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Why does Firefox fail to recover my windows and tabs 98% of the time at startup?

  • 8 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

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Nearly every time I shut down Firefox I return to my home page first. Nearly every time I start Firefox I get the on-screen message "Well this is embarrassing, Firefox cannot recover your windows and tabs" and I have to select Restore Session.

Nearly every time I shut down Firefox I return to my home page first. Nearly every time I start Firefox I get the on-screen message "Well this is embarrassing, Firefox cannot recover your windows and tabs" and I have to select Restore Session.

Chosen solution

Try to use "Firefox/File > Exit" (Mac: "Firefox > Quit"; Linux: "File > Quit") to close Firefox if you are currently doing that by clicking the close X on the title bar.

See "Hang at exit":

See "Firefox hangs when you quit it":

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All Replies (8)

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This problem began for me when I upgraded to v7. I'm now using v8 and still have the same issue.

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Chosen Solution

Try to use "Firefox/File > Exit" (Mac: "Firefox > Quit"; Linux: "File > Quit") to close Firefox if you are currently doing that by clicking the close X on the title bar.

See "Hang at exit":

See "Firefox hangs when you quit it":

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Have closed Firefox in this way around 6 times now and it seems to work OK, Thank you. JB

Modified by CICERO

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Closing Firefox using the Firefox>Quit menu makes no difference. I also closed the "Restore Session" tab, changed my preferences to "Show my windows and tabs from last time," closed using the Firefox>Quit menu, and STILL get the Restore Session This is Embarrassing stuff when I reopen. Annoying..........

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You're welcome JB.

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@gingeradams

Make sure that Firefox closes properly.

See "Hang at exit":

See "Firefox hangs when you quit it":


It is possible that there is a problem with the files sessionstore.js and sessionstore.bak in the Firefox Profile Folder.

Delete the sessionstore.js [2] file and possible sessionstore-##.js [3] files with a number and sessionstore.bak in the Firefox Profile Folder.

Deleting sessionstore.js will cause App Tabs and Tab Groups and open and closed (undo) tabs to get lost, so you will have to create them again (make a note or bookmark them).

See also:

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Thanks, cor-el. As a result of following all the links in your reply to JB, after I posted my "this didn't work" message I tried moving the two sessionstore files out of the Firefox profile folder, then restarting Firefox. Voila! All well now! I logged back on to post the success message and saw your new instructions. Thank you for the help!

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You're welcome