firefox downloads window opens files with wrong application
Firefox's Donwloads browser-window opens files stubbornly according to default settings. This is what I have tried:
1) First the OS. In Nautilus (Linux Ubuntu 10.04LTS) I set all my preferences by right-clicking on files of different types and picking my preferred application. Whenever I doubleclick on a file in Nautilus it respects my choice and does indeed open the correct applications.
2) Firefox > Edit > Preferences > Applications. The applications here do not match the settings as I entered them in Nautilus, so I go through the process all over again and set my preferred applications for each file type, some of which I have chosen to Ask Me What To Do. In contrast to Nautilus, Firefox takes no notice of my settings. I restarted Firefox, restarted the computer. The downloads window keeps overriding my settings with the default applications and actions. If I check the settings in Preferences I can verify that Firefox does remember my choices, it just doesn't seem to care to do anything with them
3) I did manage to change a small number of application settings within Firefox the following way: luckily, Firefox's defaults point to Ask Me for a few filetypes. With these few filetypes I managed to change the settings, not through the Preferences, but through the Ask Me popup that shows when you click on a link on a regular firefox window (i.e. not from the Downloads firefox window). I thought I could outsmart Firefox by setting all applications to Ask Me but alas, see step 2, Firefox preferences don't remember to Ask either.
4) I have searched different forums but everyone is getting muddled up with all the different locations of the problem: Nautilus, Firefox Preferences, Firefox Ask Me popup, Firefox right-click menu, etc. Sadly, most threads tend to blame the user. I have therefore tried to make my message as clear and specific as possible. I'm 99% sure that Firefox is at fault, not the users who are struggling with it.
For the time being I have gone back into the Preferences and disabled the Downloads window, as it was doing me more harm than good, but I do miss it the way it was when it worked. Please fix. I'm on Firefox 3.6.13 running on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
Modified by cezdin
All Replies (4)
Hi There, I am trying to find a solution and made some searches. So far I saw the following: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+bug/576704
Check it out and tell us if this is close to your issue. Bye Bacco
See also "File handling in Firefox 3 and SeaMonkey 2"
Hi, I upgraded to Firefox 4 and the problem persists, I followed Cor-el's kind instructions [at http://kb.mozillazine.org/File_types_and_download_actions] but still Movie Player is launched when I double-click on an mp3 from Firefox's Downloads window. I must say that while editing my preferences file manually I did not find the entries browser.download.pluginOverrideTypes or plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types. I did manage to delete mimeTypes.rdf from my profile folder and it indeed had an effect resetting all my preferred apps in Firefox. Still, when I go to Edit > Preferences > Applications and change mp3 to launch Audacious instead of Movie Player, the preference is saved and remembered, but double clicking mp3s again still takes me to Movie Player, a programme that I am beginning to looooaaathe. Does anyone know how to send this through to the Mozilla team who might want to fix this hitch for their brand new release of Firefox? thanks
I am now on Firefox 5 but the issue persists. My preferences show 3 different entries for mp3, one points to Audacious, another to VLC plugin and the third to Xine plugin. Still the Downloads window keeps opening Totem Video Player whenever I click on an mp3 file.