Can't find downloaded files usng vista o/s

Closed
davebc1963 - May 8, 2008 at 09:10 PM
 network engineer - Nov 5, 2009 at 06:06 AM
Hello,
I can't find any files that I download.I watch it download completely,the run,save prompt pops up for a millisecond,then disappears,and the file is gone.I am using Vista(wich is crap) and it is probably the cause of my problems.Does anybody know if there is a fix for this problem,or any way I can find my disappearing files???Any suggestions will help.
Thank you
Related:

139 responses

hey dont know if anyone has put this on here already but i've been having the downloading problem with firefox (where the file dissapears) for about a week but IE has been downloading fine I tried changing no end of settings all over windows which none worked and even creating a new user account which also didnt work.

the SOLUTION which I got thanks to what someone else said was to disable the auto scan in firefox. to do this you have to type in "about:config" in the address bar then click the i'll be safe or something button, then type in "browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone" in the filter bar near the top one option should show up that says true under the value double click it and it should then say false and also all the text should go bold.

this was all I had to do to make it work and all files where downloading fine after. hope this helps someone.
172
Fantastic. A friend of mine has had this problem for months and we've tried everything. And this finally fixed it. Thank you so much.
0
Worked great! Thanks Nick!
0
Glen,

Thank you a thousand times. That's all it took. Now I can download just fine. Even Downloadhelper (Firefox add-on) works so I can download youtube videos and watch them offline.

Hurray for Glen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
0
You're my hero!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Free case of virtual beer headed your way!
0
I had the same problem whilst using A V G 8 and Vista before downloading any file or e mail attachment you could try this,
open avg
from the grey menu bar at the top open tools
go to advanced settings
from the menu that opens on the left choose resident shield
from the tick boxes on the right uncheck auto heal
at the bottom right click apply
accept the changes
click ok

download your file or attachment it should remain in your chosen location (mine do)
if this works for you I would recomend that you return avg to its original settings after your downloading is comlpete
good luck
mick
0
There is probably a gap of Vista. In a customer´s computer also something similar happens. When I order to a page download a file, the pop-up start and say if I want to execute the file or save it, I ordered save it in a determinate location on the computer. The process start and seems to be all ok, but when the download process ends I cannot find the file in the place I ordered to save nor in any place in the hard drive. It´s a curious mistery of Vista Premium.
Hope anybody find a solution to this problem.
50
hiya,did you sort out the problem as I am having same problem and its a ruddy pain..many thanks
0
Punisher > giggler
Jul 10, 2008 at 11:41 AM
The Problem still has not been solved unless ppl arent saying what they no
0
Hi all, had same prob on customer's pc. usual upping to ie8, lower security settings, restore back to previous date didn't work. stumbled on avg possible culprit, used removal tool (download on other pc and transfer using flash drive), failed. noticed avg wasn't being allow to run. finally booted into safe mode, manually deleted avg folder (all but avgse.dll, which was denied), reboot, and ie8 can now d/l and run files. yay! I don't this it's specifically an avg issue, but it does seem to involve avg from forums i've seen. perhaps combo of vista and avg aren't agreeing with each other? weird behavior.
0
Just use another computer (normal one), download it from there, copy to usb, then install on yours. kudos
0
Having the same problem.. Any help???
8
i dont think its IE. I have the same problem with firefox:)
8
you statement is a lie (incorrect) - firefox does not have this issue!
0
nayan > asdasdasd
Nov 3, 2008 at 12:45 PM
hey guys I have solution for u change ur vista to xp .
0
I just started having this problem after using XP....no problems there....now with Vista...problems.
I found one program that worked well by converting to PDF file and it worked, but no other program works.
the program that worked is called MyInvoices & Estimates Deluxe....version 9.0.0....File/Convert to PDF works....
so I know Adobe Acrobat works, just can't get it to work when using any other program.
Adobe is IMPOSSIBLE to talk to.....you can't talk to anyone there. If you have a problem with an Adobe product ...good luck
Any help would be GREEEEAAAATLY appreciated!!
Maybe O Bama could fix it.....he seems to have all the answers.
0
Redrider > da
Nov 10, 2008 at 03:47 PM
I have the same problem.
Can't download in IE7 or Firefox.
I created another user and put that user in the Admin Group.
I can download from the new acct. but the original user is still a no-go.
0
willow > Redrider
Nov 24, 2008 at 12:50 PM
Hi, I have been surfing the net for a friend of mine. She has the same problem. Everything seems to download fine until you wanna find the file.

