Closed
Bug 516812
Opened 16 years ago
Closed 15 years ago
Session not restored when Firefox is launched from an external program
Categories
(Firefox :: Session Restore, defect)
Tracking
()
RESOLVED
WORKSFORME
People
(Reporter: graburn, Unassigned)
Details
Attachments
(3 files)
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.1.3) Gecko/20090824 Firefox/3.5.3 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.1.3) Gecko/20090824 Firefox/3.5.3 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)
When Firefox has been exited and the Tabs have been saved, if Firefox is subsequently relaunched via a link in, say, an Outlook e-mail (possibly after a reboot), Firefox will open to the URL of the page clicked but all saved tabs will be lost.
Nor do they appear, I believe, in the Recently Closed Tabs list.
Reproducible: Sometimes
Steps to Reproduce:
1.Open several tabs in Firefox
2.Attempt Exit Firefox without closing the tabs. Click "Save and Quit".
3.Reboot (not sure if this is required)
4.Click on a link in an e-mail (I use Outlook 2003 as an e-mail client) to launch Firefox
Actual Results:
Firefox launches to the e-mail link's URL, but all supposedly "saved" tabs are gone.
Expected Results:
Firefox should have behaved just as if it had been launched separately and _then_ an e-mail link selected. That is: "Saved" tabs should have been restored and the e-mail link URL should have opened in a separate tab.
I don't know if this is a new problem or whether it has been around for a long time, only that I'm noticing it more and more frequently. It may be just that I'm getting more links in my e-mail these days.
I love the Save Tab feature, but it's frustrating because I save the tabs because I'm not done with that page. So when this happens, I have to look through my history and try to recall and recreate the tabs I had before I Saved them.
Comment 1•16 years ago
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Does it also happen when you open an url shortcut from the desktop? In which folder Firefox is installed on your box?
I don't see this behavior. So can you please deactivate all installed extensions and try again? Eventually one of those could cause this behavior.
Alias: graburn@pobox.com
Version: unspecified → 3.5 Branch
Updated•16 years ago
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Component: Tabbed Browser → Session Restore
QA Contact: tabbed.browser → session.restore
Summary: Saved tabs lost when selecting e-mail link → Saved session/tabs lost when Firefox is launched from an external program with a specific URL
Whiteboard: [worksforme?]
I have not figured out what is required to make this consistently reproducible.
I was able to reproduce it once today - but, like you, my other attempts did not reproduce the problem.
One thing I don't know whether has any relation to the problem: In mornings and evenings I connect to the internet through AT&T DSL via my home D-Link wireless router, but during the day my laptop connects to the University of Georgia campus wireless network. I will do some more experimentation tomorrow to see if maybe it has something to do with being unable to restore tabs which had been saved while I was on a different network.
Comment 3•16 years ago
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Greg, please answer my questions and do the proposed steps from comment 1. Thanks.
Henrik, I do not know the answers to your questions without further testing. As I said, as yet I cannot consistently reproduce the problem using strictly _my_own_ steps, let alone under the conditions you suggest:
a) I do not know if it happens when I open a URL from the desktop - because that is not a normal way I launch Firefox. I suspect it will, but I do not know. Therefore, I have created a URL on my desktop to test this and I will let you know as soon as I can make it occur with that method.
b) By "extensions," I asssume you mean "add-ons." I only have 6 "add-ons" (Yahoo toolbar, Norton toolbar, Norton IPS, Microsoft Framework Assistant, Move Media Player, Ancestry.com Image Viewer), but I have disabled them as you suggested. That is what I will be testing today. I will let you know what I discover.
After many attempts, I was able to make it occur again. As all add-ons were disabled, I can confirm the add-ons are not responsible. As I was connected to my home wireless network and have not rebooted, I can confirm that it is unrelated to rebooting or to different networks.
As this time I reproduced it by clicking an e-mail link, I am still trying to confirm it occurs with a desktop link.
I still do not know what factors are required to make the issue consistently reproducible. On this occasion, the laptop had been idle for a while before I clicked the link and Firefox was noticeably slow to launch; also, while it was launching, I also went and launched an instance of Internet Explorer in parallel.
And I see I overlooked another of your questions. The folder in which Firefox is installed on my system is:
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox 3 Beta 4\firefox.exe"
Comment 7•16 years ago
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If an instance of IE is opened in parallel too, something is wrong with your registry keys. That shouldn't happen. I would propose to re-set Firefox as your default browser.
