Windows Retrieving/restoring browser-history & open tabs after fresh OS install..

[Kilroyquasar]

hello,

after a long time, could take some time out today to reformat my main PC's SSD & do a fresh OS-install after its MBR had got corrupted due to (presumably) some botched-up windows update some months back & the PC, after 'dragging its feet' for sometime, eventually became unusable.

i have taken an image-backup of the drive's contents (to restore some things individually, & to check which softwares i need to reinstall). though what am most concerned about is, how do i restore the open tabs & history of the browsers i had been using (chrome, brave, edge, firefox..mostly these)? should i overwrite/copy-paste the 'local appdata, default user' directory folder(s) from the backedup-image to the new drive after installing these browsers post fresh OS-installation & ensuring these aren't running in the background first?

pls advise..

TIA!

 

[Stronk]

If you are using Chrome (or a Chrome based browser like Brave, Edge etc), you can use this extension to copy URLs of all open tabs. Once that is done, just paste it to a txt file.
Similarly, once you are done reinstalling your OS, just copy all the URLs from the notepad file back and, and use the "Paste" option in the extension to restore all tabs. Been using this from ages to back tabs and windows.

If you are using Firefox or non-Chromium browser, just search around for similar extensions. Look up "copy all URLs' or "copy tab URLs" in the respective extension store. Hope this helps

 

[frozenscotch]

I use Panorama Tab Groups and tab session manager in Firefox, they have option to create backup of all your open tabs and their positions

Never used other browsers but, Tab session manager has its addon for Chrome and Edge too

 

[tech.monk]

image-backup of the drive's contents

if you have access to drive's content then you can fully restore your profile and Restore it to %AppData%\Roaming or Local as needed and you should be good to go

Follow path
<ImagePath>\Users\<User>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles for Firefox
<ImagePath>\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Profile? for Chrome or
<ImagePath>\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Chromium\User Data for Chromium Based
<ImagePath>\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data for Brave

Note: This only applies to Chromium not for MS Edge and avoid this if you've moved from 32-bit to 64-bit - It may cause crashes and you might have to reinstall your browser.

 

[Kilroyquasar]

If you are using Chrome (or a Chrome based browser like Brave, Edge etc), you can use this extension to copy URLs of all open tabs. Once that is done, just paste it to a txt file.
Similarly, once you are done reinstalling your OS, just copy all the URLs from the notepad file back and, and use the "Paste" option in the extension to restore all tabs. Been using this from ages to back tabs and windows.

If you are using Firefox or non-Chromium browser, just search around for similar extensions. Look up "copy all URLs' or "copy tab URLs" in the respective extension store. Hope this helps

thanks. i do use multiple extensions of the sort. however the issue here is that the PC has come to an abrupt non-functional state (throws a BSOD after sudden heavy stuttering, & restarts randomly but regularly), and y'day out-of-the-blue it altogether refused to boot, after initially showing no display. am suspecting PSU-outage. will be testing it today. the annoying things you have to see when you dont use your PC for prolonged periods!

if you have access to drive's content then you can fully restore your profile and Restore it to %AppData%\Roaming or Local as needed and you should be good to go

Follow path
<ImagePath>\Users\<User>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles for Firefox
<ImagePath>\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Profile? for Chrome or
<ImagePath>\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Chromium\User Data for Chromium Based
<ImagePath>\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data for Brave

Note: This only applies to Chromium not for MS Edge and avoid this if you've moved from 32-bit to 64-bit - It may cause crashes and you might have to reinstall your browser.

thanks a lot! this should make it simpler.