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Where is the session information for 'Private Browsing' stored?

usernameusername
usernameusername
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I have a frozen private browsing session that I don't want to lose.

This is a bit complicated, so... I have a prior regular session (not private) that will be restored upon opening a regular browser. I closed that session and opened straight into a private window. About two dozen open tabs later, the private session froze, and I'm about to lose all the work I had done.

I tried to screenshot the tabs so I could at least have some idea of what I had open, but when I went to paste the clipboard, there was nothing there, and now the browser is permanently minimized (not responding).

Is there a file in the profile folder that would contain the urls of the open tabs? I haven't forcequit FF just yet.

I can't imagine they'd be in "sessionstore" since that holds the non-private session (correct??) and it doesn't look like those files have changed/been modified since the private session was opened. Would it be a file like "places" or "sessioncheckpoints"?

Any leads on this would be greatly appreciated.

I have a frozen private browsing session that I don't want to lose. This is a bit complicated, so... I have a prior regular session (not private) that will be restored upon opening a regular browser. I closed that session and opened straight into a private window. About two dozen open tabs later, the private session froze, and I'm about to lose all the work I had done. I tried to screenshot the tabs so I could at least have some idea of what I had open, but when I went to paste the clipboard, there was nothing there, and now the browser is permanently minimized (not responding). Is there a file in the profile folder that would contain the urls of the open tabs? I haven't forcequit FF just yet. I can't imagine they'd be in "sessionstore" since that holds the non-private session (correct??) and it doesn't look like those files have changed/been modified since the private session was opened. Would it be a file like "places" or "sessioncheckpoints"? Any leads on this would be greatly appreciated.

Chosen solution

I don't think you can recover the work if it isn't saved to wherever you were. I would suggest doing all work in non-private browsing sessions, to not have this problem. If it is frozen, you can wait on a response, or say farewell to the work.

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All Replies (3)

Bathelp
Bathelp
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Chosen Solution

I don't think you can recover the work if it isn't saved to wherever you were. I would suggest doing all work in non-private browsing sessions, to not have this problem. If it is frozen, you can wait on a response, or say farewell to the work.

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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All session data is kept in memory during PB mode and nothing is stored in the Firefox profile folder. The disk cache is disabled as well and only the memory cache is used, so you can't find any data there as well. That is the risk when running in PB mode and you run into problems like a hang or crash that you can't recover from this and lose all data.

usernameusername
usernameusername Question owner
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I was afraid the session would be lost, but thought that perhaps the tabs were temporarily saved somewhere, since they're available to be opened via "Recently Closed Tabs".