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"Restore previous session" does not work after private mode

  • 10 replies
  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by FredMcD

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I have selected the option "Restore previous session". Normally, it works fine, but if the last Firefox window closed before was in private mode, it doesn't - instead I get the last sessions of this private window. I'm not quite sure, but I think this behavior was different (= Firefox restores always the tabs from the last non-private window) before one of the last updates.

I have selected the option "Restore previous session". Normally, it works fine, but if the last Firefox window closed before was in private mode, it doesn't - instead I get the last sessions of this private window. I'm not quite sure, but I think this behavior was different (= Firefox restores always the tabs from the last non-private window) before one of the last updates.

Chosen solution

First, you need to be careful about what window gets closed.

Sometimes when surfing, I end up accidentally closing the window. A bit of a hassle getting it back but I found a better way. When I start the browser, I drop the first window to the taskbar. I then open a second window and do my work in it. Now if I happen to close the work window, I use the first window to call it back.

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All Replies (10)

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Profile data can be removed or not recorded in several ways;

  • 1) Running Firefox in Private Mode (nothing is recorded)
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That's what I would expect, but obviously in my case it works inversely: When reopening Firefox, I always get the tabs of the last closed window, even if it was private. What I want when I open Firefox (and what I got before one of the latest updates, if I remember correctly) are the tabs of the last non-private window.

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Hmm, I don't think private window tabs should ever be restored, so that is very troubling. The restored window has the white-mask-on-purple-circle at the upper right?

Can you recover the closed regular window using either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > Library > History > Recently Closed Windows
  • "Library" toolbar button > History > Recently Closed Windows
  • (menu bar) History > Recently Closed Windows
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Thank you! The Answer to your question: The restored window is NOT private.

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PS: Yes, I can recover the regular tabs as described.

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I was sure I could (and did) reproduce the error before I opened this problem, but now I can't :-(. Maybe I unintentionally opened multiple regular windows and mixed it up with my private window (normally one), so that the last window closed was indeed a regular one. So I will mark this as solved until I get the "error" again.

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Use one of these to close Firefox if you are currently doing that by clicking the close X on the Firefox Title bar, especially if you have Private Browsing mode windows open.

  • "3-bar" menu button -> Exit (Power button)
  • Windows: File -> Exit
  • Mac: Firefox -> Quit Firefox
  • Linux: File -> Quit
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Note that this can happen if you first close the regular window and then close the PB mode window. That makes Firefox think you close a PB mode session and sessionstore.jsonlz4 isn't created.

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Yes, that describes excactly my problem! But is there a setting to prevent this, i. e. making Firefox to remember always the last closed regular window?

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Chosen Solution

First, you need to be careful about what window gets closed.

Sometimes when surfing, I end up accidentally closing the window. A bit of a hassle getting it back but I found a better way. When I start the browser, I drop the first window to the taskbar. I then open a second window and do my work in it. Now if I happen to close the work window, I use the first window to call it back.