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

I can't open anything in my Downloads list

  • 6 iimpendulo
  • 52 inale ngxaki
  • 8 views
  • Impendulo yokugqibela ngu mahdiabadinia

more options

I can't open anything in my Downloads list. I've tried resetting firefox and I've also tried everything in your article "What to do if you can't download or save files" but nothing helps. I tried to upgrade to the latest firefox to see if this helps but once I've hit the Download button, 1 minute later it appears in my downloads list and... same issue... I can't open it to run it! It's like it's crashed, because no amount of clicking on a download will activate anything. It seems like the Downloads list is dead! Also, (and I think this is linked), I cannot save web pages. I go though the motions and it looks like it's doing the right thing but the pages don't save - they just disappear into the ether! I'm on Windows Vista and have been downloading things happily for years, but suddenly this problem has occured and I've run out of ideas now... Please help!

I can't open anything in my Downloads list. I've tried resetting firefox and I've also tried everything in your article "What to do if you can't download or save files" but nothing helps. I tried to upgrade to the latest firefox to see if this helps but once I've hit the Download button, 1 minute later it appears in my downloads list and... same issue... I can't open it to run it! It's like it's crashed, because no amount of clicking on a download will activate anything. It seems like the Downloads list is dead! Also, (and I think this is linked), I cannot save web pages. I go though the motions and it looks like it's doing the right thing but the pages don't save - they just disappear into the ether! I'm on Windows Vista and have been downloading things happily for years, but suddenly this problem has occured and I've run out of ideas now... Please help!

Isisombulu esikhethiweyo

Did you try to set the browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone pref to false on the about:config page?

Funda le mpendulo kwimeko leyo 👍 31

All Replies (6)

more options

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:

more options

I have this problem; however I dont have any antivirus on my laptop

more options

Hi there, I've tried what Cor-el suggested but it does not work. I disabled AVG protection temporarily but still the downloads list just appears to be dead. Any more suggestions? As it looks like the antivirus is not the problem... Thank you in advance...!

more options

Isisombululo esiKhethiweyo

Did you try to set the browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone pref to false on the about:config page?

more options

Wow! Thanks Cor-el. That has worked. Brilliant! Thank you very much. xx

more options

Awesome, thank you very much.