Restoring session with sessionstore.bak

My PC crashed and firefox was not able to restore my tabs. I've been keeping tabs for almost a year and all my sessions have always restored gracefully. I've seen the responses in MozillaZine and all of them don't seem to work anymore on the newer FF versions.
sessionstore.bak and sessionstore.js in my FF 25.0 contains blank spaces when opened in notepad or null characters in other advanced editors such as notepad++
renaming sessionstore.bak to .js and deleting the other sessionstore files simply don't work.
I'm begging for help please!!! :( losing my tabs is a pet peeve... highly irritating

The sessionstore.js file is a text file and if there are null bytes or other non-ASCII characters then it is likely that the file is corrupted. 
If you have an older version of the file then you can try to use that.
You can try to restore a previous version of the file.
*Right-click: Properties > Previous Versions
*http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Previous-versions-of-files-frequently-asked-questions

Similar Messages

Restoring session from sessionstore.bak file

I'm trying to recover a session lost after a system crash,I have a '''sessionstore.bak''' file from the time of this crash (about 1.8Mb),and a '''sessionstore-1.js''' file which I assume is a leftover from some time ago and not relevant for this issue:copying this '''.bak''' file in the profile folder and renaming it to '''.js''' has not restored my session, indeed only one of the 10 windows I had open at that time is now restored-Firefox is set to show windows and tabs from the last time,so why this is not working?
After that crash,not only my profile was missing but the cache folders as well,it all got moved in a C:something directory,maybe I should recover the cache folder also to restore the session?
Is there any other reason why a sessionstore.bak file could not be used to successfully reopen the last session?

Thanks for your answer cor-el,I've just successfully restored this 100-ish tabs session from that '''sessionstore.bak''' file,what I've done is
* copy '''sessionstore.bak''' in the profile folder,rename it to '''.js'''
* replace the cache folders moved in the "recovered files" directory back in their original location
* replace a couple of missing '''userchrome.css''' files with some others from a previous backup
* delete that '''sessionstore-1.js''' as you suggested
Honestly now I have no clue about the deciding factor,but the pre-crash session is back exactly as it was,I wonder if the cache files are also essential to reopen such a large session (I also have BarTab installed,maybe this extension needs the cache files to work properly?)
Now about that sessionstore-##.js files you were pointing at,I assume the external programs accessing Firefox would be some security software,or do I have to search now for some out of control application ?

Session restore crashed. changing sessionstore.bak to .js not working.

I've tried every guide out there to no luck. I've tried changing my sessionstore.js to sessionstore.old then changing my sessionstore.bak to sessionstore.js. Must be corrupted and not working. Tried using many different guides such as http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=622036&start=60. Tried this method from that link
"Here is an example that works for me in scratchpad in the browser environment.
Instructions:
1. open about:config
2. set devtools.chrome.enabled to true
3. tools > web developer > scratchpad
4. environment > browser
5. edit > paste (i.e. copy and paste code below)
6. execute > run
or
1. tools > web developer > error console
2. paste code in text field
3. evaluate code"
Not familiar with all this code tried to follow many instructions from many different posts. Nothing works or I'm simply not doing the steps correctly. Tried using different settings/programs and extremely frustrating to the point where I want to break my laptop.
Can anyone write a guide and explain it like I'm 5. Step by step to help me restore my tabs from this corrupted sessionstore.bak file.

You would have to open the sessionstore file in a Firefox tab or text editor and copy and paste the text in the text area on the JSON validator web page, but with a 2 MB file size the file is probably too large to get accepted (the limit might be 1 MB).
Do any links come up if you copy the sessionstore.bak file to sessionstore.bak.txt and open this txt file in a Firefox tab and run the below posted bookmarklet code (i.e create a new bookmark with the code and click this button)?
You need to create a bookmark (e.g. on the Bookmarks Toolbar) and paste the full JavaScript in the location field. You can give the bookmarks a name like JSON
<pre><nowiki>javascript:(function(){var D=document,H,i=j=0,P=D.getElementsByTagName('pre'),t=[],R=/[^:]\{"entries":\[\{("url":"([^"]*)")\,("title":"([^"]*)"){0,1}/g,T,U;for(j=0;E=P[j];j++){H=E.innerHTML;while(R.exec(H)){U=RegExp.$2;T=RegExp.$4;if(T.length==0){T=U;}t.push('['+(++i)+'] <a href='+U+'>'+T+' ('+U+')<\/a>');}}with(window.open().document){write(t.join(' \n'));close()}})();</nowiki></pre>

