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Unable to download or save files

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When you select a file or image to download, Firefox's Download Manager retrieves the data from the remote location and stores it on your local computer in the designated location. If you are having problems downloading or saving files using Firefox, this article provides some solutions that may resolve the issue.

Taula de continguts

Clear the download history

The Download Manager retains a record of files that you have downloaded. Over time, this record can grow quite large. You may wish to clean up the record.

3:

Clear the download history using the Clear List button

  1. From the menu at the top of the Firefox window, select the Tools menu, followed by the Downloads menu item.



  2. In the Download Manager, click Clear List.



  3. The list of downloaded items is cleared.
  4. Try to download the item again.

2.0:

Clear the download history using the Clean Up button

  1. From the menu at the top of the Firefox window, select the Tools menu, followed by the Downloads menu item.



  2. In the Download Manager, click Clean Up.



  3. The list of downloaded items is cleared.
  4. Try to download the item again.

2.0:

Clear the download history manually

If you cannot clear the Download Manager record using the above commands, the downloads.rdf file in your Firefox profile may be corrupted.

To clear the Download Manager manually, you must manually delete the downloads.rdf file:

  1. From the menu at the top of the Firefox windowbar, select FileFirefox and then select the ExitQuit FirefoxQuit menu item.
  2. Open the Firefox profiles folder. For more information, see profile folder.
  3. If the Profiles folder contains multiple folders, open the folder for the active profile.
  4. In the profile folder, find the downloads.rdf file and delete it.

Configure Firefox to not retain download history

Setting Firefox to not save the history of downloads can prevent future download problems. You can make this configuration change in your Firefox Options.

  1. At the top of the Firefox windowOn the menu bar, click on the ToolsFirefoxEdit menu, and select Options...Preferences....
  2. Select the Privacy icon.
  3. In the History pane, uncheck Remember what I've downloaded.
  4. Click OK to close the Options windowClick Close to close the Preferences windowClose the Preferences window

Choose a different download folder

Unless you have specified a different location, Firefox automatically downloads files to the Desktop. However, the Download Manager can be configured to store downloaded content in any location in your local computing environment.

Download problems may be related to the currently selected location for storing downloads. If the download location is no longer available, Firefox cannot download items for you.

In some cases, Firefox may lose track of the folder to use for downloads. You may be able to address the problem by selecting a different folder and then re-selecting your original folder.

You can configure the download location through your Firefox Options.

  1. At the top of the Firefox windowOn the menu bar, click on the ToolsFirefoxEdit menu, and select Options...Preferences....
  2. Select the Main icon.
  3. In the Downloads pane, select Save files to.
  4. To select a download location, click Browse.... Navigate your local computer to select a location for storing Firefox downloads.
  5. Click OK to close the Options windowClick Close to close the Preferences windowClose the Preferences window

Reset the download folder

If you have tried the above suggestions but still have problems downloading, you can restore the default Firefox download folder settings using the following steps:

  1. In the Location bar, type about:config and press EnterReturn.
    • The about:config "This might void your warranty!" warning page may appear. Click I'll be careful, I promise!, to continue to the about:config page.
  2. In the Filter textbox, enter browser.download.
  3. If any of the following preferences have a status of user set, you must reset the value. To reset the value, right-click the preference and select Reset:
    • browser.download.dir
    • browser.download.downloadDir
    • browser.download.folderList
    • browser.download.lastDir
    • browser.download.useDownloadDir
  4. If desired, you can revert back to your preferred download folder settings through your Firefox Options.
Mac OS:

Choose a valid download folder in Safari Preferences

When you attempt to download a file you may receive the following error:
<filename> could not be saved, because an unknown error occurred.

To fix this problem, open your Safari Preferences and verify the Save downloaded files to: setting. If this setting is pointing to an invalid folder or file, it causes downloads in Firefox to fail. Select a valid folder, such as your Desktop, and then restart Firefox.

Mac OS:

Delete corrupt plist file

When you attempt to download a file you may receive the following error:
<filename> could not be saved, because you cannot change the contents of that folder. Change the folder properties and try again, or try saving in a different location.

To fix this problem, go to your home directory and delete this preference file:

  • ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.internetconfig.plist

Read this for more information about corrupt .plist files.

Change download action for file type

Firefox may be set to handle certain types of files with an automatic action and sometimes the action is not what you want. For example, Firefox may automatically open a certain file type with an application when you would rather save the file. This can be fixed by changing your Firefox Options for managing that file type. See Managing file types for details.

Reset download actions for all file types

You can reset the download actions for all file types to the default settings as follows:

  1. From the menu at the top of the Firefox windowbar, select FileFirefox and then select the ExitQuit FirefoxQuit menu item.
  2. Open the Firefox profile folder. Read this to find the location.
  3. Rename the mimeTypes.rdf file to mimeTypes.rdf.old .

This will resolve an issue in which Firefox tries to open executable files that results in the error, <filename> could not be opened, because an unknown error occurred. Try saving to disk first and then opening this file.

Windows:

Remove Download Manager plugins

On Windows, third-party download manager plugins can interfere with Firefox downloads. Download Manager plugin files that get added to the Firefox plugins folder include the following, listed by the download manager program and the associated plugin filename:

  • GetRight: NPGetRt.dll
  • WinGet: NPWinGet.dll
  • Download Accelerator Plus: npdap.dll
  • FreshDownload: npfd.dll
  • Net Transport: NPNXCatcher.dll, NPNXCatcher(Audio).dll, and NPNXCatcher(Video).dll
  1. To verify if any of these files are on your system, open the Firefox plugin folder. On Windows, this folder is typically stored here:
    C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins
  2. If any of the above files are stored in this folder, you should consider uninstalling the plugin.
  3. If you have already uninstalled the download manager, remove the file or files from the plugin folder.
  • For more information on third-party Download Managers that include Firefox plugins, see this plugin documentation.

