How do I restore my tabs from last time?

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  • Revision id: 13794
  • Created:
  • Creator: David McRitchie
  • Comment: Fx4 receiving no help for this problem
  • Reviewed: No
  • Ready for localization: No
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If you have stopped receiving a "Do you want Firefox to save your tabs for the next time it starts" prompt when you exitquit Firefox, this problem could be due to settings, extension problems, or corrupted files causing failure of Firefox components.


Settings may be set incorrectly

If your Firefox settings are configured differently, the prompt will not occur.

A change was made with Firefox 4 from being asked at the end of a session if you wanted to save your tabs, to your ability to pick up the previous session from the default home page (about:home) and from the History menu ("Restore Previous Session"). If you prefer the old way of also being asked at the the end of a session, you can still change your options as follows:

  1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and then select Preferences or Settings, depending on your macOS version.Click the menu button Fx89menuButton and select Settings.
  2. Select the Main panel, and set When Firefox starts to Show my home page.
  3. Switch to the Tabs panel, and check mark Warn me when closing multiple tabs.
  4. Switch to the Privacy panel, and uncheck Always clear my private data when I close Firefox.
  5. Close the Settings page. Any changes you've made will automatically be saved.
  1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and then select Preferences or Settings, depending on your macOS version.Click the menu button Fx89menuButton and select Settings.
  2. Select the General panel (Main panel in Firefox 3.5), and set When Firefox starts to Show my home page.
  3. Switch to the Tabs panel, and check mark Warn me when closing multiple tabs.
  4. Switch to the Privacy panel, and make sure Firefox will: is set to either Remember History or Use custom settings for history.
    • If Firefox will: is set to Use custom settings for history, uncheck Clear my history when Firefox closes.
  1. Close the Settings page. Any changes you've made will automatically be saved.

You can double check your about:config preferences in Firefox 4.0 for the following, if you want to see the message at the end of the session:

  • browser.showQuitWarning user set boolean true
  • browser.tabs.warnOnClose default boolean true
  • browser.warnOnQuit default boolean true
  • browser.warnOnRestart user set boolean true



Extensions are interfering

Some extensions (e.g. Tab Mix Plus) are known to cause this problem. To find out if it is an extension, read Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems.


Corrupted files

Firefox stores your user information in a separate folder on your computer. One or more files within that folder may be corrupt.

  1. Open your profile folder:

    • Click the menu button Fx89menuButton, click Help and select More Troubleshooting Information.From the Help menu, select More Troubleshooting Information. The Troubleshooting Information tab will open.
    • Under the Application Basics section next to Profile FolderDirectory, click Open FolderShow in FinderOpen Directory. A window will open that contains your profile folder.Your profile folder will open.
    Note: If you are unable to open or use Firefox, follow the instructions in Finding your profile without opening Firefox.

  2. Click the Firefox menu Fx89menuButton and select Exit.Click the Firefox menu at the top of the screen and select Quit Firefox.Click the Firefox menu Fx89menuButton and select Quit.
    • Make sure Firefox is not running at this point.
  1. Within your profile folder, rename these files:
    • Rename formhistory.sqlite to formhistory.sqlite.bak.
    • Rename sessionstore.js to sessionstore.js.bak.
Note: Should you need to restore the old versions of these files, simply remove the .bak from the end of each file and delete the new versions that replaced these backups.