Actually, I can't do anything in FF right now. It's mostly frozen though I can click a few of the menu icons, but when I do just like restore previous session they won't do anything. I pretty much have no choice but to close ff, if I do how do I get all of my saved sessions back from my session manager that I use to have?

Firefox uses the sessionstore.jsonlz4 file in the profile folder to store session data. The sessionstore.jsonlz4 file is only present when Firefox is closed. The sessionstore.jsonlz4 file is created from recovery.jsonlz4 when you close Firefox and is removed and copied to previous.jsonlz4 when you start Firefox to make is possible to restore the session at any time.

Backup the session files in the sessionstore-backups folder in the Firefox Profile Folder to make sure not to lose possible important session data. Do NOT close Firefox when Firefox is already running.

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

• Help -> Troubleshooting Information -> Profile Directory:
  Windows: Show Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

You will normally find these files in the sessionstore-backups folder:

• previous.jsonlz4 (cleanBackup: copy of sessionstore.jsonlz4 from previous session that was loaded successfully)
• recovery.jsonlz4 (latest version of sessionstore.jsonlz4 written during runtime)
• recovery.baklz4 (previous version of sessionstore.jsonlz4 written during runtime)
• upgrade.jsonlz4-<build_id> (backup created during an upgrade of Firefox)

You can copy a file from the sessionstore-backups folder to the main profile and rename the file to sessionstore.jsonlz4 to replace the current file (make sure to backup the current sessionstore.jsonlz4).

Firefox 56+ releases compress the files in the sessionstore-backups folder and sessionstore.jsonlz4 with LZ4 (.jsonlz4 instead of .js), so it is no longer easy to inspect them.

Firefox can restore uncompressed sessionstore files, but to make this work you need to remove (rename) compressed files and rename the sessionstore-backups folder to ensure that Firefox can't fallback to compressed .jsonlz4 files.

Were you using the Session Manager extension before? It keeps a separate folder of sessions you saved. More info on that if it's relevant:

To access the Session Manager data folder:

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
• (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
• type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, next to Profile Folder, click the "Open Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows Explorer.

Look for a folder named sessions and double-click into it. There should be files here with .session file extensions.

What if you cannot use the Troubleshooting Information page?

You can get into your profile folder through an alternate method, although the files won't be immediately useful if Firefox is severely broken.

Type or paste the following into the Windows Run dialog or the system search box and press Enter to launch Windows Explorer:

%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

In that folder, do you see a semi-randomly-named folder? If so, click into it. If you find multiple such folders, find the one that was most recently updated.

Then you can look for the sessions folder.

Making Firefox use a session history file from the sessions folder

There are two steps to this:

(1) Hide Firefox's own session history files (2) Modify the .session file to Firefox's format and place it in the right spot for Firefox to use it

First, to hide Firefox's own session history files, after you've shut down Firefox:

(A) Rename the sessionstore-backups folder to OLDsessionstore-backups (since you might want something from here later)

(B) If you find sessionstore.jsonlz4 in your profile folder, rename it to OLDsessionstore.jsonlz4

(C) If you find sessionstore.js in your profile folder, rename it to OLDsessionstore.js or, if it's from the Firefox 55 days, you may be able to delete it

Next, drag and drop the .session file you want to use onto this tool:

https://www.jeffersonscher.com/res/scrounger.html

Click the Save Uncompressed JSON (sessionstore.js) button and save the sessionstore.js file into your profile folder. It might be easier to save it in a more accessible place like your Desktop and then move it into the profile folder.

At startup, when Firefox doesn't find any of the .jsonlz4 files, it should go ahead and use the new sessionstore.js file.

Success?

wow- a lot of text to read through that really does not help me at all. As I said I can not open anything in ff right now. It is not totally frozen, but even icons/tabs that are highlighted when clicked do not respond. I have no idea what happened. I opened ff and a new tab saying I had been upgraded to a new, faster version of ff. Even if ff wasn't frozen, I don't understand what you have recommended I do.

 But what I really want to know is where did my session manager go??!!  When ff updates it should never remove add ons, history, etc.  How do I get my sessions (all of them listed in my session manager add on) back???   I would need everything step by step explained as if  I didn't know anything about computers.  Thanks

The steps you say to take are too complex. Does FF change any personal settings when it updates like add ons, history, favorites etc? If FF can't update and leave all my settings the same I will just use chrome instead from now on. I don't need the hassle of dealing with all the changes and headaches it causes when it updates. To start with it clearly did not even load properly the first time I tried to use it after the new version came out or I would have been able to use the menu options and address bar which I can't.

   The only reason I have not closed ff down and restarted is because i'm afraid it will be much harder if not impossible to get my last session back but I am hoping somehow I can

get my session manager add on back without closing it even tough I can't do anything in the ff browser I have up now.

