App Tabs not saving on exit
I'd been having issues with connectivity (local issues, wireless AP connection), and one day this week the browser had issues loading my saved tabs, I'm suspecting because of my poor connectivity, so I close the browser, disconnect from my AP, reconnect, fire up Firefox again (it tells me it's applying updates before it loads up), and a blank screen with my homepage loads up instead of my saved tabs and settings. I don't know what's caused that, but it's led to the issues I'm having now.
I laid out the page the way it was before I was having these connectivity issues, with 5 app tabs (Gmail, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram and one other) and a few normal tabs. I closed the browser, reopened, and now what it's doing is making the Facebook app tab and the Instagram app tab open up as normal tabs, unlike before when they stayed as app tabs. To be clear, if I rearrange these two to be app tabs and shut down the browser, then reopen it, the app tabs begin as normal when the browser opens, until they start loading up... THEN it changes ONLY THESE TWO app tabs back to normal tabs.
Nothing has changed in my settings; I don't clear browser history on exit, I have Restore Previous Session always ticked. I still can't tell what's causing this.
All Replies (10)
Are there sessionstore files created and updated in the sessionstore-backups folder during a session ?
You will normally find these files in the sessionstore-backups folder:
- previous.jsonlz4 (cleanBackup: copy of sessionstore.jsonlz4 from previous session that was loaded successfully)
- recovery.jsonlz4 (latest version of sessionstore.jsonlz4 written during runtime)
- recovery.baklz4 (previous version of sessionstore.jsonlz4 written during runtime)
- upgrade.jsonlz4-<build_id> (backup created during an upgrade of Firefox)
You can copy a file from the sessionstore-backups folder to the main profile and rename the file to sessionstore.jsonlz4 to replace the current file (make sure to backup the current sessionstore.jsonlz4).
You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.
- Help -> Troubleshooting Information -> Profile Folder/Directory:
Windows: Open Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder - https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data
I have all those files stored in the backup folder, as mentioned. However in my profile directory, there is no sessionstore.jsonlz4 file - only sessionstore.js ... is this how it's supposed to be, or should I just backup the .js file and swap in the recovery.jsonlz4 file and rename it in the profiles directory?
Sorry, this type of stuff is way above my paygrade, and I don't wanna stuff with what I don't understand.
Thanks.
sessionstore.js was used a long time ago and has been replaced by sessionstore.jsonlz4 sessionstore.jsonlz4 is only present when Firefox is closed, but is only created when Firefox is closed properly.
No dice. When I've copied the recovery file over to the profile and renamed, then exited Firefox and restarted, the file I renamed disappears as if though it were deleted.
Hi, you didn't share your add-ons list, but considering the two sites involved, is it possible that you are running the Facebook Container extension? I wonder whether containerizing the tabs during restoration somehow unpins them. Just a thought that I have not tested myself.
Yeah I did take a look at this with some concern as I was going through the Options. It does say "An extension, Facebook Container, requires Container Tabs". I disable the extension, shutdown the browser, and the sessionstore.jsonlz4 file reappears. I restart the browser, that file disappears again, and now both facebook and instagram app tabs have gone. Not only that, the option to re-enable the container tabs has gone from the Options as well.
Confirmed that running the container does unpin the tabs. removing the container also removes both instagram and facebook tabs, requiring fresh logins once you bring them up again.
Okay, if you prefer to use FB container for FB sites, you need to re-enable the extension, and then Firefox will re-enable the container tabs feature. I don't know whether that will bring back the two tabs, but presumably we all know how to get to FB and Instagram.
If the unpinning problem continues, you could post an issue on the site where that extension is developed. There are nearly 200 outstanding issues, but perhaps it's an easy fix that can jump the queue.
Once I've disabled the container, the tabs are removed from the browser. Once the option is re-enabled, the tabs aren't automatically reinstated in the browser.
I'll bring this up on the link posted, thanks for the input.
vk2farg said
Once I've disabled the container, the tabs are removed from the browser. Once the option is re-enabled, the tabs aren't automatically reinstated in the browser.
That doesn't surprise me because the tabs would have an invalid/non-existing context reference, so they probably were deleted from the session history on the previous restore.