Further please try to reproduce it with an URL located on the desktop.
No no, you misunderstand. Firefox _is_ my default browser. But occasionally I use both: I manually launched IE in parallel while Firefox was loading.
... And I have not been able to reproduce it with a URL on the desktop.
Alias: graburn@pobox.com
Comment 10•16 years ago
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No idea if this is eventually a DDE problem. Greg, do you have a chance to test the behavior with another application as Outlook? A non-Microsoft product would be fine. Like any chat client or Thunderbird as email client.
Reporter | ||
Comment 11•16 years ago
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I will look into trying that. Currently, Outlook is the only e-mail client installed.
For what it's worth, every time I can recall reproducing the issue there has been some time pass since the previous time I launched Firefox (~20 min idle, hibernate, or reboot) and the exact URL link clicked has not been one I've ever visited before (because usually it appears in a new e-mail message which I select without thinking, before remembering, 'Oh no, I had tabs saved!'... and then they're gone).
(And Firefox usually takes a couple seconds longer launching, as though it's not in the frequently-used program cache any more.)
Comment 12•16 years ago
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Are you sure the session store/tabs are lost?
What is the size of your sessionstore.js?
ref: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox
Reporter | ||
Comment 13•16 years ago
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All I know is that when I Exit Firefox with multiple tabs open and it asks me, "Do you want Firefox to save your tabs for the next time that it starts?" and I click "Save and Quit," when Firefox is subsequently launched by clicking an e-mail link, it intermittently launches with only a _single_ tab (i.e., corresponding to the URL of the link clicked): I.e., the saved tabs have been "forgotten." At first I thought perhaps I was absently mistaking the "Close Tabs" popup with the "Save and Quit" popup, but I have satisfied myself that I have indeed been saving & quitting.
I did not even know of the existence of a sessionstore.js file, but I have looked it up and can report to you that the only file I've located thus far with a name like that is "nsSessionStore.js" and it is 104 KB.
Comment 14•16 years ago
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(In reply to comment #13)
> I did not even know of the existence of a sessionstore.js file, but I have
> looked it up and can report to you that the only file I've located thus far
> with a name like that is "nsSessionStore.js" and it is 104 KB.
Please look in your profile folder for "sessionstore.js". http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Profiles#How_to_find_your_profile as well as the link in comment #12 can help you locate the right folder. It should only take a minute and will help us diagnose the problem.
Reporter | ||
Comment 15•16 years ago
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Oh, I see. I found it: sessionstore.js is currently 77 KB
Reporter | ||
Comment 16•16 years ago
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Okay, it just occurred again! I looked in the profile directory and:
sessionstore.bak = 99KB
sessionstore.js = 2KB
Comment 17•16 years ago
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The presence of sessionstore.bak implies that you crashed sometime recently. The difference in size implies that a new session was indeed started. Is there a significant difference in last modified time (eg, was sessionstore.bak modified 5 days ago--meaning you didn't crash recently--or was it today).
I can't reproduce this. Do you by chance have any extensions that might be contributing to the problem? (eg TabMixPlus)
Reporter | ||
Comment 18•16 years ago
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That is interesting. If any crashing is happening, it's doing so silently: I am not getting a notification that any error or crash is going on.
I've been watching those files the last couple of days and, while both sessionstore.bak and sessionstore.js are erased when I click "Close Tabs," it appears that _every_time_ I "Save and Quit" a new sessionstore.bak is created (but the size is usually identical to sessionstore.js).
In fact, it just happened again:
sessionstore.bak 10/1/2009 6:31pm 86KB
sessionstore.js 10/1/2009 7:06pm 1KB
It could be I don't know what you mean by "extensions". I like Firefox as it is, so I run it fairly clean. If by "extensions" you mean what appear to be called "Add-ons" in my Tools menu, as I mentioned above, all I have installed are the following 6 things: Yahoo Toolbar, Norton Toolbar, Norton IPS, Microsoft Framework Assistant, Move Media Player, and Ancestry.com Image Viewer. However, as I've also mentioned, I'm 90% certain that this issue has occurred even after disabling those add-ons.
Reporter | ||
Comment 19•16 years ago
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After posting this, I did both a "Save and Quit" and "Close Tabs" to test and feel I should add a minor correction:
Minor correction - it appears sessionstore.bak is updated/created every time Firefox is _opened_ (versus closed) after a "Save and Quit".
But even so, I have never "lost" tabs from launching Firefox directly (which I typically do from the QuickLaunch menu); only when clicking on a link.
