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how to locate sessionstore.js and sessionstore.bak files in ubuntu 16.04 home folder

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  • 1 het hierdie probleem
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  • Laaste antwoord deur thajumpshooter

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I am a novice with linux, with that said, I have a samsung 960 evo fully encrypted hard drive that has ubuntu 16.04 installed, which can not be booted. I need help in locating the sessionstore.js and sessionstore.bak files in firefox for the previous install in the home/user directory. I am able to access the directories using the live-usb in ubuntu, and I see several firefox folders, but have been unable to locate the session restore files.

My hope is that I will be able to install ubuntu on another partition, restore the session prior to the boot issue, and bookmark the pages to export. The boot can not be repaired due to the encrypted drive. Any guidance on this issue is much appreciated. -Ken

I am a novice with linux, with that said, I have a samsung 960 evo fully encrypted hard drive that has ubuntu 16.04 installed, which can not be booted. I need help in locating the sessionstore.js and sessionstore.bak files in firefox for the previous install in the home/user directory. I am able to access the directories using the live-usb in ubuntu, and I see several firefox folders, but have been unable to locate the session restore files. My hope is that I will be able to install ubuntu on another partition, restore the session prior to the boot issue, and bookmark the pages to export. The boot can not be repaired due to the encrypted drive. Any guidance on this issue is much appreciated. -Ken

All Replies (3)

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Will the last 2 entries on this post do the trick ? https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2300311

Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.

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You won't find these files in current Firefox releases. sessionstore.js has been replaced by sessionstore.jsonlz4 and sessionstore.bak has been replaced by files in the sessionstore-backups folder.


Firefox 56+ releases compress the files in the sessionstore-backups folder and sessionstore.jsonlz4 with LZ4 (.jsonlz4 instead of .js), so it is no longer easy to inspect them.

Firefox uses the sessionstore.jsonlz4 file in the profile folder to store session data. The sessionstore.jsonlz4 file is only present when Firefox is closed. The sessionstore.jsonlz4 file is created from recovery.jsonlz4 when you close Firefox and is removed and copied to previous.jsonlz4 when you start Firefox to make is possible to restore the session at any time.

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).

See also:

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Pkshadow and Cor-el thank you both for your help. I haven't had a lot of time to work on it, as the process was a little challenging with the full disk encryption, but I was able to access and copy the backup folder from the ubuntu install which would not boot.

I have reinstalled ubuntu, but I am still having difficultly restoring the session I had running at the time. I've tried several paths in an effort to restore the sessions, including renaming the recovery.js file in the current folder, and replacing it with th recovery.js file from the rescured folder, placeing the contents of the entire folder, among other efforts such as removing the previous.jsonlz4 entirely. Each time, I get nothing but the restore of the session I just exited from.

Contents of backup folder I want to restore: /media/kenny2/5E98-1791/sessionstore-backups/previous.js /media/kenny2/5E98-1791/sessionstore-backups/recovery.bak /media/kenny2/5E98-1791/sessionstore-backups/recovery.js /media/kenny2/5E98-1791/sessionstore-backups/upgrade.js-20170201180315 /media/kenny2/5E98-1791/sessionstore-backups/upgrade.js-20170509210144 /media/kenny2/5E98-1791/sessionstore-backups/upgrade.js-20170524180630


Contents of new install: /home/kenny2/.mozilla/firefox/4h243b8r.default/sessionstore-backups/previous.js /home/kenny2/.mozilla/firefox/4h243b8r.default/sessionstore-backups/previous.jsonlz4 /home/kenny2/.mozilla/firefox/4h243b8r.default/sessionstore-backups/recovery.bak /home/kenny2/.mozilla/firefox/4h243b8r.default/sessionstore-backups/recovery.js /home/kenny2/.mozilla/firefox/4h243b8r.default/sessionstore-backups/upgrade.js-20170201180315 /home/kenny2/.mozilla/firefox/4h243b8r.default/sessionstore-backups/upgrade.js-20170509210144 /home/kenny2/.mozilla/firefox/4h243b8r.default/sessionstore-backups/upgrade.js-20170524180630

The folder that I am trying to recover the sessions from does not contain a file, while the folder holding the new install does. What am I doing wrong? Still hopeful. Thanks again!

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