open. There was no option on the drop down to restore previous session. I've uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox, there is still no option, but it will automatically load the tabs from the new previous session. I've tried Tab Session Manager and My Sessions manager to manually load the session backup files, but none of these work. I'm at my wits end - I'm sure there used to be the option to pick from several previous sessions; was that an old add on? Please help.

Firefox crashed when I had 10 or so tabs open. There was no option on the drop down to restore previous session. I've uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox, there is still no option, but it will automatically load the tabs from the new previous session. I've tried Tab Session Manager and My Sessions manager to manually load the session backup files, but none of these work. I'm at my wits end - I'm sure there used to be the option to pick from several previous sessions; was that an old add on? Please help.

All Replies (1)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
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Generally speaking, Firefox only stores one previous session, so if you are getting the previous session at startup already, that might be it. However, you might have some more files that require extra steps to access.

First, please back up your existing session history files:

Do not exit Firefox, or if you closed it, don't re-open it.

(1) To open your profile folder...

If Firefox is still running:

You can open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, click the "Open Folder" (or "Show in Finder") button.

If Firefox is closed:

Type or paste the following into the Windows Run dialog or the system search box and press Enter to launch Windows Explorer: 

%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

In that folder, do you see a semi-randomly-named folder? If so, click into it. If you find multiple such folders, find the one that was most recently updated.

(2) Copy out session history files

In your profile folder, scroll down and look for sessionstore.jsonlz4 -- this only exists if Firefox is closed and was shut down normally. Copy that file to a safe location such as your Documents folder. Then double-click into the sessionstore-backups folder. Save all files here to the same safe location.

(3) What files did you find?

The kinds of files you may find among your sessionstore files are:

  • recovery.jsonlz4: the windows and tabs in your currently live Firefox session (or, if Firefox crashed at the last shutdown and is still closed, your last session)
  • recovery.baklz4: a backup copy of recovery.jsonlz4
  • previous.jsonlz4: the windows and tabs in your last Firefox session
  • upgrade.jsonlz4-build_id: the windows and tabs in the Firefox session that was live at the time of your last update

Could you take a look at what you have and the date/time of the various files to see whether you think any of them would have the missing tabs?

To preview the contents of a file, you can drag and drop it onto this page, then click Scrounge URLs: https://www.jeffersonscher.com/res/scrounger.html

Do any of the files seem to have the missing tabs? (That tool is on my site, so please let me know if it doesn't work for you.)