Was just wondering if you can up with any solutions on how to solve this very annoying prob.

Look forward to hearing from you
0

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i have the same problem I created a folder and now extract all downloaded files to it and that seems to work
6
Same problem.... piece of crap
4
Just go to the control panel and disable UAC. (User Account Control) After a reboot, I re-enabled my UAC and the downloads are still working.
Good luck.

PS: I found this answer somewhere on the net.
4
Make sure you haven't disabled the download history in your Firefox settings:

From mozzila firefox, Click "Tools -> Options -> Privacy / History". "Remember what I've downloaded" should be checked.

Hope this will work!
4
I had the same problem, definately related to security updates from Microsoft.

I uninstalled about 6 of the latest security updates and restarted, no change. Did windows update, got the latest of them all and now I can download fine.

S
3
No, the problem was that Vista was NOT saving the file. To be precise, the file would be saved and then immediately deleted. I tested this using a slow USB drive where I could see the file saved and then subsequently deleted. The same would happen if I chose to "Run" the file instead of "Save" the file. This whole issue, at least on my part, was not operator error.
3
Bobby Dandruff
Mar 20, 2009 at 10:11 AM
I had this exact same problem and eventually resolved it but uninstalling AVG 8.0 and going back to AVG 7.5.

I don't know what happended to my AVG 8.0 installtion as it was working fine but either became corrupt or an AVG 8.0 update changed some settings. Either way, I had real trouble uninstalling AVG 8.0 but when I did (after many hours!) I could download files again and see them appear! Just like they should do.

I systematically re-installed AVG 7.5 checking that I could still download files at ever stage.

And I am back to normal now. 8 hours later.

Very odd and very, very frustration.
3
OK. Phew. I solved this problem in Firefox. Have you moved PC recently and copied over your Firefox settings?

That was the problem for me. I just moved from XP to a new Vista machine and copied the Firefox profile from my old machine.

On the new machine I looked in about:config (type that into your browser).

browser.download.dir was set to some long XP style string like C:\users\user1\My Documents\blah blah

This directory did not exist on my new Vista machine so I changed it to one here.

Once I changed it Firefox started downloading for me! Yaye!

---
browser.download.lastDir was also set to a directory that doesn't exist. I didn't need to change that though. It changed on it's own automatically once I downloaded.
3
THANK YOU LUKE!
ive tried so many things and your is what fixed mine!

and to top it all off - my friend just had a child and named him Luke.
:)

THANK YOU
THANK YOU
THANK YOU!!!!!!!

that site was crazy too. thanks for sharing!!!!!!
0
ok am a novice user: how do I uninstall the security updates, sum1 pls reply back
2
i uninstalled everything to do with windows and still cant download...................helpppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
2
Thanks Tomcat! I'll be sure to watch AVG once my system is done doing a factory state reinstall!

Strange thing is I run AVG on all 6 of my PC's and only my new Lenovo laptop was affected by this problem. I'm going to try installing AVG again on the fresh install and see what happens!!!
2
sorry MICHY but I don't think people are having the same problem than you
It's not about finding where the files are but it' just doesn't download at all
so even you check your files in Downloads nothing is there, nada de nada

anyway guys as others said before just uninstall AVG and it will work straight away, you can install it after
1
Just go to the start menu, click on your user name for your windows account, (should be on the very top right of the start menu) then once that opens click on downloads.....i hope it works for you guys as it did me.
1
AVG is definitely causing this issue. I tried several of the solutions posted here including changing the internet security settings and user account settings, neither of which worked. For the record my installation (Vista OS) of AVG was corrupt and I was not able to uninstall. Due to the download issue I had to go to a different PC and copy the latest install version (AVG 8.5) to a flash drive. I repaired the current installation of AVG and this fixed the problem. Thanks to everyone who posted the AVG solution.
1
Go on the Internet. Where you would enter the address bar enter
"C:\Program Files" And there you will find all the PROGRAMS (not documents, pictures, videos, etc.)
on your computer/account.
1
I am experiencing same problem, it does not complete the download, at the end it does not give the option to run or open, I think something is stopping or blocking it, worked yesterday, so going to do a system restore to see if that helps
0