Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

firefox fails to show windows and tabs from last time

more options

Topic says it: I've always set firefox to restore my tabs. Recently it's stopped working; only my home page is shown on startup.

Topic says it: I've always set firefox to restore my tabs. Recently it's stopped working; only my home page is shown on startup.

All Replies (13)

more options

Hey djbluntmagic. I think this guide will help you.

more options

Make sure that you do not run Firefox in (permanent) Private Browsing mode.

  • Tools > Options > Privacy: Use custom settings for history
  • Deselect: [ ] "Always use private browsing mode"

In case you are using "Clear history when Firefox closes":

  • do not clear the "Browsing History"

Note that clearing "Site Preferences" clears all exceptions for cookies, images, pop-up windows, software installation, and passwords.

more options

"Tools > Options > Privacy: History: [X] Clear history when Firefox closes > Settings " This isn't an apparent setting in the path you indicated

more options

@openjck Like I said, I already have this feature set

more options

Use "Use custom settings for history" to see all history settings

  • Tools > Options > Privacy > Firefox will: "Use custom settings for history"
  • Press the F10 key or tap the Alt key to bring up the "Menu Bar" temporarily if the menu bar is hidden.
  • Use "Firefox > Options" instead of "Tools > Options" if the menu bar is hidden.
more options

Nah, I've got it on "remember history."

more options

Did you check the settings for "Clear history when Firefox closes" ?

See:

more options

Well it wouldn't do that, would it, if I've got it on "remember history."

more options

Can you please just check those settings to verify that you aren't clearing data?

The "Use custom settings for history" selection allows to see the current history and cookie settings, but selecting this doesn't make any changes to history and cookie settings.


You can check for problems with the sessionstore.js and sessionstore.bak files in the Firefox Profile Folder that store session data.

Delete the sessionstore.js file and possible sessionstore-##.js files with a number and sessionstore.bak in the Firefox Profile Folder.

Deleting sessionstore.js will cause App Tabs and Tab Groups and open and closed (undo) tabs to get lost, so you will have to create them again (make a note or bookmark them).

more options

Well, verifying that I have it on "remember history" constitutes checking, since the settings under custom wouldn't be in effect , but OK, I checked, and the setting isn't selected, and followed the ensuing instructions.

more options

Any ideas other than the obvious?

more options

There are at least two conditions required:

  1. you need to keep history, so verify that you still have those pages in history after restarting Firefox if you haven't removed them manually yourself
  2. a sessionstore.js file needs to be created that has stored the page from that previous session, so verify that you have this file with a correct time stamp

You can also check if there are recently closed tabs or windows with pages from that previous session.
You can also try to kill Firefox via the task manager to simulate a crash to see if that brings back the tabs.


Also verify that session restore is enabled.

more options

Well thanks for the help. I didn't change anything but it's working again anyway, so I guess I'll be back if it acts up again.