What is your normal setting: "Show my windows and tabs from last time"? In that case, it's normal for Restore previous session to be grayed because it was done automatically.

Let's back up a few files. Here's how:

First: Do not exit Firefox, or if you closed it, don't re-open it.

(1) To open your profile folder...

If Firefox is still running:

You can open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
• (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
• type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, click the "Show Folder" button.

If Firefox is closed:

Type or paste the following into the Windows Run dialog or the system search box and press Enter to launch Windows Explorer:

%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

In that folder, do you see a semi-randomly-named folder? If so, click into it. If you find multiple such folders, find the one that was most recently updated.

(2) Copy out session history files

In your profile folder, scroll down and double-click into the sessionstore-backups folder. Save all files here to a safe location, such as your Documents folder. If not too much time has passed, we may be able to use them to recover your lost tabs.

(3) What files did you find?

The kinds of files you may find among your sessionstore files are:

• recovery.js: the windows and tabs in your currently live Firefox session (or, if Firefox crashed at the last shutdown and is still closed, your last session)
• recovery.bak: a backup copy of recovery.js
• previous.js: the windows and tabs in your last Firefox session
• upgrade.js-build_id: the windows and tabs in the Firefox session that was live at the time of your last update

Could you take a look at what you have and the date/time of the various files to see whether you think any of them would have the missing tabs?

Note: By default, Windows hides the .js extension. To ensure that you are looking at the files I mentioned, you may want to turn off that feature. This article has the steps: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/show-hide-file-name-extensions

Just to comment on the unresponsive script problem:

We have a general support article addressing potential solutions to this issue: Warning Unresponsive script - What it means and how to fix it.

Another common cause of unresponsive script errors on Windows 7-10 is the protected mode feature of the Flash player plugin. That feature has security benefits, but seems to have serious compatibility issues on some systems. You can disable it using the Add-ons page. Either:

• Ctrl+Shift+a
• "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Plugins. On the right side, find "Shockwave Flash" and click the More link. Then uncheck the box for "Enable Adobe Flash protected mode" and try that for a day to see whether it helps.

I see the tabs and their date too. So what do i do now? [P.S. not to be rude, but I need to fix this before the week starts again and i have assignments to do.]

VictoryO said

I see the tabs and their date too.

Where? What file?

Method #1

To try swapping in a session history file you recovered from your backup folder so Firefox will load it, the standard "manual swap" method is as follows (assuming Firefox is still running):

(1) From inside Firefox, open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
• (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
• type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, click the "Show Folder" button. This should launch a Windows Explorer window listing the various files and folders in your profile.

(2) Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

• "3-bar" menu button > "power" button
• (menu bar) File > Exit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup -- these changes should occur:

• recovery.js is moved from the sessionstore-backups folder to the main level of the profile folder and renamed to sessionstore.js
• recovery.bak is deleted from sessionstore-backups

(3) Once Firefox has stopped updating things, while viewing the main level of the profile folder, rename sessionstore.js to sessionstore.old

(4) Copy in the other file you want to restore, and rename it to sessionstore.js -- after the rename, Windows should show it right next to sessionstore.old in alphabetical order

(5) Start Firefox and it should read the swapped in sessionstore.js and restore whatever was in the substitute file; if you do not have Firefox set to restore your previous windows and tabs automatically, use History > Restore Previous Session

Any luck?

Method #2

To extract the contents of a session history file that's in good condition (not corrupted), you can load it into a Firefox tab and run a script against it.

(0) Install the "Session Extractor" bookmarklet:

https://www.jeffersonscher.com/res/sumomarklets.html#SessExtr

(1) Create a copy of the session history file you want to mine for URLs and change the .js extension of the copy to a .txt extension. To do that:

Make sure Windows is showing .js and .txt extensions. If you need to turn that on, see http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wi.../show-hide-file-name-extensions or http://support.microsoft.com/kb/865219.

Working in your safe backup folder, right-click the file you want to investigate and click Copy. Then right-click a blank area and choose Paste. Right-click the copy and Rename with a .txt extension.

(2) Open the backup txt file in a Firefox tab. Either drag the renamed file and drop it on an existing page to load the txt file in its place, or right-click the file and choose Open With and use Firefox.

(3) In the tab displaying the session history file, run the bookmarklet. This should generate a new page listing the URLs of each open tab from the file. You can select and copy this list and paste it somewhere for safekeeping.

Unfortunately, if you want to save the page as is, there's an extra step: press Ctrl+U to launch the "view source" page, and save that as a .htm or .html file. For some reason, saving the original page gives you the original session file instead of the HTML.

I'm sorry about the last post, i will gice you more info and the situation. The link for Session Extractor wont work and how do i know if Mozilla will be updating? And if it's not, then how else can i do Method 1? Also, my flies are all upgrade.js except for one that is sessionrestore.js. Hope this helps.

