diff --git a/browser/base/content/browser.js b/browser/base/content/browser.js
index 53b4ee0629c4..878924dc8eb1 100644
--- a/browser/base/content/browser.js
+++ b/browser/base/content/browser.js
@@ -2530,8 +2530,7 @@ function getWebNavigation()
 
 function BrowserReloadWithFlags(reloadFlags) {
   let url = gBrowser.currentURI.spec;
-  if (gBrowser._updateBrowserRemoteness(gBrowser.selectedBrowser,
-                                        gBrowser._shouldBrowserBeRemote(url))) {
+  if (gBrowser.updateBrowserRemoteness(gBrowser.selectedBrowser, url)) {
     // If the remoteness has changed, the new browser doesn't have any
     // information of what was loaded before, so we need to load the previous
     // URL again.
diff --git a/browser/base/content/tabbrowser.xml b/browser/base/content/tabbrowser.xml
index f5ec39a2a576..c867e35e1248 100644
--- a/browser/base/content/tabbrowser.xml
+++ b/browser/base/content/tabbrowser.xml
@@ -1338,13 +1338,15 @@
       </method>
 
 #ifdef MAKE_E10S_WORK
-      <method name="_updateBrowserRemoteness">
+      <method name="updateBrowserRemoteness">
         <parameter name="aBrowser"/>
-        <parameter name="aRemote"/>
+        <parameter name="aURL"/>
         <body>
           <![CDATA[
+            let shouldBeRemote = this._shouldBrowserBeRemote(aURL);
+
             let isRemote = aBrowser.getAttribute("remote") == "true";
-            if (isRemote == aRemote)
+            if (isRemote == shouldBeRemote)
               return false;
 
             let wasActive = document.activeElement == aBrowser;
@@ -1358,13 +1360,13 @@
             // Change the "remote" attribute.
             let parent = aBrowser.parentNode;
             parent.removeChild(aBrowser);
-            aBrowser.setAttribute("remote", aRemote ? "true" : "false");
+            aBrowser.setAttribute("remote", shouldBeRemote ? "true" : "false");
             parent.appendChild(aBrowser);
 
             // Restore the progress listener.
             aBrowser.webProgress.addProgressListener(filter, Ci.nsIWebProgress.NOTIFY_ALL);
 
-            if (aRemote)
+            if (shouldBeRemote)
               tab.setAttribute("remote", "true");
             else
               tab.removeAttribute("remote");
@@ -2676,14 +2678,14 @@
         <body>
           <![CDATA[
 #ifdef MAKE_E10S_WORK
-            this._updateBrowserRemoteness(this.mCurrentBrowser, this._shouldBrowserBeRemote(aURI));
+            this.updateBrowserRemoteness(this.mCurrentBrowser, aURI);
             try {
 #endif
             return this.mCurrentBrowser.loadURI(aURI, aReferrerURI, aCharset);
 #ifdef MAKE_E10S_WORK
             } catch (e) {
               let url = this.mCurrentBrowser.currentURI.spec;
-              this._updateBrowserRemoteness(this.mCurrentBrowser, this._shouldBrowserBeRemote(url));
+              this.updateBrowserRemoteness(this.mCurrentBrowser, url);
               throw e;
             }
 #endif
@@ -2701,14 +2703,14 @@
         <body>
           <![CDATA[
 #ifdef MAKE_E10S_WORK
-            this._updateBrowserRemoteness(this.mCurrentBrowser, this._shouldBrowserBeRemote(aURI));
+            this.updateBrowserRemoteness(this.mCurrentBrowser, aURI);
             try {
 #endif
             return this.mCurrentBrowser.loadURIWithFlags(aURI, aFlags, aReferrerURI, aCharset, aPostData);
 #ifdef MAKE_E10S_WORK
             } catch (e) {
               let url = this.mCurrentBrowser.currentURI.spec;
-              this._updateBrowserRemoteness(this.mCurrentBrowser, this._shouldBrowserBeRemote(url));
+              this.updateBrowserRemoteness(this.mCurrentBrowser, url);
               throw e;
             }
 #endif
@@ -3220,7 +3222,7 @@
           let uri = browser.currentURI;
           let icon = browser.mIconURL;
 
-          this._updateBrowserRemoteness(browser, false);
+          this.updateBrowserRemoteness(browser, "about:tabcrashed");
 
           browser.setAttribute("crashedPageTitle", title);
           browser.docShell.displayLoadError(Cr.NS_ERROR_CONTENT_CRASHED, uri, null);
diff --git a/browser/components/sessionstore/src/SessionStore.jsm b/browser/components/sessionstore/src/SessionStore.jsm
index 4aefd3084495..9d76d6da689b 100644
--- a/browser/components/sessionstore/src/SessionStore.jsm
+++ b/browser/components/sessionstore/src/SessionStore.jsm
@@ -2745,6 +2745,12 @@ let SessionStoreInternal = {
         pageStyle: tabData.pageStyle || null
       });
 
+      // In electrolysis, we may need to change the browser's remote
+      // attribute so that it runs in a content process.
+      let activePageData = tabData.entries[activeIndex] || null;
+      let uri = activePageData ? activePageData.url || null : null;
+      tabbrowser.updateBrowserRemoteness(browser, uri);
+
       browser.messageManager.sendAsyncMessage("SessionStore:restoreHistory",
                                               {tabData: tabData, epoch: epoch});
 
