Session restore disabled after crash

[groundhog2]

Operating system:Windows 10
Browser version: 32.1
32-bit or 64-bit browser?: 64

I just had freeze where I had to manually shut down my PC and restart, and when I launched PM, it just opened up my homepage. Normally, it would restore my windows and tabs, or show the Session Restore screen. In all my years of using PM this has never happened and I never even relied on any session manager add-ons because PM would always so reliably remember my browser state during restarts or crashes.

Is there anything I can do to salvage my windows and tabs? It’s not the end of the world but there are lots of them over three windows and I’m just too used to working with them that way. The option to reopen closed windows or tabs is greyed out so I’m not sure what to do.

[Kris_88]

Try to find and save (copy somewhere) sessionstore.bak and sessionstore.js in the PM profile directory. Do not close PM if active, or do no open if it is closed !
What are the sizes of these files?

[groundhog2]

Try to find and save (copy somewhere) sessionstore.bak and sessionstore.js in the PM profile directory. Do not close PM if active, or do no open if it is closed !
What are the sizes of these files?

I have both files in my profile under AppData > Roaming. The .bak file is about 4.5 Mb and the .js is just 1 kb.

[Kris_88]

I have both files in my profile under AppData > Roaming. The .bak file is about 4.5 Mb and the .js is just 1 kb.

Good.
Save both in a safe place.
Then delete .js and rename .bak to .js in the PM profile folder.

[groundhog2]

I have both files in my profile under AppData > Roaming. The .bak file is about 4.5 Mb and the .js is just 1 kb.

Good.
Save both in a safe place.
Then delete .js and rename .bak to .js in the PM profile folder.

Did that. Do I just restart PM?

[Kris_88]

Did that. Do I just restart PM?

Yes.

[groundhog2]

Did that. Do I just restart PM?

Yes.

Hm, no, it just shows my homepage again, and the .bak file now in the profile folder is 1 kb in size.

[Kris_88]

Hm, no, it just shows my homepage again, and the .bak file now in the profile folder is 1 kb in size.

Maybe the .js file is damaged ...
But here it is difficult for me to do something through the forum.
Do not delete saved files, since the larger of them (4.5 MB) contains your lost tabs.
Wait, maybe someone here will help better than me.

[Kris_88]

BTW, you can open it with notepad and see.

[Moonchild]

It's likely just corrupted due to the forced shutdown.
Inspect the 4.5MB file and see if it looks like proper json code. Maybe run it through a json repair tool if it looks OK at first glance -- you can't really do that manually at that size.

[groundhog2]

Opening the 4.5 Mb .bak file with Notepad just shows a blank page. I’m afraid it must’ve been corrupted with no way to retrieve the data… Trying a couple of online JSON repair tools, they either time out or show errors.

[Moonchild]

if it's blank in notepad then your tabs/windows were lost. Trying to repair a blank file is not going to work.
For a relatively quick recovery of sites you used daily, I suggest using your browsing history.

[groundhog2]

if it's blank in notepad then your tabs/windows were lost. Trying to repair a blank file is not going to work.
For a relatively quick recovery of sites you used daily, I suggest using your browsing history.

Yup, I'll have to go and do that, I'm sure I'll be able to get back most of the more important pages, I just had them in a specific order that's become second nature to me, so it will be difficult to adjust now. I did install the Session Manager from the PM add-ons page, hopefully this can prevent something like this happening in the future. How should I use it best?

[Moonchild]

I just had them in a specific order that's become second nature to me

Note, you can drag tabs around to order them as you will. dragging them out of the tab bar will spawn a new window if you want to use multiple windows. you can drag and drop to organize tabs to your heart's content.

[back2themoon]

I did install the Session Manager from the PM add-ons page, hopefully this can prevent something like this happening in the future. How should I use it best?

That's a great extension. Default settings should be ok, but also take a look here: (original website looks dead, unfortunately?)

https://web.archive.org/web/20200131044 ... tions.html