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previous session problems

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  • Last reply by Kyroo

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So 2 days ago, I had to update my windows 10 which meant having to close down firefox. But when I restarted and had to open firefox again, it crashed a few times and I lost all my tabs. I tried doing a few things suggested in forums like finding the session in the sessionstore-backups. I copied the session, renamed it sessionstore.js and even tried renaming it previous.js and left it in the folder, but it won't load up in firefox when I open it. The only thing it keeps opening is the current session I am in(which are a bunch of forums on how to try to fix the previous session).

Another weird thing that happens is that before when firefox was trying to load the session with the previous tabs, it would try to load all of them at once and crash firefox. If you can help to restore my tabs, is there a way to make it so all of them don't load at once?

Thank you for your time.

So 2 days ago, I had to update my windows 10 which meant having to close down firefox. But when I restarted and had to open firefox again, it crashed a few times and I lost all my tabs. I tried doing a few things suggested in forums like finding the session in the sessionstore-backups. I copied the session, renamed it sessionstore.js and even tried renaming it previous.js and left it in the folder, but it won't load up in firefox when I open it. The only thing it keeps opening is the current session I am in(which are a bunch of forums on how to try to fix the previous session). Another weird thing that happens is that before when firefox was trying to load the session with the previous tabs, it would try to load all of them at once and crash firefox. If you can help to restore my tabs, is there a way to make it so all of them don't load at once? Thank you for your time.

Chosen solution

Hi Kyroo, there's an extra step. When Firefox closes normally, it creates a file named sessionstore.js at the main level of the profile folder. You need to rename that to sessionstore.old (or delete it, and any sessionstore.bak file) to have Firefox look for the recovery.js file you restored.

A more complete approach is listed in this post: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1132220#answer-900209

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Version 43 is not supported anymore, you need top update to 47.

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K, I upgraded to 47, but the problem is still there. Firefox keeps opening the new tabs after the crash rather than restoring my old session. I still have that session saved and renamed it sessionstore.js in my sessionstore-backups folder, hoping it'll open it when i start up firefox. Is there something I have to change in the code of somewhere else I have to put the .js file to open the session?

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There a reasonable chance that Windows created a restore point when it updated. Sometimes you can find recovery.js, previous.js, or a sessionstore.js file in a restore point and use that to "roll back" to that point in time in your session history.

Could you try this program to search for Firefox data in the latest restore point: http://nicbedford.co.uk/software/systemrestoreexplorer/

Note: Firefox's data files are stored in this location, which normally is a hidden path:

C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\semi-random-name\

This article has the steps to have window show hidden files and folders, which may be helpful: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/show-hidden-files

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Okay, I followed your advice and installed System Restore Explorer. I found the restore sessions but have no idea what to do with them/where to put them. When I try to close down Firefox, copy and paste the older files into the sessionstores-backups folder and restart Firefox, it keeps opening up to the newer session I just closed.

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Chosen Solution

Hi Kyroo, there's an extra step. When Firefox closes normally, it creates a file named sessionstore.js at the main level of the profile folder. You need to rename that to sessionstore.old (or delete it, and any sessionstore.bak file) to have Firefox look for the recovery.js file you restored.

A more complete approach is listed in this post: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1132220#answer-900209

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Thank you so much for the help!

Unfortunately the latest session I was able to recover was from a month ago so I have a month of sites to sort out through history, but it's better than having to go through my entire history.