It's worth mentioning that I ensured that I used extension .js as the file extension and not just in the label. Also, I downgraded from the latest version of firefox prior to this problem.

Do other backups in the sessionstore-backups folder not work as well?

Can you open this file in the Scratchpad (Tools > Web Developer) and does the "Pretty Print" button work to precess the file?

• https://developer.mozilla.org/Tools/Scratchpad

cor-el said

Do other backups in the sessionstore-backups folder not work as well? Can you open this file in the Scratchpad (Tools > Web Developer) and does the "Pretty Print" button work to precess the file?

• https://developer.mozilla.org/Tools/Scratchpad

Am I doing this correct? I take one of the files from the sessionstore-backups folder, and rename it to sessionstore.js then move it to Profiles\xxxxx.default and launch firefox again, right?

Yes I sure can open this file in the Scratchpad (Tools > Web Developer) and the "Pretty Print" button does work to process the file (makes it look like html code).

I truly feel like I'm doing something wrong...

If you click the "Pretty Print" button that shows on the toolbar in the above posted screenshot then Firefox will format the file by adding line breaks, so you no longer have to scroll horizontally.

Right sorry- I didn't take a screenshot of that one but yes it does work.. so it looks like the file isn't corrupted!? How can I get Firefox to restore the tabs from it? Thanks for your help!

Yes, copying the file as sessionstore.js to the main profile folder with Firefox closed should restore the tabs and windows saved in the file.

You can check the History menu to see if any of the three restore items are enabled.

A possible way to inspect a sessionstore.js file or a file in the sessionstore-backups folder is opening the file in a Firefox tab and evaluate this JavaScript code in the Web Console (Firefox/Tools > Web Developer). Paste the code in the command line of the Web Console and press the Enter key to evaluate the code. This code only looks at the first window.

eval("ss = "+document.body.innerHTML.replace("<pre>","").replace("</pre>",""));
sd='';
for (var i = 0; i < ss.windows[0].tabs.length; i++) {
 var ent = ss.windows[0].tabs[i].entries;
 var last = ent[ent.length-1];
 sd+="["+(i+1)+"]:"+"<a href="+last.url+">"+last.url+"</a><br />";
}
document.body.innerHTML=sd;

cor-el said

Yes, copying the file as sessionstore.js to the main profile folder with Firefox closed should restore the tabs and windows saved in the file. You can check the History menu to see if any of the three restore items are enabled.

---

A possible way to inspect a sessionstore.js file or a file in the sessionstore-backups folder is opening the file in a Firefox tab and evaluate this JavaScript code in the Web Console (Firefox/Tools > Web Developer). Paste the code in the command line of the Web Console and press the Enter key to evaluate the code. This code only looks at the first window.

---

eval("ss = "+document.body.innerHTML.replace("<pre>","").replace("</pre>",""));
sd='';
for (var i = 0; i < ss.windows[0].tabs.length; i++) {
 var ent = ss.windows[0].tabs[i].entries;
 var last = ent[ent.length-1];
 sd+="["+(i+1)+"]:"+"<a href="+last.url+">"+last.url+"</a><br />";
}
document.body.innerHTML=sd;

See attachment that shows what I see when running the command you advised. I am not sure what that is.... Does this mean a line is wrong in the code? I've read a little that says to change the first line of the .js code (which I haven't done yet)..

See other attachment that shows not much of anything available from the history menu. The "restore session" that shows there is empty.

I tried copying over/renaming the backup file again to sessionstore.js then to overwriting the sessionstore.js file that's already in the main profile. This still doesn't load the links (tabs) that I see in the .js file with a text editor.

At this point, I really don't know what else to do, unless you have a trick up your sleeve to force it. If not.... can you help me with the best way to extract the url's from the .js file, so I can re-open them? PITA but I still want them.

Ok so, I played around a little bit with the web console command you sent me. I opened a few random tabs in the current firefox window, and loaded the current sessionstore.js file in firefox then ran your command. In the output window above the web console, it shows the current links that I had/have open in the new session of firefox, whereas after loading the backup .js file (show in the previous screenshot), it doesn't show any of my url's/links I see with a text editor.

Not sure what this means? I guess some of the code is wrong in the backup .js file? Thanks much for your guidance.

Here is the first line of the backup's .js file code (since I have a feeling you may want to know?)

{"version":["sessionrestore",1],"windows":[{"tabs":[{"entries":[{"url":"about:home","title":"Mozilla Firefox Start

Please let me know if anyone has any ideas?

There might be something wrong in the file like a stay ',' You can try a search for ',]' or ',}' (without the quotes) and remove such a trailing comma.