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Dear Firefox: Stop restoring my previous sessions, if you please!!

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  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by cor-el

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Using Ubuntu 20.04 and Firefox 98.0, I keep running into the problem of Firefox offering to restore my previous session.

I don't want it to do that. I've gone to the Settings pane, then Startup, and unchecked the "open previous windows and tabs" box. That doesn't work.

I even got ambitious and went to about:config and set "browser.sessionstore.restore_on_demand" to false; and "browser.sessionstore.restore_tabs_lazily" to false.

Still happens. What is it about my old sessions that Firefox just can't let go and has to act like a clingy ex about them?

Using Ubuntu 20.04 and Firefox 98.0, I keep running into the problem of Firefox offering to restore my previous session. I don't want it to do that. I've gone to the Settings pane, then Startup, and unchecked the "open previous windows and tabs" box. That doesn't work. I even got ambitious and went to about:config and set "browser.sessionstore.restore_on_demand" to false; and "browser.sessionstore.restore_tabs_lazily" to false. Still happens. What is it about my old sessions that Firefox just can't let go and has to act like a clingy ex about them?

All Replies (1)

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Possible causes are that Firefox isn't closing possible or that there is a problem with the sessionstore files (files in sessionstore-backups folder or sessionstore.jsonlz4) or that Firefox is set to restore the previous session.

You can check if you have a user.js file in the Firefox profile folder that sets the browser.sessionstore.resume_session_once pref to true.

You can check for problems with the sessionstore.jsonlz4 file in the Firefox profile folder that stores session data.

  • rename/remove sessionstore.jsonlz4 and sessionstore.js

You may also have to rename/remove the sessionstore-backups folder.

When sessionstore.jsonlz4 is deleted you lose pinned-tabs and open tabs and you will have to recreate them, so if necessary make a note or bookmark them. sessionstore.jsonlz4 is only present in the Firefox profile folder when Firefox is closed.

You can use the button on the "Help -> More Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page (Root directory).