Comment 20•16 years ago
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Yes, the .bak is always created to make sure we have a copy if your session gets lost. That way you can manually rename it from .bak to .js.
Greg, as you have said you weren't able to reproduce it by opening a link located on the desktop. Can you please test other applications except Outlook if those show the similar problem? You can take a messenger or check the about this program dialog in the help menu of most applications. There you should also find a link most of the times.
Reporter | ||
Comment 21•16 years ago
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Okay, I will continue to try to reproduce the problem with non-email links.
But its funny you should say that about sessionstore.bak... last night I thought - Aha, this may be a way to restore my tabs, just by renaming the sessionstore.bak. You may find this interesting:
If I rename the .bak file to .js after a _successful_ "Save and Quit" - it does restore all the tabs (as expected).
But if I rename the .bak file to .js after my tabs have been lost - it again copies the .js file to .bak and loses all my tabs - even if I launch Firefox directly. Thus, there is still no way to restore those tabs.
Sounds like sessionstore.js is getting corrupted?
Comment 22•16 years ago
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It looks like. You could remove both files and start from scratch. Just open a couple of tabs with non-private data and close Firefox with saving the tabs. Backup the .js file before clicking a link in your email program. Now compare the .bak and the backuped .js. You can also attach both files on this bug if they show anomalies. Thanks.
Reporter | ||
Comment 23•16 years ago
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I made a copy of sessionstore.js right before Saving & Exiting (I'll call it "BEFORE").
I made another copy after Saving & Exiting (I'll call it "AFTER").
When Firefox launched and the error occurred, I compared these files to sessionstore.bak.
sessionstore.bak is identical to "AFTER".
sessionstore.bak (and "AFTER") are different from "BEFORE."
I'll attach the Before & After files and you can study what the differences are (as they mean nothing to me).
Reporter | ||
Comment 24•16 years ago
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Reporter | ||
Comment 25•16 years ago
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Reporter | ||
Comment 26•16 years ago
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Comment 27•16 years ago
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(In reply to comment #23)
> sessionstore.bak is identical to "AFTER".
This is expected. The .bak is created at startup by copying sessionstore.js (I was wrong in comment #17)
> sessionstore.bak (and "AFTER") are different from "BEFORE."
This is expected. State & timestamp should be different.
> I'll attach the Before & After files and you can study what the differences are
> (as they mean nothing to me).
The only differences I'm seeing is that AFTER has updated the timestamp and set the state to stopped (expected), selectedWindow has changed, and a window has an updated title. Nothing that would indicate a problem.
Reporter | ||
Comment 28•16 years ago
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And yet even though WinDiff tells me that "AFTER" and sessionstore.bak are identical, if I rename "sessionstore.bak" to "sessionstore.js" - the tabs will not be restored. But with "AFTER" it works.
Reporter | ||
Comment 29•16 years ago
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And yet if I rename "sessionstore.bak" to "sessionstore.js" - the tabs will
not be restored.
Reporter | ||
Comment 30•16 years ago
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Argh, there's no way to delete comments? Ignore comment #28 - it is incorrect. Comment #29 is meant to replace it.
Reporter | ||
Comment 31•16 years ago
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One more addendum:
Yes, I have confirmed it does also happen when opening an url shortcut from the desktop. I just reproduced it.
As I alluded to above, a key to consistently (or at least frequently) reproducing the problem is that the URL must be one that has _never_ been visited before. This is why it has been difficult to test: I must wait until I receive a link in an e-mail I don't recognize as having visited.
Therefore, reproducing with a URL shortcut is even more difficult:
I copy that e-mail URL and paste it into Internet Explorer (to avoid launching Firefox). Then I drag the icon from IE to the desktop and then double-click it to launch Firefox (my default browser). This is how I was able to reproduce the issue with a desktop shortcut. Note that it is only a one-shot deal - now that the URL has been visited, it is unlikely to cause the issue if used again.
Comment 32•15 years ago
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Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.3a5pre) Gecko/20100412 Minefield/3.7a5pre
I cannot reproduce this on the latest nightly. Resolving WORKSFORME. Greg, if you can reproduce this on the latest nightly, please reopen with information about how you reproduced it. Thanks.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → RESOLVED
Closed: 15 years ago
Resolution: --- → WORKSFORME
Alias: graburn@pobox.com
Summary: Saved session/tabs lost when Firefox is launched from an external program with a specific URL → Session not restored when Firefox is launched from an external program
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Description
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