(Anonymous)
Since I upgraded to Firefox 3.6, I find that the about:config setting:
browser.download.manager.skipWinSecurityPolicyChecks true
no longer seems to make Firefox ignore windows internet settings when on High for internet zone, so that the download of an exe file is still blocked in Firefox.
If this problem is not peculiar to me, then this page may need qualifying (or there is a bug which needs fixing!)
The above comment was posted as feedback this morning in What to do if you can't download or save files so I tested it, even though the setting seemed to work fine a couple of weeks ago.
In Windows XP, I set Internet Options security to High in the Internet Zone, (which sets "Launching applications and unsafe files" to "Disable"). This causes both SeaMonkey 2 and Firefox 3.6 executable file downloads to fail, with the Where to find and manage downloaded files in Firefox just showing "cancelled" with no error. When I created the boolean preference browser.download.manager.skipWinSecurityPolicyChecks in about:config and set it to true that fixed the problem in SeaMonkey 2 but not in Firefox 3.6. Need to investigate.
I checked my notes and, when I set Internet Options Security to High on 01-20-2010 (as a workaround for an IE security issue) , setting browser.download.manager.skipWinSecurityPolicyChecks to true worked in Firefox 3.5.7. I tested again just now, since I still have Firefox 3.5.7 installed in another folder, and the preference works there.
Did something change in Firefox 3.6 to cause that preference to no longer work? Could someone test in Windows 7 or Vista?
<blockquote>'''(Anonymous)'''
Since I upgraded to Firefox 3.6, I find that the about:config setting:
browser.download.manager.skipWinSecurityPolicyChecks true
no longer seems to make Firefox ignore windows internet settings when on High for internet zone, so that the download of an exe file is still blocked in Firefox.
If this problem is not peculiar to me, then this page may need qualifying (or there is a bug which needs fixing!)</blockquote>
The above comment was posted as feedback this morning in [[Unable to download or save files]] so I tested it, even though the setting seemed to work fine a couple of weeks ago.
In Windows XP, I set '''Internet Options''' security to '''High''' in the Internet Zone, (which sets "Launching applications and unsafe files" to "Disable"). This causes both SeaMonkey 2 and Firefox 3.6 executable file downloads to fail, with the [[Downloads window]] just showing "cancelled" with no error. When I created the boolean preference '''browser.download.manager.skipWinSecurityPolicyChecks''' in <u>about:config</u> and set it to '''true''' that fixed the problem in SeaMonkey 2 but not in Firefox 3.6. Need to investigate.
I checked my notes and, when I set Internet Options Security to High on 01-20-2010 (as a workaround for an IE security issue) , setting '''browser.download.manager.skipWinSecurityPolicyChecks''' to true worked in Firefox 3.5.7. I tested again just now, since I still have Firefox 3.5.7 installed in another folder, and the preference works there.
Did something change in Firefox 3.6 to cause that preference to no longer work? Could someone test in Windows 7 or Vista?
Related bug report:
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=445158 Bug 445158 - Consider providing a pref that allows users to avoid check for "Launching Applications and Unsafe Files" Internet option]
I tried this using Windows 7 Professional and set "Launching applications and unsafe files" to "Disable"
The results with browser.download.manager.skipWinSecurityPolicyChecks set to true using the following builds:
Firefox 3.5.8 - Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.8) Gecko/20100202 Firefox/3.5.8 - Build ID: 20100202165920
Download worked
Firefox 3.6 - Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2) Gecko/20100115 Firefox/3.6 - Build ID: 20100115144158
Download failed
Minefield 3.7a2pre - Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.3a2pre) Gecko/20100206 Minefield/3.7a2pre - Build ID: 20100206050229
Download failed
Whatever caused it to fail in 3.6 is also in the latest trunk, but not in the release candidate for Firefox 3.5.8
I tried this using Windows 7 Professional and set "Launching applications and unsafe files" to "Disable"
The results with '''browser.download.manager.skipWinSecurityPolicyChecks''' set to '''true''' using the following builds:
'''Firefox 3.5.8''' - Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.8) Gecko/20100202 Firefox/3.5.8 - Build ID: 20100202165920
Download worked
'''Firefox 3.6''' - Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2) Gecko/20100115 Firefox/3.6 - Build ID: 20100115144158
Download failed
'''Minefield 3.7a2pre''' - Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.3a2pre) Gecko/20100206 Minefield/3.7a2pre - Build ID: 20100206050229
Download failed
Whatever caused it to fail in 3.6 is also in the latest trunk, but not in the release candidate for Firefox 3.5.8
Jo Hermans 2010-02-06 10:09:38 PST
browser.download.manager.skipWinSecurityPolicyChecks got removed in bug 504804
You can disable anti-virus scanning by setting
browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone to false.
