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second download fails

  • 1 reply
  • 1 has this problem
  • 16 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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I developed a web site with a protected download area (using .htpasswd) containing many pdf documents and download exe files.

The website works correctly with all Microsoft browsers as well as Chrome and Opera.

It also works correctly with Firefox the first time you open or download a file in a session. On subsequent attempts to read or download a file, I get and error of the form "C:\Users\tom\AppData\Local\Temp\0tdBH5YZ.pdf.part could not be saved, because the source file could not be read."

If you shutdown firefox completely and re-login to the website, it again works one time.

I use a very simple php script to support the download where the relevant function is:

function Download($file) { $rtn = FALSE; if (file_exists($file)) { $rtn = TRUE; $size = filesize($file); $type = filetype($file); header('Content-Description: File Transfer'); header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream'); header('Content-Type: '.$type); header('Content-Length: '.$size); header('Content_Transfer-Encoding: Binary'); header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename='.basename($file)); header('Expires: 0'); header('Cache-Control: no-cache, must-revalidate'); header('Pragma: public'); ob_clean(); flush();

$lr = readfile($file); if ($lr == FALSE or $lr != $size) { echo "error in readfile
"; $rtn = FALSE; } } return $rtn; }

I developed a web site with a protected download area (using .htpasswd) containing many pdf documents and download exe files. The website works correctly with all Microsoft browsers as well as Chrome and Opera. It also works correctly with Firefox the first time you open or download a file in a session. On subsequent attempts to read or download a file, I get and error of the form "C:\Users\tom\AppData\Local\Temp\0tdBH5YZ.pdf.part could not be saved, because the source file could not be read." If you shutdown firefox completely and re-login to the website, it again works one time. I use a very simple php script to support the download where the relevant function is: function Download($file) { $rtn = FALSE; if (file_exists($file)) { $rtn = TRUE; $size = filesize($file); $type = filetype($file); header('Content-Description: File Transfer'); header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream'); header('Content-Type: '.$type); header('Content-Length: '.$size); header('Content_Transfer-Encoding: Binary'); header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename='.basename($file)); header('Expires: 0'); header('Cache-Control: no-cache, must-revalidate'); header('Pragma: public'); ob_clean(); flush(); $lr = readfile($file); if ($lr == FALSE or $lr != $size) { echo "error in readfile<br>"; $rtn = FALSE; } } return $rtn; }

All Replies (1)

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This sounds more like a problem with your computer setup than with the website. A possible cause of this issue is a problem with your security software or with the permissions that is preventing Firefox from accessing this file in the temp folder.

You can check the temp folder when this happens (don't close this warning pop-up).


Boot the computer in Windows Safe mode with network support to see if that has effect in case security software is causing problems.