Configure your Internet security software to allow the download

Firewalls and other Internet security software can block certain file downloads. Check the firewall or privacy settings in your security software to see if there is an option that may be blocking the download.

Windows:

This object has been blocked

If you're using ZoneAlarm Pro/Security Suite or CA Personal Firewall and you receive the message, This object has been blocked, do the following to allow the download:

  1. Open the Zone Alarm or CA Personal Firewall program, which you can do by double-clicking the program icon in the system tray (near the clock).
  2. Click on the Privacy button.
  3. Select the Main tab.
  4. In the Mobile Code Control area, click the Custom button. The Custom Privacy settings window appears.
  5. Uncheck the option, Block mime-type integrated objects.
  6. Click the OK button.

This ZoneAlarm User Forum topic has more information about these settings.

Windows:

Temporarily disable your antivirus software

Unknown error occurred

You may receive the message, filename "could not be saved, because an unknown error occurred. Try saving to a different location." when you click a link to download an executable (.exe) file. This problem can be caused by a conflict with your antivirus program and a firewall program such as Comodo Firewall (see this Comodo forum topic for details).

As a workaround, temporarily disable your antivirus program when downloading an executable file, then re-enable it when the download is complete. If you are using the Comodo Firewall, updating it to the latest version may also resolve the issue, as reported here.

3, Windows:

Disable virus scanning in Firefox preferences

Firefox launches your installed antivirus program to scan files when they finish downloading. In some cases this causes a substantial delay or may prevent the downloaded file from being saved. To disable this feature:

  1. In the Location bar, type about:config and press EnterReturn.
    • The about:config "This might void your warranty!" warning page may appear. Click I'll be careful, I promise!, to continue to the about:config page.
  2. Scroll down the list of preferences until you find browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone
  3. Double-click on the preference name browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone to toggle the setting value to false.
Note: If the Download Manager appears to be stuck scanning for viruses, try closing and re-opening the Downloads window instead of disabling the preference.

3, Windows:

Enable downloads blocked by Security Zone Policy

When you attempt to download an executable file (e.g., an .exe or .msi file) the download may fail and the Firefox Downloads window will show the message:

  • This download has been blocked by your Security Zone Policy.



This happens because Firefox honors your Windows security settings for downloading applications and other potentially unsafe files from the Internet. You can fix this by either adding a Firefox preference to bypass the Windows Security Policy check or by resetting your system Internet security settings, as explained below.

3, Windows:

Bypass Windows Security Policy check

You can add the new preference, browser.download.manager.skipWinSecurityPolicyChecks (available in current Firefox versions) and set it to true. This will bypass the Windows Security Policy check and allow you to download executable files. To add this new preference:

  1. In the Location bar, type about:config and press EnterReturn.
    • The about:config "This might void your warranty!" warning page may appear. Click I'll be careful, I promise!, to continue to the about:config page.
  2. Right-click anywhere in the list of preferences.
  3. In the context menu, select New then select Boolean. The "New boolean value" dialog box will appear.
  4. Enter the preference name browser.download.manager.skipWinSecurityPolicyChecks in the text field and click OK.
  5. In the "Enter boolean value" box that appears, select true and click OK.

Firefox should now be able to download executable files.

As an alternative solution, you can also reset your system Internet security settings.

3, Windows:

Reset system Internet security settings

The Firefox Downloads window will show the message, This download has been blocked by your Security Zone Policy if the Windows Internet security option, Launching applications and unsafe files is set to "Disable".

Note: This option is available on systems that include Internet Explorer 7.
To fix this:

  1. From the Windows Start menu, open Control Panel.
  2. Switch to Classic View and double-click Internet Options.
  3. Select the Security tab.
  4. Click the Custom level... button to change the settings for the Internet zone.
  5. Scroll down to the option, Launching applications and unsafe files (under "Miscellaneous").
  6. Select Prompt (Recommended).
  7. Click the OK button.

If the "Launching applications and unsafe files" option is already set to Prompt (Recommended), "toggle" the setting (select Disable, click OK, then go back and select Prompt (Recommended) and click OK).

If the above instructions don't fix the problem or don't apply, try the following:

  • Reset all Windows security zones to the default levels. From the Windows Start menu, open Control Panel, switch to Classic View and double-click Internet Options. Select the Security tab and click the Reset all zones to default level button.
  • Add the blocked download site to the Trusted Sites list. From the Windows Start menu, open Control Panel, switch to Classic View and double-click Internet Options. Select the Security tab, then select the Trusted sites zone and click the Sites button. You may need to clear the Require server verification (https:) for all sites in this zone checkbox before adding the site.
  • It is also possible that the site is being blocked because it is in the Restricted sites list. To view this list, go to the Internet Options Security tab, then select the Restricted sites zone and click the Sites button. The Restricted Sites list may include sites added by Spybot S&D or other security software that are known to contain potentially harmful files.
Note: If the above solutions do not help, some Windows XP users report that installing or reinstalling Internet Explorer 7 resolves the issue. You should visit a forum specializing in Windows and Internet Explorer issues such as AumHa Forums or Windows BBS.com for help installing Internet Explorer 7.

Other solutions

You may be able to diagnose your download problem by following the steps given in the Basic Troubleshooting article.




Based on information from Unable to save or download files (mozillaZine KB)


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Darrera modificació de la plana el Dissabte 06 de Juny, 2009 20:42:45 PST.
Col·laboradors d'aquesta pàgina: Chris_Ilias , djstsys , Bo , myles7897 , np , skulvis , admin i AliceWyman .
- This is a support/troubleshooting article -