Has anyone noticed Firefox download issue?

Discussion in 'Software' started by cipher, Sep 5, 2012.

  1. cipher

    cipher Major Geek Extraordinaire

    In two different win 7 64 machines, with no changes, FF 14 suddenly will not allow executables to download to the desktop. If the DL folder is changed, all is fine. This is from an admin account.

    Error:
    "abc.exe could not be saved, because you cannot change the contents of that folder."

    I have tried all the recommended fixes at http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb...redirectslug=Unable+to+download+or+save+files to no avail...

    Permissions/ownership are fine as well...


    Anyone seen this? Thoughts?

    thanks
     
  2. pwillener

    pwillener MajorGeek

    I wouldn't even know how to download something to the Desktop; all downloads from Firefox/Waterfox automatically go to my Downloads folder without any prompt.

    (I also actually wouldn't know why I would want to download something to the Desktop.)
     
  3. cipher

    cipher Major Geek Extraordinaire

    It is an option from the general tab, where you set your home page etc. Hard to miss...

    For quick access to say an installer that you will dump when finished, an option/preference for some. FF mentions desktop saving in many KB articles they publish. Different strokes...

    But a FF option that worked perfectly fine for years to disappear on 2 machines is a mystery and indicates something is wrong. FF was not updated and maintenance service is off, but other browsers don't exhibit this behaviour.
     
  4. plodr

    plodr Major Geek Super Extraordinaire

    I just fired up FF (which is currently at v 15) on my Win 7 64bit Home premium and changed my download path from a folder on my desktop to desktop.
    I had no trouble downloading an exe file from Nirsoft to my desktop.

    I'm not sure what is going on with your two computers.

    I assume you mean a user who is an admin. (I am the only user on my netbook and I belong to the Administrator's group). If not, switch to a user and you should be able to download to the desktop.
     
  5. cipher

    cipher Major Geek Extraordinaire

    Same here, only user and belong to admin group. Creating a new user in admin group no help.

    Odd thing that made me think it wasn't my boxes was that the issue hit two machines. One I hadn't done much with in days. And to clarify, it is just .exe files it balks at...

    Weird...
     
  6. plodr

    plodr Major Geek Super Extraordinaire

    Start looking at your programs. Perhaps something is preventing changes to the desktop - that's the only thing I can think of preventing you from downloading to the desktop.

    One more thing to try: load FF with all addons diabled (Help then Restart with addons disabled) then try and download. If it works, one of your addons is interfering with what you want to do.
     
  7. cipher

    cipher Major Geek Extraordinaire

    Thanks plodr, have done all that. If it was one box, I would have reimaged by now and sen if that solved it. Sometimes you just have to fix it, and never really know what it was. (I hate it when that happens, but the goal is always to put the machine back in service) The 2 machines thing tho makes me think it is something external to my systems. I'll keep plugging along...
     
  8. sikvik

    sikvik Corporal Karma

    Do the exe's save on desktop using IE, or any other browser?
    On Fx v15- and no issues as plodr, mentioned. I always save to desktop for installers and then zap them. Also executables- non installation, like Autoruns, etc.. stay on the DT.

    Create another Fx profile. When you run the command, all instances of Fx need to be closed.
    From Start> Run> firefox.exe -P

    More info : http://kb.mozillazine.org/Creating_a_new_Firefox_profile_on_Windows

    Not sure as to why this has happened!! Some changes seem to been made on both of your machines! Can you look at the check points in System Restore on both systems, for anything that may have attributed to this?. It's bizarre...

    Hope a new Fx profile is not affected.

    Cheers..
     
  9. cipher

    cipher Major Geek Extraordinaire

    Just FF, Palemoon and IE are fine. No updates were made to either browser. I always uncheck the "Maintenance" option, and no auto-updates...

    As do I...

    Done that already, and all the recommended fixes in the mozilla KB...

    I don't run MS system restore, I depend on images. No new images were made by me in the week before this occurred. No new software, no MS updates or patches, no nothing new added...

    Something, somewhere seems to be altering permissions, but they check out fine. I'm gonna reimage one of them and see if it goes back to normal...
     

MajorGeeks.Com Menu

Downloads All In One Tweaks \ Android \ Anti-Malware \ Anti-Virus \ Appearance \ Backup \ Browsers \ CD\DVD\Blu-Ray \ Covert Ops \ Drive Utilities \ Drivers \ Graphics \ Internet Tools \ Multimedia \ Networking \ Office Tools \ PC Games \ System Tools \ Mac/Apple/Ipad Downloads

Other News: Top Downloads \ News (Tech) \ Off Base (Other Websites News) \ Way Off Base (Offbeat Stories and Pics)

Social: Facebook \ YouTube \ Twitter \ Tumblr \ Pintrest \ RSS Feeds