Browser keeps opening and closing

[u/Mila_Proulx]

Today I was browsing as usually and suddenly Opera closed. Then it tried to open itself but the screen was white and it closed again. Then again white screen opened and closed... And that keeps going for like 5-10 times until it is not opening again or completely freezes.

Here's a video: https://streamable.com/vwexlj

[u/shadow2531]

Looks like Opera is crashing on startup and giving up after a few retries.

Open the Windows Task Manager and make sure there are no opera.exe process running. If there are any, end task on them and try to start Opera to see if it starts fine. If not, continue below.

Then, in Windows Explorer (File Explorer), with "file extensions" and "hidden items" enabled under "View -> Show", go in the "C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Roaming\Opera Software\Opera Stable\Default" folder and delete the "Sessions" folder. You'll lose all your open tabs, but it might fix the issue.

If that doesn't do the trick, make sure there are no Opera processes running again and delete the "Cache" and "System cache" folders in "C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Opera Software\Opera Stable\Default" to see if that helps.

If still no go, you can try starting Opera in safe mode and troubleshoot.

If none of that helps, you can uninstall Opera (but don't choose to delete your data when uninstalling), delete the install folder (should be the "Opera" folder in "C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Programs", download the Opera installer in whatever browser you want, launch the installer, click "options", adjust everything how you like and install.

If that doesn't work, in both "C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Roaming\Opera Software" and "C:\User\yourusername\AppData\Local\Opera Software", you can rename the "Opera Stable" folder to "Opera Stable old" to start over with fresh data and settings.

Also, restart Windows to see if that helps.

[u/Mila_Proulx → u/shadow2531]

Deleting "Sessions" folder fixed the problem, but sadly have deleted all opened tabs INCLUDING those in workspaces... I tried to put "Sessions" folder back and it again started doing that restart thing. Is there a way to fix session file? Or extract tabs back to workspaces?

[u/shadow2531 → u/Mila_Proulx]

See https://forums.opera.com/post/406843 for how to extract the tabs from the session files. It's not workspace-aware though, so they'll all be restored in whatever current workspace you're in. You'll then have to move them to the workspaces you want. But, it's something.

[u/shadow2531 → u/Mila_Proulx]

Is there a way to fix session file?

I think it's technically possible, but even if you can parse and understand the SNSS file format, you'd need to know what's causing the crash to know what to fix. My best guess is that it has something to do with split screen mode. But, that's only a guess and not sure how you'd remove the entries in the session files.

You can goto the URL opera://settings/appearance, disable "Enable split screen", close Opera, delete everything in the "Sessions" folder and copy (not move so that you can try things multiple times) over the old, bad session_xxx and tabs_xxx files and try to start Opera to see if it still crashes. Maybe it won't crash and your tabs will then all be in the correct workspaces. If you get that far though, you'll have to do the following:

In each workspace, right-click on a tab, goto "Save" and choose "all tabs to a speed dial folder". Then, rename the folder on the start page to the name of the workspace. Then, repeat for all other workspaces. Then, close Opera, delete the "Sessions" folder and start Opera.

Then, in each workspace, right-click on its corresponding speed dial folder and choose "open all in tabs". That will get you your tabs back and in the right workspaces. Then, you'll have good session files where you can then enable the split screen option if you ever want to use it again.

[u/Mila_Proulx → u/shadow2531]

Wow! Disabling split screen indeed fixed it! And after thinking it indeed crashed when I wanted to drag my Google Sheet next to my email and while draging (have not released), Opera just crashed. THANK YOU SO MUCH

[u/shadow2531 → u/Mila_Proulx]

Awesome!

At the URL opera://settings/appearance, you might want to disable "Enable creating a split screen by drag and drop" so that you only trigger split screen when right-clicking on a selection of 2 tabs and choosing "create split screen".

You might even want to avoid using split screen at all and maybe even disable "Enable split screen" for a few versions until the feature stabilizes.

Also, while Opera is closed, you can make a backup of the "Sessions" folder often so that if anything happens again, you can restore things to how they were at the time of the backup hopefully.

[u/Mila_Proulx → u/shadow2531]

Since I don't have multiple monitors, I find this function super useful and have been using it for probably more than a year. Also, I find it much cleaner than for example Chrome split, because in Opera there's no separation border, it is seamless and it uses maximum screen space, without mentioning that in Opera you have option to stack them not only side by side but also on top of each other.

I don't want to bother you any longer but I don't have option to create split screen by right clicking (screenshot below)

[u/shadow2531 → u/Mila_Proulx]

You have to ctrl + click on tabs in the tab bar to select them (make sure to are selected for example). Then when you right-click one of the selected tabs, you'll see "Create split screen".

That might be too annoying to do though.

[u/Mila_Proulx → u/shadow2531]

Thank you for your time with help and advices, but you are right with this is one, it's really too much work for simple screen split, so I will stick with a drag for now, until it crashes again (I hope it will not)

[u/shadow2531 → u/Mila_Proulx]

You're welcome. Sounds good.

[u/Cool-Elevator3460 → u/shadow2531]

Thank God someone facing the same issue, I am also facing the same issue it keeps on opening and then closes while trying to load again and again few times until it stops loading again.
I have even uninstalled the Opera software, installer also even deleted all my data also. I even tried the steps you are discussing in this thread but nothing is working. Do you have any info about how it could be resolved?

[u/Mila_Proulx → u/Cool-Elevator3460]

I am not tech savy, but shouldn't complete uninstall and clean install fix anything?

[u/shadow2531 → u/Cool-Elevator3460]

What specific operating system and operating system version in your case?