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How can you restore all of my windows and tabs?

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Today, Firefox crashed and a single window with "ask" on it popped up. I closed the window and then opened Firefox again. The restore button was available but when I clicked it only the previous single window displaying "Ask" popped up. BTW, I NEVER use "Ask" (I use google.com as my search engine).

Today, Firefox crashed and a single window with "ask" on it popped up. I closed the window and then opened Firefox again. The restore button was available but when I clicked it only the previous single window displaying "Ask" popped up. BTW, I NEVER use "Ask" (I use google.com as my search engine).

All Replies (2)

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When a program or the computer crashes, it's possible for files to be corrupted.

As to why only the ask page only came up, the program records only the page(s) that were open when the browser is closed.

You may have corrupt sessionstore [v56] sessionstore.jsonlz4 file(s). Delete all sessionstore* files and the sessionstore-backups folder.

Type about:support<enter> in the address bar.

Under the page logo on the left side, you will see Application Basics. Under this find Profile Folder. To its right press the button Show Folder. This will open your file browser to the current Firefox profile. Now Close Firefox.

Windows: Show Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder

Linux: Under the page logo on the left side, you will see Application Basics. Under this find Profile Directory. To its right press the button Open Directory.

Locate the above file. Then rename or delete it. Restart Firefox.


Don't delete the files if you need to rescue any data from them, just move them out of the profile folder to some location where Firefox doesn't look for them. You can try to read out their contents using this tool: https://www.jeffersonscher.com/res/scrounger.html

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Hi, could you check for closed windows in any of these places:

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