Can't restore lost session using sessionrestore.bak

So I had quite a big number of tabs opened. Firefox started to slow down badly and then I by accident removed power cord. After I switch on the computer firefox didn't display the usual communicat about restoring the session. So I went and copied sessionrestore.bak and then renamed it to .js and started firefox again. But it does not display lost tabs goes to homepage. What can I do? I tried googling for help but found nothing...
== User Agent ==
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1) ; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; Media Center PC 5.0; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30618; InfoPath.2; AskTB5.6)

Are you using "Show my windows and tabs from last time" or do you rely on "Save and Quit"?
The latter may not always work reliable.
Firefox will try to restore a crashed session automatically once and copy sessionstore.js from that crashed session to sessionstore.bak
If that hasn't worked then that session might be lost.
See also https://wiki.mozilla.org/Session_Restore (Preferences)

FF 34 - Restoring Sessions from old folders of files recovery.bak and recovery.js that are not in the original folder. Is this possible?

After crash all the recovery files were gone. With a recovery software I could get old versions of recovery files (recovery.bak, recovery.js). I try to implement them in the new profile folder by exchanging the files, but FF34 just ioverwrites them. Unfortunalty I could not restore the old sessionstore.js file.
Any idea how I can restore the ols session with this 2 old files (recovery.bak, recovery.js)?

Did you check in a text editor that the recovered files are not corrupted and only contain ASCII text?
You would have to copy such a recovery file to the main profile folder as sessionstore.js to replace the current copy.
If you do not use "Show my windows and tabs from last time" then you need to use "History > Restore Previous Session" and possibly "History > Recently Closed Tabs/Windows".

Restored some pages but not all, had 2 groups of tabs, only restored 1 group, after using sessionstore.bak trick.

I opened Firefox after restarting my computer. I normally press the Restore button and get my 2 groups of tabs back up, one which contains its own Restore page. However, I accidentally opened another tab while the Restore page was loading, and all of sudden there were no pages to Restore - it was empty, and the Restore option was greyed out when I went under History. I used the sessionstore.bak trick to recover 1 group of tabs. However the other group of tabs is still missing that I had open in another window before this problem happened. Is there a way to recover this?

I looked under all the ways to bring up precious tabs, including under History, but it was too late. All the tabs disappeared. Just by me pressing on something wrong. A million times before, I pressed the Restore button, and both windows with the groups of tabs would pop up. But this time, I must have done something funny. But opening a new tab next to the Restore tab, it made my previous pages disappear.

How can I restore my sessions from sessionrestore.bak on another computer?

My computer crashed a few days ago and I had to reinstall my Windows. I backed up my application data and managed to get the sessionrestore.bak from the previous Firefox, which has gone buried after the format. Is there anyway I can get the Firefox to retrieve the sessions? I can read the .bak file, but it is too troublesome to copy out each link from it as I've got over a hundred tabs stored.

Copy the sessionstore.bak file as sessionstore.js to the Firefox profile folder to restore that session.
*http://kb.mozillazine.org/sessionstore.js
*Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Open Containing Folder
*http://kb.mozillazine.org/Session_Restore

