1464146 - Firefox sessions are restored when user has "Use my sign-in info to automatically finish setting up my device after an update or restart" disabled on Win 10 and does not have session restore enabled

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Core :: Widget: Win32, defect)

Description

[Abe - QA (:Abe_LV)]

Steps to reproduce:

Screen capture- https://testing-1.tinytake.com/sf/MjYyNDcyMF83ODkwOTE4

Note- This is not reproducible when OS is rebooted from the start menu [user-initiated reboot]

1.On Windows 10: Go to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options
2. Turn off "Use my sign in info to automatically finish setting up my device and reopen my apps after an update or restart" 
3. Open Firefox and open few tabs
4. Go to about:preferences and uncheck (if checked) "Restore previous session"
5. Restart the OS using "shutdown /g"
6. Verify Firefox sessions are not restored

Actual Result:
Firefox sessions are restored on next Firefox startup when the user has "Use my sign-in info to automatically finish setting up my device after an update or restart" disabled and does not have session restore enabled

Expected Result:
Sessions should not be restored when the user turned off "Use my sign-in info to automatically finish setting up my device after an update or restart" and does not have session restore enabled

Comment 1

[Adam Gashlin (he/him) [:agashlin] (ex-moco)]

I think this is a result of me misunderstanding the "Use my sign-in info..." option. According to Microsoft's documentation [1], turning this off disables the feature where your applications appear to start before you have logged in (while actually they log you in, lock the screen, and start your apps). It also controls whether the automatic restart happens for normal shutdowns, according to the 17040 release notes [2]. I had misread this and concluded that it would turn of *all* automatic restarts, but no, that is old behavior going back to Vista and this new setting does not affect it.

Therefore we can expect Firefox to start up automatically, even with this option turned off, on a restart caused by an update or shutdown /g. However, even in this case, with this option off, Firefox should not start up before the user has logged in, at least since build 17040.

To summarize my current understanding:

Restart applications automatically? / Restart applications before login?

                                 normal            | normal            | update/        | update/
                                 restart/shutdown, | restart/shutdown, | shutdown /g,   | shutdown /g
                                 option on         | option off        | option on      | option off
                                 __________________|___________________|________________|______________
Vista, 7, 8, 10 < build 16521   |  N/A, no option  | No                | N/A, no option | Yes / No
Win10 build 16521 to 17040 [3]  |  Yes / Yes       | Yes / No          | Yes / Yes      | Yes / No
      Win10 >= build 17040 [2]  |  Yes / Yes       | No                | Yes / Yes      | Yes / No

The intermediate 16521 to 17040 was all preview releases, I think, so we don't have to specifically worry about that. The last time I looked I didn't find anything like [1], I'm glad to see that's at least partially documented now.

Thanks for the report!

[1] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4027599/windows-10-automatically-finish-setting-up-pc-after-update-restart
[2] https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2017/11/16/announcing-windows-10-insider-preview-build-17040-pc/
[3] https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2017/07/26/announcing-windows-10-insider-preview-build-16251-pc-build-15235-mobile/