Firefox persistently saving downloads to wrong folder
Windows 10 Firefox 93.0
For a while now, probably since before ver. 84.0 Firefox is ignoring the set location for where my downloaded files go. I do not want to use the default location which is my user/downloads location. I use a small SSD as my OS drive and a much larger conventional drive for my files. Firefox is set to download files to D:\D Drive Downloads but when it downloads files it is sending them to my user/download folder. I've seen other questions like this but typically has to do with the download BEFORE it completes, ie .part file. This is after the completion of the download. There are no special permissions or administrator controls implemented on my machine, it is as it has always been but some version way back Firefox decided that my user/download folder was the only place it was going to save files. Help please.
All Replies (3)
Let's take a peek under the covers.
(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.
More info on about:config: Configuration Editor for Firefox. The moderators would like us to remind you that changes made through this back door aren't fully supported and aren't guaranteed to continue working in the future. Since we have had these settings for a long time, I feel comfortable mentioning them.
(2) In the search box in the page, type or paste browser.download and pause while the list is filtered
Firefox should list numerous preferences, with the modified ones -- the ones that do not have their original default value -- in bold. Let's check two:
browser.download.dir -- this should show the exact same directory you see on the Settings page -- if this is not correct, try selecting the folder again on the Settings page until this is correct
browser.download.folderList -- this preference determines where files are saved:
- 0 => Desktop
- 1 => Downloads (system download folder)
- 2 => folder in browser.download.dir
- 3 => (defined by a remote API)
(3) If the browser.download.folderList preference is not set to 2, double-click it to display an editing field, and change the value to 2 then press Enter or click the blue check mark button to save the change.
If this preference is locked to 1 and cannot be edited, we would need to investigate the source of the lock.
Any progress so far?
You could also use the right-click > Save As.
Start Firefox in Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration or userChrome.css is causing the problem.
- switch to the DEFAULT theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Themes
- do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Troubleshoot Mode start window