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.

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

In Private Window downloaded files stay in /tmp/ when complete, then flushed when PW is closed - should move to user/Downloads as completed but doesn't.

  • 4 respostas
  • 1 has this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by FredMcD

more options

Many files were downloaded over hours from the Private Window. Opening the Downloads tab it is possible to navigate to the file location, in /tmp/mozilla_greg0/ (greg is user name). They do not get moved when the download is complete, but just accumulate there. When the Private Window is closed the files disappear. Everything I have read says that the downloads should be moved to the user's Download folder upon completion of the download, even for downloads in Private Windows. Needless to say, very annoying.

Many files were downloaded over hours from the Private Window. Opening the Downloads tab it is possible to navigate to the file location, in /tmp/mozilla_greg0/ (greg is user name). They do not get moved when the download is complete, but just accumulate there. When the Private Window is closed the files disappear. Everything I have read says that the downloads should be moved to the user's Download folder upon completion of the download, even for downloads in Private Windows. Needless to say, very annoying.

All Replies (4)

more options

When using the Private Window, nothing is saved. Download without using Private Window.

more options

When opening a new Private Window the window explains Private Browsing, noting that nothing is saved EXCEPT bookmarks and downloads - which specifically ARE saved. Losing the downloads is a bug, not intended behavior.

more options

You should keep the files on the hard drive although the lifetime of files in the temp folder can't be guaranteed. Downloads are treated as history items and PB mode doesn't retain history, so I think that it would be expected behavior not to keep download history.

more options

If you want to keep using PB, do this; Once the file is fully downloaded, move it to another folder before closing FF.