"Session Manager" is a legacy extension -- it uses an older programming interface. Legacy extensions no longer run in Firefox 57. You either can use the built-in session history feature -- it only stores one previous session -- or look at a new session manager extension such as My Sessions.

But if Firefox won't run, that isn't the highest priority, is it.

I suggest making the backup cor-el suggested so you can capture the contents of the sessionstore-backups folder as it now exists.

Then try launching Firefox in its Safe Mode. In Safe Mode, Firefox temporarily deactivates extensions, hardware acceleration, and some other advanced features to help you assess whether these are causing the problem.

If Firefox is not running: Hold down the Shift key when starting Firefox.

If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
• Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

and OK the restart.

Both scenarios: A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).

Any improvement?

If you cannot get Firefox 57 to run correctly, you can consider other versions of Firefox or other browsers.

Sorry, your post changed after I started my reply.

Type or paste the following into the Windows Run dialog or the system search box and press Enter to launch Windows Explorer:

%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

In that folder, do you see a semi-randomly-named folder? If so, click into it. If you find multiple such folders, find the one that was most recently updated.

Then make a backup copy of the sessionstore-backups folder. You can do that as follows:

right-click the folder > Copy

Then open your Documents folder and

right-click a blank area > Paste

What is a " semi-randomly-named folder"? I am getting a headache and really upset that mozilla changed my version without asking- to something that no longer works for me. Why couldn't they leave my version alone, or at least ask if I wanted to change? I was never informed sessions manager was no longer supported and they were changing everything important to me.

The Firefox profile folder xxxxxxxx.default has a name where the first part consists of 8 random characters and the lat part is usually .default.

Firefox uses two locations for the Firefox profile folder, so make sure to look in the correct location and that is in AppData\Roaming for the main profile.

Location used for the main profile that keeps your personal data in "AppData\Roaming".

• C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\
• ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/<profile>/

Location used for the disk cache and other temporary files in "AppData\Local".

• C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\
• ~/Library/Caches/Firefox/Profiles/

"AppData" (XP: Application Data; Mac: ~/Library; Linux: ~/.mozilla) is a hidden folder.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Show_hidden_files_and_folders

by using %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles typed into the windows icon field that pops up I got to here-

C:\Users\me\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\sjuvpx9g.default-1414002998499\sessions

I think I found my last session from 12/20/17 ( called backup.session) but when I go to open it I get this annoying error message- "this file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action" yada, yada yada etc...

The .session files were created by the Session Manager add-on. There is no program set up in Windows to do anything with those files.

The .session files have extra data that Session Manager adds for its own purposes. In order to have Firefox use this file, you need to take the steps mentioned in my first reply.

Is Firefox working well enough to do that right now?

"Next, drag and drop the .session file you want to use onto this tool:

https://www.jeffersonscher.com/res/scrounger.html"

which is the .session file I want to use? I think I have done this so far- "First, to hide Firefox's own session history files, after you've shut down Firefox:

(A) Rename the sessionstore-backups folder to OLDsessionstore-backups (since you might want something from here later)

(B) If you find sessionstore.jsonlz4 in your profile folder, rename it to OLDsessionstore.jsonlz4

(C) If you find sessionstore.js in your profile folder, rename it to OLDsessionstore.js or, if it's from the Firefox 55 days, you may be able to delete it"

kids22 said

"Next, drag and drop the .session file you want to use onto this tool: https://www.jeffersonscher.com/res/scrounger.html"

which is the .session file I want to use?

I thought it was the last date in the folder, but you can examine the contents of different files (one at a time) to see what tabs are in it.

At this location- C:\Users\me\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\sjuvpx9g.default-1414002998499 I have no .session files. I have .json .json.lz4 .sqlite .back98 .rdf .js .lock .FR1-shm .mozlz4

   And that is all.  I can't try to solve this further if you aren't more specific

Do you have this folder:

C:\Users\me\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\sjuvpx9g.default-1414002998499\sessions

That's the folder that would have your Session Manager files (with .session extensions) in it.

Ok- I see you assumed I knew that opening the sessions folder would give me a .session extension (which does make sense). I need spoon feeding, yes I found it. I can't open the most recent file 12/20/17 in that folder. How do I copy the file name so I can paste it in the box I find a the link? Do I need to copy the whole sessions folder and paste it or just the 12/20/17 file?

I did mention the sessions folder originally, but it was way, way up the page now:

https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1196775#answer-1055635

Anyway, you can size Windows Explorer so it doesn't use the whole screen, and you can see the Scrounger tool page behind it, then drag and drop the one .session file onto the box on the page.

ok I ran it throught the program and saved it. How do I find my profile folder?

wait- I hadn't saved it yet. I tried to open to save it because when i right clicked I didn't see an option. Now I don't see the file- I will look at my downloads to find it

ok i found it , how do I find my profile folder (the place I should paste it in)?