How to change the tempfiles drive\directory (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1005267 is wrong!)
The solution described in {https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1005267} is false. The temporary file(s) created by Firefox during a flash video are still stored at the historic location i.e. C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Local Settings\Temp\mozilla-temp-files\mozilla-temp-17984 (one very big file with no extension). The directory and file is created when the flash player begins to play. After closing Firefox, only the "mozilla-temp-17984" file is deleted while the directory is maintained. This is a big problem because long videos are creating a huge mozilla-temp-file which eventually destroys Windows System Volume Information Files and/or Windows system files, which would then crash and reboot the system. This makes it absolutely necessary to store the mozilla-temp-##### file on another drive with decent free capacity. It cannot be understood why Mozilla allows regular Temporary Internet Files being stored in "browser.cache.offline.parent_directory" or "browser.cache.disk.parent_directory" on a user assigned drive\directory and still stores the adobe flash video file in the historic temp-file location. I also cannot understand why the "places" and "cookie" files are not in a separate directory, where they can easily be cleaned with CCleaner to get valuable disk space back efficiently.
All Replies (4)
The cache is used for various files such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript which are components of web pages. These are similar to Internet Explorer's Temporary Internet Files. The solution in the other thread relates to the cache.
Firefox uses the Windows TEMP folder for "downloads" and apparently the content streamed by plugins. As you've discovered, the cache settings have no effect on this.
When I search in the source code, there does seem to be some routine for removing the folder, but I can only read the comments, not the code itself, so I'm not sure where yours is falling down: https://dxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/xpcom/io/nsAnonymousTemporaryFile.cpp
In past discussions, I think the options for relocating the TEMP folder boiled down to:
(1) Change where Windows stores the TEMP folder for all purposes, although this can raise privilege issues.
(2) Create TEMP and/or TMP environment variable visible only to Firefox that substitute for the default TEMP folder location. I didn't find the details on how to do this, but it may involve launching Firefox using a batch file.
You can consider to use a .cmd file to start Firefox and set the %TMP% and %TEMP% environment variables in this file to a RAM drive of sufficient size to ensure that files are cleared when you reboot the computer.
set TMP= set TEMP= start "" "<path_to_firefox.exe>\firefox.exe" <extra parameters>
This works only if you specify the new tmp\temp location and even then, it works only temporarily. If you just clear the tmp\temp location, Firefox or the flash player restores it to original when the stream starts. I force Firefox to use the temp directory I assigned in a batch file by
set temp=k:\Mozilla\Firefox\temp call C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe set temp=C:\Documents and Settings\myname\Local Settings\Temp
after the stream starts, there will be a directory
K:\Mozilla\Firefox\temp\cache2\entries
where the flash stream is stored in little fragments.
So far, so good. Let's say, now the flash player script file hangs or does not respond or the plugin container crashes (these are common unsolved problems in Firefox) the same moment you hit F5 to reload the page, Firefox creates the original C:\Documents and Settings\myname\Local Settings\Temp\mozilla-tempfiles\mozilla-temp-7458 file and continues to write the flash stream into it until the disk is full. Btw. Firefox also creates another directory called C:\Documents and Settings\myname\Local Settings\Temp\mozilla-tempfiles\plugin-files where it eventually buffers the downloaded plugin scripts. So this is bad programming. MS has more than 10 temp files for various purposes and users spread over the entire system disk. Firefox must not share these MS tempfiles. I suggest that Mozilla creates a variable_name for the streaming tempfiles which can be configured by the user and keeps this active as long as Firefox is running. When Firefox closes, the original temp file location is restored, which is necessary if you have multiple browsers. For the problem with the plugin container, there should be an official solution. I found a file on the web called Firefox Plugin Container Crash Fix _ 10924_i10128986_il345.exe with an internal name "Runner.exe" of a product called Runner Utility, however, no owner and user information.
Hi HardyHoffmann, I definitely would discourage trying random EXEs from the web. If plugin container crashes, that usually is because Flash crashed. This is some standard guidance that addresses the most common issues with the Flash Player plugin. I'm sure you've seen some of it before, but just in case:
(1) If you have any recorders/downloaders that interact with Flash media make sure they are as up-to-date as possible, or disable them temporarily.
(2) