Restoring Safari lastsession.plist file not working

I accidentally closed my Safari window accidentally with many tabs open and didn't immediately realize it. I then closed a window that had only my start page open. When I realized what I did, I restored an older copy of the lastsession.plist file from Time Machine. However, it's not working, no matter what date I go back to. When I reopen Safari and select "reopen all windows from last session" I only get the start page.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Dec 30, 2021 12:59 PM

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Dec 31, 2021 1:26 PM in response to rdosh

Hey there rdosh,


We'd like to help however we can. You mentioned Safari opens to a new window, which is the default setting, but if you'd like to change this, you can do so by opening Safari, then clicking on Safari > Preferences > Safari opens with:, then select your preferred setting.


To start on the issue occurring with Reopen All Windows from Last Session under the History menu, let's confirm the following:

  1. When did this first start to occur?
  2. If you test opening three tabs, then quit/open Safari, does the same issue occur?
  3. Have you already tried a restart of your Mac? Check out the section 'Restart' here: Log out, sleep, wake, restart, or shut down your Mac
  4. If you have a compatible Mac model, the latest version is macOS 12.1. While it's not necessary to upgrade your macOS, we do recommend making sure to have the latest updates for your currently installed macOS version. We see you have macOS 10.13, but the latest version for that macOS is 10.13.6. You can verify this by clicking on the Apple logo at the top left corner of the screen, then on ‘About This Mac’. Here's how to first Back up your Mac with Time Machine, and afterwards, here's How to update the software on your Mac.


Cheers!

Dec 31, 2021 3:39 PM in response to bruno75

I selected the wrong MacBook Pro when I was posting the question. Hard to tell from the icons which is which. The machine in question has macOS 11.6. That actually was the problem. I was using the older procedure from an earlier OS. I called support today since I hadn’t yet received an answer to my question. I found that I had to restore from Time Machine three SafariTabs.x files from the ~/Users/[user]/Library/Containers/Safari/Data/Library/Safari folder. Reopening Safari then and selecting Restore All Windows From Last Session got me back my lost window with all of the tabs I was looking for.

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Restoring Safari lastsession.plist file not working

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