Firefox Community Forum

Hello,

I'm encountering a highly frustrating issue with Firefox. Even though the "Open previous windows and tabs" option is checked in my settings, it is completely ignored on startup. Firefox systematically opens to a blank tab or home page.

Here are the key details and what I've already checked:

• The Ctrl + Shift + T shortcut works perfectly: This proves Firefox is saving my session and history; it's only the automatic loading on startup that is being blocked.
• In about:config, the preference browser.startup.page is correctly set to 3.
• My privacy settings are standard: Firefox is set to "Remember history" and the "Clear history when Firefox closes" box is unchecked. I am not in permanent Private Browsing mode.
• The Windows shortcut I use to launch Firefox is clean (no forced URL at the end of the target path).
• I close Firefox cleanly via the menu, and I've verified that no ghost processes are stuck in the Task Manager after closing.

It makes no sense since the parameter is hardcoded but gets bypassed on launch. Is there a specific file (sessionstore or otherwise) that could be corrupted and blocking the automatic load without blocking the manual restore?

Thanks in advance for your help, I'm out of ideas!

Hopefully, this gets you a fast and highly technical answer. Hang in there!

Moderator note: This question has been edited to correct the formatting.

The way you use VPN is you can either have it turned off, or turned on with exceptions you can put in a list. I'd like to be able to do the opposite, have it mostly turned off, except for some websites that require one to view. This is a QoL feature I would like in a future update.

plz guys help me my eyes hurt so bad because of this

every time i open firefox for pc, a white flash appears very quickly

i tried every thing ai told me to, but still

i cant even record it it doesnt appear in video

I utilize a website called Twinspires for wagering on horses. It has a video popup (no sidebar tabs) that one can engage to watch the race outside of the Firefox browser. I quite like this feature. That said, I keep quite sidebar tabs saved as I use that feature to pin and then revisit websites that I want to spend more time on. Problem: If the browser closes on its own or other issue, it doesn't close the video popup. So when I restart the browser it "thinks" that video popup, with no saved sidebar tabs, was the last browser open so I lose all my saved sidebar tabs. If everything Firefox would close when the browser does, one could restore all tabs under history like one would normally do. Is there a setting so everything Firefox that is open closes when the browser does? Thank you.

Subject: Firefox Sync appears to have erased all bookmarks after setting up a new Windows installation

Hello Mozilla Support,

I believe I have encountered a Firefox Sync issue that resulted in the loss of my entire bookmarks collection.

Here is exactly what happened:

I have been using Firefox Sync for several years without any issues. This was not my first Windows reinstallation. I have restored Firefox through Sync multiple times before. Firefox Sync had always synchronized bookmarks, passwords, history, extensions and open tabs correctly across my Windows PC and Android phone. I had approximately 350 bookmarks, organized into folders. Timeline Yesterday I performed a clean installation of Windows 11. I installed Firefox 152.0.5 (64-bit). I signed into my existing Firefox Account. I did not immediately enable Sync, so nothing was synchronized at that point. Today I enabled Sync and waited for the synchronization to complete. Passwords synchronized successfully. Browsing history synchronized successfully (it took a little longer). Extensions were restored successfully. Bookmarks never appeared.

Immediately after noticing this, I checked Firefox on my Android phone.

At first, one of the bookmark folders still showed that it contained more than 300 items (I saw the item count), but when I opened the folder it was completely empty. After synchronization finished, all bookmarks disappeared from both devices.

Additional information Browsing history is still present. Saved passwords are still present. Extensions are still present. Open tabs synchronization continues to work. Bookmark synchronization is enabled. I am signed into the correct Firefox Account. The second local Firefox profile is empty. The automatic bookmark backup now contains only the current state (7 items), indicating that the original backup has already been overwritten. The current profile contains both places.sqlite and places.sqlite-wal. The only Sync error log is related to a temporary DNS lookup failure (NS_ERROR_UNKNOWN_HOST) and contains no bookmark synchronization errors.

Because history, passwords and extensions synchronized correctly, this does not appear to be an account or authentication problem.

What concerns me most is that I briefly saw the bookmark folder still reporting over 300 items on Android before it became empty. This makes me suspect that something went wrong during bookmark synchronization rather than the bookmarks simply never existing on the server.

Could you please advise:

Is there any server-side recovery or investigation that can be performed for Firefox Sync bookmark data? Are there any diagnostic logs that I can provide? Is this a known issue with Firefox Sync after connecting a newly installed device?

I would greatly appreciate any assistance, as this bookmark collection had been accumulated over many years.

I have a Sync error log available: error-sync-1783454370913.txt

It only contains a DNS error related to tabs synchronization: NS_ERROR_UNKNOWN_HOST

There are no bookmark-related errors in the log.

Thank you.

I have been using Mozilla Firefox on my mobile phone or PC since 2015. So, after so long, I found the Gmail that I used to log in to Mozilla from 2015 to 2018. Now, if I log in with that Gmail, will the previous history or data be restored or will it be Mozilla's?

I lost all bookmarks on or about June 29, 2026 after doing a Firefox update that asked me to create a profile when I'd never had one before. I have not been able to recover them.

I'm unable to open my mail.att.net on my HP Windows 11 computer. The screen shifts to Yahoo mail now. For a time I could click on the "small Person" symbol to log in. That now longer works. The session times out without connecting. I've cleaned and deleted cookies and browsing history. The same login problem now also occurs on my Microsoft Edge browser.

Since the blow up User Id's and Passwords to various sites no longer pop in by clicking in the requestors. I was able to retreive my UIDs and Passwords but I now have to obtain them from the Hamburger, Passworkds, etc. for each site I visit that requires a login. Twice for each site...one foe UID and again for Password. That is currently the worst problem I am facing but other damage was done with the update.

Suggestions for fixes are welcome.

- Orph

I download my share of media using BitTorrent with Pirate Bay. Just lately, every time I attempt to download something I get redirected to a page, https://ultimatesurferprotector.com/lp5.php, that tries to sell me a VPN and I can find no way to stop this or contact them. I am happy with the VPN I have and have no interest in purchasing another. Does anyone know how I can prevent this from happening? Thank you.

MikeQ [email removed from moderator]

For some reason firefox uninstalled on my computer, I genuinely do not know why. When reinstalling it, I have an old save from my backup of that morning (I have it setup that way). However, I do not remember this password whatsoever and I am freaking out a little bit since I have information on there and I am just trying to get it restored onto my account.

Any help would be appreciated.

When I download with this browser, I cannot open the file and it states download has "failed". Any other browser I use allows me to open the file. I use Firefox most often because I like the way it performs, but the download issue causes me to look elsewhere for a viable browser. I cannot seem to find what is causing the download failure and am hoping you can offer a reason that will provide a fairly quick fix.

Sometimes, for no apparent reason, on my Win 11 ASUS laptop, Firefox will suddenly use a lot of resources, such that the temperature jumps from about 50 degrees to 95 degrees and the fan runs full speed. It appears the only way to stop it, is to close FF then reopen. What might cause that?

I also have an unanswered previous question about being unable to pay accounts.

Cheers, Keith