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"ABC could not be saved, because the source file could not be read" error when downloading

  • 6 replies
  • 7 have this problem
  • 9 views
  • Last reply by omergrigg

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Almost every time I download a file, the download gets to the end and then I get this error "<filename> could not be saved, because the source file could not be read", and then the download fails.

I checked my addons and they are not the problem. This doesn't happen when I try another Firefox profile. I tried several solutions offered in "http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_save_or_download_files" but they didn't help. It's not my antivirus. I hate to start another profile because I have my current one just the way I like it.

Please help!

Almost every time I download a file, the download gets to the end and then I get this error "<filename> could not be saved, because the source file could not be read", and then the download fails. I checked my addons and they are not the problem. This doesn't happen when I try another Firefox profile. I tried several solutions offered in "http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_save_or_download_files" but they didn't help. It's not my antivirus. I hate to start another profile because I have my current one just the way I like it. Please help!

All Replies (6)

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More info - I think it has to do with permissions (whatever this is), because I played around with profile restore and I think the permissions are influencing this.

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What is the default download location?

Do you have write permissions for that folder?

Did you try another download folder?

Also make sure that Anti-virus software isn't preventing write access to the files in that folder.

Try to disable the real-time (live) scanning of files in your anti-virus software temporarily to see if that makes downloading work.

See "Disable virus scanning in Firefox preferences - Windows"

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Cor-el, thanks for replying. My default locations is "downloads", and I have Windows write permissions for it, as well as the rest of my drive. I am the admin on my PC. I tried other folders. my antivirus is not the problem - I've tried disabling it and no go. When I mentioned "permissions", I did not mean Windows, but Firefox. I mentioned these because I played around with FEBE (the addon) and it seems that restoring "permissions" from my profile to the test profile I was working with "restored" the error.

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updated to Firefox 6 - didn't help deleted "permissions.sqlite" - didn't help

Please help

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You can check the file attributes of all the files in the Firefox Profile Folder to make sure that you have write permission.


Create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problems.

See Basic Troubleshooting: Make a new profile:

If that new profile works then you can transfer some files from the old profile to that new profile (be careful not to copy corrupted files)

See:

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another piece of info - the problem seems to often "skip" files smaller than ~150MB.