VictoryO said

The link for Session Extractor wont work

The link to my page with the various blue buttons doesn't work, or you can't install the blue button to your Bookmarks, or after you install it, when you run it on the sessionstore.js or upgrade.js file, it doesn't work?

how do i know if Mozilla will be updating?

You will see a bunch of the timestamps on the files update to the current time as Firefox updates their contents. Then for a while nothing will change, and you can proceed.

Also, my flies are all upgrade.js except for one that is sessionrestore.js.

Okay, if you meant sessionstore.js, that probably is the current/latest file, so no point trying that one. I don't think Firefox ever used the name sessionstore.js. You can try the most recent upgrade...js file to see whether that gives you good results.

When i try to open session extractor it won't. And to be specific, how do I update my files? And after that happens and i open Mozilla, the problem will be solved right? I just really need to get my tabs back. [P.S. Tomorrow.] I don't want you to seem rushed since you help a lot of people, but i really need these tabs.

VictoryO said

When i try to open session extractor it won't.

Don't try to open it. It's a script, not a web page. If you see the blue button, right-click it and choose Bookmark This Link to save it somewhere convenient. Then you have it available to run when you are viewing your session history file. Please see the instructions at the top of the page above the button.

And to be specific, how do I update my files? And after that happens and i open Mozilla, the problem will be solved right?

Okay, I gave you step-by-step directions. I don't remember talking about updating your files. If you are following the directions where did things stop working as expected?

If you meant step 3:

jscher2000 said

Method #1

To try swapping in a session history file you recovered from your backup folder so Firefox will load it, the standard "manual swap" method is as follows (assuming Firefox is still running):

(1) From inside Firefox, open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
• (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
• type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, click the "Show Folder" button. This should launch a Windows Explorer window listing the various files and folders in your profile.

(2) Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

• "3-bar" menu button > "power" button
• (menu bar) File > Exit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup -- these changes should occur:

• recovery.js is moved from the sessionstore-backups folder to the main level of the profile folder and renamed to sessionstore.js
• recovery.bak is deleted from sessionstore-backups

(3) Once Firefox has stopped updating things, while viewing the main level of the profile folder, rename sessionstore.js to sessionstore.old

(4) Copy in the other file you want to restore, and rename it to sessionstore.js -- after the rename, Windows should show it right next to sessionstore.old in alphabetical order

(5) Start Firefox and it should read the swapped in sessionstore.js and restore whatever was in the substitute file; if you do not have Firefox set to restore your previous windows and tabs automatically, use History > Restore Previous Session

Any luck?

You are waiting for Firefox to complete the changes mentioned at the end of Step #2. Then give it a few more seconds to make sure Firefox has released the files and you are free to rename sessionstore.js.

Sorry for leaving you in the dust for that long, i was very busy this weekend and i also need more help decoding what you're saying. So basically when i open my folder for the sessions, close Firefox, rename the file, then open Firefox again with the file, and then my sessions will be back? [P.S. sorry if i sound dumb, i'm just confused and need help.]

I can't promise your sessions will be back, but Firefox should load that older file and you can then see whether it has the tabs from the right time-frame. If Firefox is not set to restore tabs automatically, use the History menu to Restore Previous Session.

Well, I've opened the file in Firefox, but when i go to try and do Restore Past Session, it still isn't there. What am i doing wrong?

VictoryO said

Well, I've opened the file in Firefox, but when i go to try and do Restore Past Session, it still isn't there. What am i doing wrong?

I don't know what you mean by "opened the file in Firefox."

Did you do the file swap where you rename sessionstore.js to sessionstore.old, copy the file you want to try into the profile folder, and rename that file to sessionstore.js? If you didn't get any additional tabs, then the file you are trying to use isn't going to help you.

I am just confused and don't know what to do. The sessionrestore.js file was opened as a tab in Firefox and besides you telling me to do that, what should i do after that to get my tabs back?

Okay, so Firefox creates sessionstore.js at shutdown. Then it reads it again automatically at startup. It never appears in a tab. Method #1 is to swap out the new (not so useful) sessionstore.js and replace it with the one you want Firefox to restore. After starting Firefox, if the previous session is not restored automatically, you should be able to use the History menu > Restore Previous Session. Can you try that whole process?

I have tried Method 1 before and it hasn't worked, I've done the same with Method 2. What next?

For Method #2, were you able to use the bookmarklet to generate a list of the addresses in the file? That list can be used to re-open those pages, but not for automatic session recovery.

Well,if i remember i wasn't even able to open it. And to be specific, when i try to open the link with the blue buttons, it says there was an "error". So i cant open that.

Was it a secure connection error? You could try with an http address instead:

http://www.jeffersonscher.com/res/sumomarklets.html#SessExtr

Same thing happened. It said there was an error in the structure of the session history data.