Built-in restore session hangs/freezes with too many tabs in Fx 29

Hi, I've used the Session Manager add on for awhile, ever since a previous 'upgrade' to Firefox tended to not save sessions after a crash.
The upgrade to version 29 has rendered Session Manager unusable, as documented here:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1000544?esab=a&as=aaq
However I've determined that this seems to be not a problem with Session Manager, but with Firefox's built-in restore functionality. This is because though Session Manager no longer shows at startup, Firefox's native session restore does, and Session Manager can still be accessed through the "Tools" menu. It simply crashes with even a couple hundred tabs, let alone the 1-3k tab sessions I normally use.
Experimentation has demonstrated several things. (Both session restore and Session Manager work the same way, which tells me that Session Manager is probably built on the session restore function, simply adding support for multiple sessions and better autosaving.)
1. If I try to restore a large session, even if I remove almost all of my tabs from the restore, it will start to open everything, then (apparently) hang without loading any of the default tabs, and then freeze if I try to do anything at all, including clicking on the search box, trying to scroll, or clicking on another tab.
2. If I try to open a session with one window and one tab, it will open.
Not sure if this is relevant, but if I clicked on another tab before it froze, when I do a session restore from the old session it will open with that one that I clicked as the default tab.
It used to be that Firefox would only load the last tab I was on for each window, and then load others when I clicked on them. I kind of suspect that the upgrade has Firefox now trying to either load all tabs at once (rather than only when I clicked on them, as previously), or at the very least trying to get the metadata from all the pages.
I know that the sensible solution is to not have more than a few dozen tabs at any one time. But I'm not really a sensible person I've spent the past three hours trying to downgrade. I'm dedicated enough to my silly and obsolescent browsing method that I imagine I will keep trying to downgrade, security and time wastage be damned, until the issue is fixed.
On the other hand, it occurs that there may already be a patch or new add-on which addresses this issue, and that would be a lot easier than downgrading, which Mozilla quite intentionally makes painfully difficult. Is there an easier way to get my multi-k tab sessions back?
Thanks,
LK
PS: OS is Ubuntu 12.10. I have automatic updates disabled but periodically upgrade my whole system from the Terminal. My last system-wide upgrade was yesterday, the penultimate one was sometime in April, which is why I think the problem starts with Fx 29.

Hi, I'm a Tab junky...and I'm not changing. I have this issue also. After 2 weeks of utter frustration, not liking any of the roll backs, etc, I dove into other browsers....and found Comodo IceDragon, which is based of Firefox 26.0.... but better. I can't even describe how stable it is, even compared to FF26.
The only glitches were bringing in my history and passwords. I had to use Password exporter to deal with passwords and had to export my bookmarks and history to Chrome, then into IceDragon because it could not do it directly. But Comodo tech support was fast and very helpful!!
Give it a roll. It's like old home week, but better.

When restoring a session with many tabs, how do I stop the tabs from reloading even when I am offline?

In version 4, when restoring a previous session with many tabs (about 80) in offline mode with no internet connection, the tabs will realise there is no connection and will not load. In version 5, the tabs will constantly try to reload no matter how long the internet connection is not active and as soon as I connect to the internet, all the tabs try to load and will cause huge RAM usage and I have to shut down the browser. I want version 5 to be like 3 and 4 and not try reload all the tabs once it has detected no connection.

Hello there, lalaysa.
The following Knowledge Base article offers up some great recommendations for unlinking your old phone number from your device:
iOS and OS X: Link your phone number and Apple ID for use with FaceTime and iMessage
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5538
Unlink a phone number
To remove a phone number from an Apple ID, sign out of FaceTime and Messages on your iPhone:
Settings > Messages > Send & Receive. Tap your Apple ID, then tap Sign Out.
Settings > FaceTime. Tap your Apple ID, then tap Sign Out.
This should remove your phone number from other devices using the same Apple ID with FaceTime and Messages. If the phone number is still available on other devices after you sign out of FaceTime and iMessage on the iPhone, you may need to sign out of iMessage and FaceTime on all your devices, then sign in to FaceTime and Messages again on devices you want to use.
Note: If you no longer have access to the iPhone that is using the number you want to remove, reset your Apple ID password.
Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Pedro.

How do I make Restore Session work better?

Using version 18.0
I just tried to Restore a session and ended up with one from yesterday. The other day I got one that was several hours old. These both cost me a lot of productivity. If the browser keeps crashing and its not going to restore properly I'm going to have to find another browser.

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.
*Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Open Containing Folder
*http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox
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).
*http://kb.mozillazine.org/Multiple_profile_files_created

Browser stuck on restore session

I can't do anything on Firefox right now. Everytime I try and open the browser it goes to restore session, then nothing happens. My cursor becomes a waiting signal, and nothing changes. I have reinstalled and it just keeps going back to restore session. I can't do anything because I can't click anything. I have Mac 0sx 10.4 so I can't upgrade. please help I've had firefox for years and no problems, I don't want another browser.

It is possible that there is a problem with the files sessionstore.js and sessionstore.bak in the Firefox Profile Folder.
Delete the files sessionstore.js [2] and sessionstore.bak in the Firefox Profile Folder.
* Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Open Containing Folder
* http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox
If you see files sessionstore-##.js with a number in the left part of the name like sessionstore-1.js then delete those as well. 
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).
See also:
* [1] http://kb.mozillazine.org/Session_Restore
* [2] http://kb.mozillazine.org/sessionstore.js

I accidently clicked dont restore session, I wanted to restore ... is there a way to do this after clicking no?

