Unable to download or save files

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This article describes steps to take if you are unable to download or save file using Firefox.

Table Of Contents

Clear the downloads history

Clearing the downloads history can fix some problems with downloading files:

  1. On the menu bar, click on the Tools menu and then select Downloads.
  2. In the Downloads window, click Clear List.

Choose a different download folder

Firefox may not be able to download files if there is a problem with the folder in which downloaded files are saved:

  1. At the top of the Firefox windowOn the menu bar, click on the ToolsFirefoxEdit menu, and select Options...Preferences....
  2. Select Main panel.
  3. In the Downloads section, select Save files to.
  4. To select a download location, click Browse.... Choose a different folder to try saving files.
  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, you can restore the default Firefox download folder settings:

  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 field, enter browser.download.
  3. If any of the following settings have a status of user set, reset their values. To reset a value, right-clickhold down the Ctrl key while you click the setting and select Reset from the context menu:
    • 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 by changing your Firefox settings.
Mac OS:

Choose a valid download folder in Safari Preferences

If you receive the error <filename> could not be saved, because an unknown error occurred. , your problem might be caused by an interaction with the Safari browser and your operating system.

To fix the problem, open Safari's Preferences and change the Save downloaded files to: setting to a valid folder (such as your Desktop). Then restart Firefox.

Mac OS:

Delete corrupt plist file

If you receive the 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., your problem might be caused by corrupt plist files.

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

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

Change file type settings

If downloading certain file types does not work, check to make sure Firefox is not set to handle those file types differently from others. See the Managing file types for instructions on how to view and change how different file types are handled.

Reset download actions for all file types

To reset how all file types are handled by Firefox back to default:

  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. See How to find your profile for how to determine where your profile is located.
  3. Rename the mimeTypes.rdf file to mimeTypes.rdf.old .
  4. Restart Firefox.
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

See Troubleshooting plugins for instructions on how to disable or remove plugins.

Configure Internet security software

Internet security software, including Firewalls, antivirus programs, anti-spyware programs, and others can block certain file downloads. Check the settings in your security software to see if there is an setting that may be blocking downloads.

To diagnose whether Internet security software is causing problems, you can try temporarily disabling it, seeing if downloads work, and then re-enabling the software.

Windows:

Disable virus scanning in Firefox preferences

Firefox launches your installed antivirus program to scan files when they finish downloading. In some cases this can cause problems:

  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 field, type browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone.
  3. Double-click on the browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone setting to change its value to false.

Windows:

Enable downloads blocked by Security Zone Policy

Downloading an executable file (e.g., an .exe or .msi file) may fail with a This download has been blocked by your Security Zone Policy. error message.



This happens because Firefox honors your Windows security settings for downloading applications and other potentially unsafe files from the Internet.

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.

You can also reset your system Internet security settings in Internet Explorer. See How to reset Internet Explorer settings at Microsoft Support for instructions.

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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Page last modified on Friday 14 of August, 2009 08:45:28 PST.
Contributors to this page: flod , djstsys , Bo , myles7897 , np , Chris_Ilias , skulvis , admin and AliceWyman .
- This is a support/troubleshooting article -