Setting browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone to false, even after restarting Firefox 3.6, makes no difference. The download fails, with "cancelled" in the Downloads window and a 0-byte file in C:\Documents and Settings\Alice\My Documents\Downloads (default downloads folder).
I'll wait to see if anyone else has more to add, then I'll edit the article for Firefox 3.5/3.6 to add that the skipWinSecurityPolicyChecks fix only works in Firefox 3.5.
EDIT 02-08-2010: Although clicking the "retry" button appeared to work, I tested again and, although the Downloads window showed the download completing, it was not saved.
Thanks for testing, Q.
I added a [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=445158#c65 comment to bug 445158] and got this reply:
<blockquote>Jo Hermans 2010-02-06 10:09:38 PST <br/>
browser.download.manager.skipWinSecurityPolicyChecks got removed in [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=504804 bug 504804]
You can disable anti-virus scanning by setting
browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone to false.</blockquote>
Setting '''browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone''' to '''false''', even after restarting Firefox 3.6, makes no difference. The download fails, with "cancelled" in the Downloads window and a 0-byte file in C:\Documents and Settings\Alice\My Documents\Downloads (default downloads folder).
Test links:
http://port25.technet.com/videos/downloads/wmpfirefoxplugin.exe
http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player.exe
I'll wait to see if anyone else has more to add, then I'll edit the article for Firefox 3.5/3.6 to add that the skipWinSecurityPolicyChecks fix only works in Firefox 3.5.
'''EDIT 02-08-2010''': Although clicking the "retry" button appeared to work, I tested again and, although the Downloads window showed the download completing, it was not saved.
I've re-edited *Unable to download or save files to remove the Firefox 3.6 "workaround" to retry the failed download. It didn't work when I retested it this morning (the file download starts and appears to complete but no file is saved).
I've re-edited [[*Unable to download or save files]] to remove the Firefox 3.6 "workaround" to retry the failed download. It didn't work when I retested it this morning (the file download starts and appears to complete but no file is saved).
EDIT 03-15-2010: I set Internet Options security to High in the Internet Zone, (which sets "Launching applications and unsafe files" to "Disable") and then tested today's latest Minefield nightly build - Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.3a3pre) Gecko/20100315 Minefield/3.7a3pre. Setting browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone to false allowed me to download and save exe files in Minefield 3.7a3pre. Hopefully the same fix will be included in a forthcoming version of Firefox3.6.x
Will need to test this but it looks like a patch is pending for Firefox 3.6 (possibly 3.6.3?) that will allow you to bypass the Windows security check, by setting
'''browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone''' to '''false''' - see:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=504804#c39
and
http://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/28e3a378126d
This solution is already given in the [[Unable to download or save files]] article, for a different issue, under [[Unable to download or save files|#Disable virus scanning in Firefox preferences|Disable virus scanning in Firefox preferences]]. If/when the patch is approved for Firefox 3.6.x we will probably just need an edit to mention that setting the scanWhenDone pref to "false" will also bypass the Windows security policy check.
'''EDIT 03-15-2010''': I set Internet Options security to High in the Internet Zone, (which sets "Launching applications and unsafe files" to "Disable") and then tested today's latest Minefield nightly build - Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.3a3pre) Gecko/20100315 Minefield/3.7a3pre. Setting '''browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone''' to '''false''' allowed me to download and save exe files in Minefield 3.7a3pre. Hopefully the same fix will be included in a forthcoming version of Firefox3.6.x
The pending edit would add a second solution for Firefox 3.6 users whose Windows Internet security settings are preventing exe downloads. Right now, the solution given for Firefox 3.6 is Reset system Internet Security settings, which links to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923737
Best Practices for Support Documents says to try to pick the most user-friendly method. I looked at that Microsoft article and was wondering, is that the best solution we can offer? It wouldn't really be a solution for some Firefox 3.6 users who want to keep all Internet Options set to "High" security, since it would reset all Internet zone settings to the default "Medium-High" level.
Could someone else review the Mon 15 of Mar, 2010 edit to [[*Unable to download or save files]] by "Ihopethishelps"?
The pending edit would add a second solution for Firefox 3.6 users whose Windows Internet security settings are preventing exe downloads. Right now, the solution given for Firefox 3.6 is '''Reset system Internet Security settings''', which links to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923737
[[Best Practices for Support Documents]] says to try to pick the most user-friendly method. I looked at that Microsoft article and was wondering, is that the best solution we can offer? It wouldn't really be a solution for some Firefox 3.6 users who want to keep all Internet Options set to "High" security, since it would reset all Internet zone settings to the default "Medium-High" level.
This edit (which does need some clean-up) would add a second solution for Firefox 3.6 users, to just change a single setting to enable "Launching applications and unsafe files" while keeping other settings at a higher security level. MozillaZines's article now lists that as an alternative method, here:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_save_or_download_files#Reset_system_Internet_security_settings_-_Windows