I accidentally clicked don't restore session ...
I wanted to restore, and actually needed a couple of the sites that i had open.
Is there any way to restore now? I found the sessionstore.js file ... can i do anything with that?
== This happened ==
Just once or twice

Did you also find a file sessionstore.bak from around that time?
If that is the case then make a backup copy of sessionstore.bak elsewhere and copy sessionstore.bak to sessionstore.js

How to restore sessions after upgrade

Just upgraded to FF 33. Previously I had two windows open. Upon restart only one opened, with all its tabs intact. I would like to recover the other window as well. "Restore session" is either grayed or missing on menu and start pages. Is there a way to recover the second window.

Usually, the History menu will list closed windows you can restore below the grayed out Restore Previous Session. Anything listed?
Before closing Firefox, please back up your session history files to a safe location for potential recovery/salvage operations.
You can 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, click the "Show Folder" button.
In the window that launches, scroll down and double-click into the '''sessionstore-backups''' folder. Save all files here to a safe location, such as your Documents folder. We may be able to use them to recover your lost tabs.
The kinds of files you may find among your sessionstore files are:
* recovery.js: the windows and tabs in your currently live Firefox session (or, if Firefox is closed, your last session)
* recovery.bak: a backup copy of recovery.js
* previous.js: the windows and tabs in your last Firefox session
* upgrade.js-''build_id'': the windows and tabs in the Firefox session that was live at the time of your last update
You might also find files Firefox created if it could not update recovery.js (but since Firefox 33 is so new, I don't know what they would be named).
Could you take a look at what you have and the date/time of the various files to see whether you think any of them would have the missing window?
Note: By default, Windows hides the .js extension. To ensure that you are looking at the files I mentioned, you may want to turn off that feature. This article has the steps: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/show-hide-file-name-extensions

Dont not REstore session subfloders empty

Hello we perform backups with Data Protector effectively, but when I go to restore the session from the server choose the drive and just figure eg C \ and can not display the entire file structure containing bakcup anyone know because it happens this. image attached
thank you
regards

Could you check your profile for for any "extra" sessionstore files? Here's how:
Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either
* "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
* Help menu > Troubleshooting Information
In the first table on the page, click the "Show Folder" button
Scroll down and look for sessionstore.js (which should have a very current timestamp) and sessionstore.bak (which should be dated as of your previous session). Do you find both of those?
Do you find any extra files, such as sessionstore-1.js or other numbered files? If so, that indicates that Firefox cannot write to the main sessionstore.js file because it is locked or corrupted, as your windows/tabs are being saved in a different file. Unfortunately, Firefox can't actually restore any of those files automatically. In this situation, I believe you need to remove the sessionstore.js file (probably after exiting out of Firefox) and rename the current numbered file to sessionstore.js.
You mentioned that you checked your settings, and it didn't sound as though you had any questions about them. But... could you post your customized session history settings? Here's how:
(1) In a new tab, type or paste '''about:config''' in the address bar and press Enter. Click the button promising to be careful.
(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste '''sess''' and pause while the list is filtered
(3) Review the preferences starting with:
* browser.sessionhistory.
* browser.sessionstore.
If you see bolded entries, which indicates that they vary from the default setting, could you right-click > Copy and post in a reply to see whether they might be relevant to this problem?

I can't find my sessionstore.bak files and I keep losing my tabs randomly! Help!

Locking duplicate thread. Please continue here: [[/questions/1038390]]
Sessionstore.bak is missing, but in its place is sessioncheckpoint.json, but i still have sessionstore.js and .old. How to I restore old tabs? On top of this, I lose tabs randomly from the end of one session to the start of the next with normal closing of firefox. Why is this? Thanks for any help you can spare!

The current Firefox release no longer user the sessionstore.bak file, but uses backup in the sessionstore-backups folder.
You can still make backup copies of the sessionstore.js file and restore this file in the main profile folder or copy a backup from the sessionstore-backups folder to sessionstore.js to use this session.
You can look at this extension to manage sessions more easily:
*https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/session-manager/

Restoring session with sessionstore.bak

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