Where does Firefox save a file listing current open tabs/windows (Manjaro Linux)?

[eppur_se_muova]

I tried to do an upgrade on an old version of Manjaro and ran into the usual conflicts, broken dependencies, and corrupt PGP signatures. Tried to reinstall Firefox and only got an error message that installation failed -- but Firefox app was gone. There is still a Firefox folder in my home directory, and I've archived that. Can't install Firefox because of the same corrupt PGP error.

I think I will have to reinstall Manjaro but don't want to lose open tabs (I always reopen with dozens of tabs from previous sessions). Any way to do that ? Note that I'm talking about tabs, not bookmarks, though I'd like to recover those too (and even History if that's possible.) Suggestions appreciated -- thanks in advance !

[MutantAndProud]

1. The entire user profile...

Will include the last known active session, and other information including profile settings and bookmarks. As long as the profile is not corrupt, pasting the contents into a newly installed Firefox’s profile folder after the first start of the new Firefox will restore the last known state assuming there are not too many versions that have come between it and the latest install which would cause a major incompatibility and prevent data from being imported for safety reasons. If they do not open exactly as they were, do not close the newly opened window after the folder is pasted, but instead choose to restore the last open session tabs from history. Menu > History > Restore Previous Session > (assuming you only had one window open it will be listed there). The contents are in sessionstore.jsonlz4 and previous.jsonlz4, manual extraction is possible via script, possibly extensions, regex, or manually hunting http addresses from the list, but it requires more effort.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Wow! Thanks for all the details! I knew I could count on DUer's to come through!

I had a little problem dl'ing the new version yesterday but will be giving it a try today. Thanks again!

[MutantAndProud]

3. you're welcome

I have lots of occasionally useful random stuff like that in my brain’s archive due to fooling around with tech over the years. I’m also a tab/bookmark hoarder.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Unfortunately, none of this seems to be working. :(

I tried copying the entire profile folder into two locations and neither made any difference. There is no "restore previous session" command under the History menu, either.

I should add that now I'm trying to do it in Windows 8.1 as well as Manjaro.

[MutantAndProud]

5. As long as you have the profile folder you can try as many times as necessary

Sometimes people paste it in within the ‘parent’ folder which makes it impossible to access. Under the profile folder, usually a random string of letters and numbers, all of the data should be directly within and no within a second ‘child’ folder with the old profile name… if that makes sense. I will try to find you a guide

[MutantAndProud]

6. Try this

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-restore-browsing-session-backup

[eppur_se_muova]

7. Thought I'd let you know that I fixed the one in Windows -- just pasted in the Firefox

folder, like you said.

The complication was that the system clock had been giving the wrong creation dates after re-installation, so the most recent date turned out not to be the one I wanted.

It might not be possible to fix the Linux browser -- I gave up on Manjaro after every attempt to update the software resulted in a cascade of conflicts. Finally replaced Manjaro with Linux Lite. Still working on it.

[MutantAndProud]

8. Oh right

Actually you can change the clock synchronization method in Linux, but, since it’s more complicated and you got it working in Windows there’s no reason to change anything since you can now ‘bookmark all’ and/or save your entire profile as a backup and import it for use on any distribution of your choice.

Congratulations on the restoration

[MutantAndProud]

9. Here

You need to adjust Linux to use local time instead of UTC (universal time coordinated)

https://www.howtogeek.com/323390/how-to-fix-windows-and-linux-showing-different-times-when-dual-booting/

If that fixes it then that was the problem