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Ever since the last update I can't seem to open up the list of ''Recently Closed Windows'', is there anybody that can help me with that?

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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Yesterday my Firefox browser was updated without me even noticing it. I closed the only 2 windows that were open, both having a bunch of tabs, because I turned off my PC. Today I opened up Firefox, clicked Restore previous session which opened up one of these 2 windows. But when I wanted to access the list of Recently Closed Windows it didn't open. It only shows a small square as if it's there, but it doesn't show anything. I can open up Recently Closed Tabs but that doesn't help me. I now only have 1 window, but the other one had some important tabs opened in it as well, so I could really use some help.

Thanks in advance.

Yesterday my Firefox browser was updated without me even noticing it. I closed the only 2 windows that were open, both having a bunch of tabs, because I turned off my PC. Today I opened up Firefox, clicked ''Restore previous session'' which opened up one of these 2 windows. But when I wanted to access the list of ''Recently Closed Windows'' it didn't open. It only shows a small square as if it's there, but it doesn't show anything. I can open up ''Recently Closed Tabs'' but that doesn't help me. I now only have 1 window, but the other one had some important tabs opened in it as well, so I could really use some help. Thanks in advance.

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Sorry to hear about this problem and for the delay in getting back to you.

Firefox stores your open windows and tabs in a file named sessionstore.js in your currently active settings folder. Could you check that folder and back up all of the sessionstore files as the first step.

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using

Help > Troubleshooting Information > "Show Folder" button

If you find a file named sessionstore but not sessionstore.js, Windows may be hiding file extensions from you. To work with files as accurately as possible, I suggest unhiding them. This Microsoft support article has the steps: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/865219.

(In Windows 8.1, you should be able to access the Folder Options dialog by tapping the Alt key to show the menu bar, then using the Tools menu. Click to the View menu and scan down for the hidden files/folders option.)

Assuming you still have a sessionstore.js or sessionstore.bak file that would have your pre-update session, check out these threads for different ways to rescue the lost URLs from the sessionstore.js or sessionstore.bak file:

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Also make sure to save a backup copy of the sessionstore.bak file.

When Firefox is started then Firefox renames the sessionstore.js file to sessionstore.bak to make it possible to restore the previous session at any time during the current session (History > Restore Previous Session) and creates a new sessionstore.js file for the current session.


I'm not sure if you would be able to restore a previous version on the sessionstore.js file on Windows 8.1.