This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Why am I not able to open recent downloads from the downloads window?

  • 3 replies
  • 6 have this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

Davisea0201
Davisea0201
more options

Several of my plugins/addons are not up to date. I try to download the newest version via fire fox, but after the download is complete it does not automatically open, nor does it give me the option of opening the file or the folder. Those two items are grayed out. The file is not grayed out though, indicating that it is active, and that I should be able to open it. Anyone know how to solve this problem?

Several of my plugins/addons are not up to date. I try to download the newest version via fire fox, but after the download is complete it does not automatically open, nor does it give me the option of opening the file or the folder. Those two items are grayed out. The file is not grayed out though, indicating that it is active, and that I should be able to open it. Anyone know how to solve this problem?

All Replies (3)

adampeebleswrites
adampeebleswrites
more options

Hi Davisea0201,

I had some plugins too I needed to update after updating my Firefox browser to its latest version. Which plugins did you have trouble with? I updated Adobe Acrobat, Java, and Adobe Flash Player and had no problems.

Here is the link I used to update my plugins:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/

Davisea0201
Davisea0201 Question owner
more options

I actually used that same page to find my plugins. I did click update, which sent it into my downloads, but once the download was complete I am not able to open it to finish the install. It just sits there.

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

If "Open" and "Open Containing Folder" in the right-click context menu in the Download Manager window are grayed then that means that the file is no longer in the original download location and they may have been removed by Anti-virus or cleanup software.

It is possible that anti-virus software is corrupting downloaded files or is otherwise interfering with downloading files.
Try to disable the real-time (live) scanning of files in your anti-virus software temporarily to see if that makes downloading work.

See: