Firefox - restoring old tabs and windows doesn't work

[kripken]

Binary package hint: firefox

After selecting the option: "When Firefox starts: Show my windows and tabs from last time" (under edit->preferences->main->startup), it doesn't work. Closing Firefox, with several open tabs, then re-opening Firefox doesn't bring up the old tabs. A plain empty Firefox window appears.

[kripken (kripkenstein)]

(This feature is only present in Firefox 2.0, but just to be clear: this is with Firefox 2.0 on Edgy)

[kripken (kripkenstein)]

Update: Narrowed it down. This bug only occurs when the "Homepage" field in the preferences is erased, i.e. empty. When the "Homepage" field is non-empty - containing the default Edgy homepage, or even "about:blank" - then things work fine.

This probably explains why reports of this bug aren't widespread.

[Michael Broadbent (mikebro)]

I can confirm this bug. I reproduced it on Edgy and Feisty with the following steps:
1) Edit -> Preferences -> Main (When Firefox starts: Show my windows and tabs from last time"
2) Make sure there is something in the Home Page field
3) Open multiple tabs
4) Close and reopen Firefox -- It remembers the tabs
5) Edit -> Preferences -> Main (Make the Home Page field blank)
6) Open multiple tabs
7) Close and reopen Firefox

It doesn't remember how many/which tabs were open it just opens with a blank page almost like it is set to "When Firefox starts: Show my homepage"

[Michael Broadbent (mikebro)]

User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux ppc64; en-US; rv:1.8.1.1) Gecko/20060601 Firefox/2.0.0.1 (Ubuntu-edgy)
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux ppc64; en-US; rv:1.8.1.1) Gecko/20060601 Firefox/2.0.0.1 (Ubuntu-edgy)

Credit of this initial bug report goes to kripkenstein at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox/+bug/68784

If you leave your Homepage blank and then set "When Firefox starts:" to "Show my windows and tabs from last time" then it will not show your windows from last time, it will only show a blank page when it loads like it is set to "When Firefox starts: Show my Homepage".

This only happens when the Homepage is left blank. A workaround for this bug is to set the homepage to "about:blank"

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Edit > Preferences > Main
2. Change the setting "When Firefox starts:" to "Show my windows and tabs from last time"
3. Set the Home Page field to blank (Not the word blank, no contents in the text box)
4. Close Firefox Preferences
5. Open multiple tabs and go to different websites
6. Close Firefox
7. Open Firefox
Actual Results:
When Firefox is reopened, there are no tabs. There is only 1 blank page.

Expected Results:
When Firefox was reopened, there should be tabs open with the websites that were in them before Firefox was closed

[Ria-klaassen (ria-klaassen)]

Startup: "When Firefox starts, Show my windows and tabs from last time"
and Home Page: empty
WFM with Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.1) Gecko/20061204 Firefox/2.0.0.1

[Aleksej (aleksejrs)]

WFM with Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.1.1) Gecko/20061208 Firefox/2.0.0.1

Hint: Ubuntu-Edgy's Firefox package may contain non-Mozilla modifications. I suggest that you contact the package maintainer, too.

[Robin Monks (mozillaman)]

Verified to happen on Ubuntu Edgy, latest package.

Reporter, please also file this bug at https://bugs.launchpad.net/firefox/+bugs for the package maintainers, and post the URL of the filed bug here when completed.

Robin

[Gavin Sharp (gavin-sharp)]

(In reply to comment #3)
> Reporter, please also file this bug at https://bugs.launchpad.net/firefox/+bugs
> for the package maintainers, and post the URL of the filed bug here when
> completed.

Uh, see comment 0? Anyways, this sounds like a Ubuntu/debian specific bug.

[Robin Monks (mozillaman)]

(In reply to comment #4)
> (In reply to comment #3)
> > Reporter, please also file this bug at https://bugs.launchpad.net/firefox/+bugs
> > for the package maintainers, and post the URL of the filed bug here when
> > completed.
>
> Uh, see comment 0? Anyways, this sounds like a Ubuntu/debian specific bug.
>
*blink*

OK, sorry about that, but I agree about it being debian/ubuntu specific.

Robin

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

someone can still reproduce this bug in feisty version?

[kripken (kripkenstein)]

Yes, this bug still exists in Feisty. I am on a fresh install of Feisty here.

"Show my windows and tabs from last time" works with "about:blank", but fails with "". Same as on Edgy.

[dachs (a20)]

Same thing here. I set up feisty yesterday.
With 'file:///usr/share/ubuntu-artwork/home/index.html' as a homepage firefox showed at set of tabs at startup that I presumably used last before removing the hompage.

There are some addons istalled. Does anybody need to know wich ones?

[Saša Bodiroža (jazzva)]

The same happens to me with Firefox 2.0.0.6 on Feisty. I don't think it's add-ons related, as it can be reproduced on a clean install of Feisty (probably no add-ons in Firefox). Retagging with mt-confirm.

[Jensen Somers (jsomers)]

This bug has been fixed in Gutsy.

[Thomas Schweikle (tps)]

This bug is here again:

Firefox doesn't open the old tabs as given at closing time. Instead it displays a message it could not restore the old tabs and Windows.

[Thomas Schweikle (tps)]

Seems to be gone with firefox 4.0

[Hedley Finger (hedley-finger)]

I am still experiencing the "When Firefox starts: Show my windows and tabs from last time" bug in version 28.0. I have googled the problem and applied all the fixes but it still occurs.
Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS