Firefox 144 Installed Today; Clobbered all of my Tabs. "History" is No Help
Something very bad happened to me today (11/3)....
Firefox 144.0.2 was installed on 10/30/25, and everything has been fine until today. I don't know why or how, but ALL of my OPEN tabs (of which I have many--and have it fixed so they always re-open when Firefox starts), ALL went away.
In reading conventional steps to recover such from sessionstore-backups, those instructions sounded straightforward. However, even though ALL FIREFOX PROCESSES were ended, I could not copy the contents of the sessionstore-backups folder nor could I delete anything--EVEN THOUGH I am the owner.
Even after providing Admin perms.
I could get rid of profiles.ini, which initially proved diasterous, because then Firefox thought I was brand new, so ALL of my passwords saved through Firefox these many years, went "poof".
Fortunately, I was able to get that back, but I still cannot get all of my tabs back, and conventional instructions to do so aren't working.
After recovering from my heart attack for initially losing my passwords, I am breathing a little better right now, but it sure would be nice to get all of my open tabs back again. I don't know why I am not able to manipulate the files within sessionstore-backups. I think if I could eliminate the files in that folder EXCEPT for upgrade.jsonlz4-20251027123126, which possesses a 10/29/25 date, these should be the open tabs just before the 144.0.2 installation, and all should be right with the world, once more.
I have performed/examined many steps offered under this category, but most assume I can copy them elsewhere for safe-keeping and/or removing all but the one I want Firefox to "use". Because something is preventing me from doing this, though, I am being stymied in what ought to be the solution. As a test, I was able to copy files from a much older profile--so I can prove the basic steps SHOULD HAVE worked. Unfortunately, I cannot do the same with THE (more recent) folder in question. I can't get rid of parent.lock, either (and I have ensured no Firefox processes are running via Task Manager).
Repeatedly.
Something else is at work, here. Any help or assistance from community experts would be most helpful.
Thanks very much in advance.
-MG
Chosen solution
I did finally "resolve" the matter, although, I still don't have permissions to remove (or even copy) files from sessionstore-backups like so many solutions dictated.... Not sure why, I--as the owner, cannot do 'as directed' with those files.
Firefox should really provide some additional functionality on the "Firefox View" panel (namely on the "Open Tabs" option. This 'View" had the potential to afford a quicker solution.
Further, even though I could close all of the tabs open on Windows 2, and clicking a tab on Window 1 took me to a view with all of my desired tabs back, shutting Firefox down and re-opening it, once more created a new Tab on a much UNDESIRED Windows 2.
I finally got past this by getting rid of tabs showing on Windows 2, then once Windows 1 was showing--opened a NEW tab in THAT Window. Then (and only then), did shutting down Firefox and restarting it, displayed all of my Windows 1 Tabs (upon Startup of Firefox) without some new tab on an UNWANTED Windows 2.
The lack of information (and some additional features) on the Firefox View exacerbated this behavior (in my opinion).
Thanks to jonzn4USE for responding--even though 'answer-1777045' held no sway on this specific issue. I appreciate your response.
Read this answer in context 👍 1All Replies (5)
After posting, I made a discovery, but there's still a bit of an issue. I don't know how a NEW Window got opened in Firefox. I DIDN'T do it. Not even accidentally. But that's the essence of what seems to have happened. All of my previous tabs that I thought disappeared, are actually all still there in "Window 1". While "Window 2" has newer tabs opened since this malady plagued me earlier today. I still need to nuke this out to get back to where things were, but frankly, not finding this very intuitive. Miffed I didn't do anything (that I know of) to create this scenario in the first place, but at least, things suddenly are not as bad as I thought they were.
All of my issues seem to be covered in this post: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1477845
I am still not back to where things were earlier today--partially because I cannot close a window on Windows 2 (watching something there). When that finishes, I will try, then, but to me, this issue could really use some more functionality on the Firefox View panel.
Like someone mentioned in the post I referenced above, I think the stage may have been set for this issue because of exploring trying see if Windows OS TaskView setting would act like a second display. Turning this on is exactly when my issue occurred. I turned it off shortly thereafter, but normal behavior did not return.... I have been on a wild goose chase ever since.
Yes, it happens a wee bit to often.... See if this helps. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1544938#answer-1777045
Waterfox failed to restore my session today, but was able to bring it back.
Chosen Solution
I did finally "resolve" the matter, although, I still don't have permissions to remove (or even copy) files from sessionstore-backups like so many solutions dictated.... Not sure why, I--as the owner, cannot do 'as directed' with those files.
Firefox should really provide some additional functionality on the "Firefox View" panel (namely on the "Open Tabs" option. This 'View" had the potential to afford a quicker solution.
Further, even though I could close all of the tabs open on Windows 2, and clicking a tab on Window 1 took me to a view with all of my desired tabs back, shutting Firefox down and re-opening it, once more created a new Tab on a much UNDESIRED Windows 2.
I finally got past this by getting rid of tabs showing on Windows 2, then once Windows 1 was showing--opened a NEW tab in THAT Window. Then (and only then), did shutting down Firefox and restarting it, displayed all of my Windows 1 Tabs (upon Startup of Firefox) without some new tab on an UNWANTED Windows 2.
The lack of information (and some additional features) on the Firefox View exacerbated this behavior (in my opinion).
Thanks to jonzn4USE for responding--even though 'answer-1777045' held no sway on this specific issue. I appreciate your response.
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