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FF adding .tmp to three files so I can't login, save settings/preferences/passwords and thinks it's crashed.

  • 6 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by BGeeves

BGeeves
BGeeves
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Hi,

I opened my FF the other day only for it to say that it had previously crashed and do I want to restore any sessions. FF did not crash previously, but chose to start a new session anyway. When FF opened, I had none of my previous settings and all of my bookmarks had disappeared. I closed FF down and opened it up again, only for it to say the same thing (about it crashing and restoring the session etc.). After hours of re-installing and removing all traces of FF profiles (and even re-installing the OS - Windows 10 pro), the same thing keeps happening. My PC is on a network and FF uses the roaming profile on the server (which I had deleted numerous times).

Today, I have just found that there are three files that FF uses to save settings/preferences, logins/passwords and 'Sign in to Sync' information, they are:

sessionCheckpoints.json xulstore.json signedInUser.json

For some reason FF adds .tmp to the end of these files whilst is it running, and saves the updated session info back to these files when FF is closed down. Upon opening FF again it looks for these three files (ending in .json) but cannot find them due to them being renamed with .tmp on the end.

So, my question is this; why is FF adding .tmp to the end of these three (very important) files?

Note: I have full access, rights and permissions to my roaming profile on the server, so it's not a read/write error. Also, I have gone through every solution both Mozilla and this forum recommends, but nothing works. Latest version of FF (58.0.1) installed with no add-ons or extensions.

Thank you.

Hi, I opened my FF the other day only for it to say that it had previously crashed and do I want to restore any sessions. FF did not crash previously, but chose to start a new session anyway. When FF opened, I had none of my previous settings and all of my bookmarks had disappeared. I closed FF down and opened it up again, only for it to say the same thing (about it crashing and restoring the session etc.). After hours of re-installing and removing all traces of FF profiles (and even re-installing the OS - Windows 10 pro), the same thing keeps happening. My PC is on a network and FF uses the roaming profile on the server (which I had deleted numerous times). Today, I have just found that there are three files that FF uses to save settings/preferences, logins/passwords and 'Sign in to Sync' information, they are: sessionCheckpoints.json xulstore.json signedInUser.json For some reason FF adds .tmp to the end of these files whilst is it running, and saves the updated session info back to these files when FF is closed down. Upon opening FF again it looks for these three files (ending in .json) but cannot find them due to them being renamed with .tmp on the end. So, my question is this; why is FF adding .tmp to the end of these three (very important) files? Note: I have full access, rights and permissions to my roaming profile on the server, so it's not a read/write error. Also, I have gone through every solution both Mozilla and this forum recommends, but nothing works. Latest version of FF (58.0.1) installed with no add-ons or extensions. Thank you.

All Replies (6)

cor-el
cor-el
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Temp files are usually created as a safeguard (in other cases numbered files are used). One the temp file has been crested successfully the original file will be removed and the temp file will be renamed. If you keep the temp files then Firefox fails to rename the temp files for some reason. I don't know if this is a bug when the profile is on a network drive.

BGeeves
BGeeves Question owner
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I think there's definitely something wrong with the way FF is creating/renaming these files and that the profile is a roaming one on a network. However, nothing has changed and I've been using FF perfectly for years in this exact same environment.

BGeeves
BGeeves Question owner
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Is there a way of forcing FF to use a local profile stored on the C: drive, instead of the roaming one on the server?

Every time I open FF, it creates a new profile within the 'Roaming' folder on the server. I'd like it to use an existing on the C: drive (under 'Local'), or create a new one to see if the network roaming is the problem.

techsupp0rt
techsupp0rt
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My Firefox started having this issue at the end of January 2018. It was working with no issues previously with the appdata folder re-directed to a network drive. The files that keep going to .tmp for me are:

  • extensions.json
  • sessionCheckpoints.json
  • xulstore.json
  • downloads.json
  • signedInUser.json
  • blocklist.xml
  • sessionCheckpoints.json
  • logins.json
  • shield-preference-experiments.json

I have refreshed firefox, un-installed and re-installed. My temporary fix is to keep removing the .tmp from the files.

cor-el
cor-el
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What profile is selected as the default if you check this in the Profile Manager?

BGeeves
BGeeves Question owner
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cor-el said

What profile is selected as the default if you check this in the Profile Manager?

The default profile is selected. I only have one profile.