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When I start firefox, the previous tabs are there but blank and say new tab, can I restore the tabs?

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When I start firefox, the previous tabs are there but blank and say new tab, can I restore the tabs? how can I do this?

When I start firefox, the previous tabs are there but blank and say new tab, can I restore the tabs? how can I do this?

All Replies (10)

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I'm not sure what causes this.

As the first step, I recommend backing up your existing sessionstore files.

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

Help > Troubleshooting Information > "Show Folder" button

Scroll down to the files whose names start with sessionstore. You should find at least sessionstore.js and sessionstore.bak. If the .js extension does not appear on sessionstore, you should turn off the Windows feature that hides file extensions from you, so that you can work with file names as accurately as possible. This Microsoft support article has the steps: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/865219.

Make backup copies of all the sessionstore files to somewhere like your Documents folder for possible later restoration.


Next, try one of the data mining techniques in these posts to rescue the URLs from the sessionstore.js or sessionstore.bak file:

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In case you are using "Clear history when Firefox closes":

  • do not clear the Browsing History
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Will using fire fox in the mean time lower my chances of getting my tabs restored? Do I need to have the Js files show to have them restored?

1202am 3-13-14

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Did you check the "Clear history when Firefox closes" settings?

Is Session Restore otherwise working as that you can reopen closed tabs and windows?

You can check browser.sessionstore.* prefs on the about:config page and reset browser.sessionstore prefs that are user set (bold) via the right-click context menu to the default value to make sure that Session Restore is enabled and working properly.

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for some reason I cant paste the session restore bak here does anyone know why?

https://firefox-session-restore.herokuapp.com/

3-13-14 1058am

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cor-el I am using session restore, do you mean restore tabs fro last time? Also its set to rememeber history, should I set it to not remember history? will it bring my blank tabs back? has anyone gotten their tabs back, they need to work on this, I have had so much trouble with firefox in recent years.

3-13-14 1138am

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In about:config I see no session store, what should I do? I really dont do anything liek this ever so I dont know what to

3-13-14 1150am

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Hi kali-yugo, did you back up the files? I guess you could do this even if you can't read the file extensions, just back up everything that starts with sessionstore.

Regarding the site that processes sessionstore.js or sessionstore.bak, you need to open the file in a text editor first and copy/paste the contents of the file into their form.

If that site has stopped working, please try one of the other two methods. I realize they are arcane, but hopefully the instructions are clear and cover every step.

Regarding about:config, if you type or paste sessions into the search box above the list of preferences, hopefully it will be easier to find what you're looking for.

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jscher2000 I backed up the files, by copying and pasting them in a folder on the desktop I tried to do the see file extension thing, but the link you gave me wasnt for windows 8 ( I assume its differ for 8), so I looked up a way to do it on windows 8 and it didnt work. The js still doesnt show.

I opened the session restore bak in a word pad, I didnt know this is what had to be done. I have 2 bak session restores, is this normal?

I coudl try the archaine ways but I dont really understand most of it, but I will try the restore site first.

3-13-14 713pm

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Hi kali-yugo, when you're on the Desktop side of Windows 8, I believe Windows Explorer is very similar to earlier versions of Windows and the steps to open the old Options dialog should work. I wouldn't run an old automatic Fixit, just try the manual approach.

I don't want to give you an opinion on what the files are without the exact names.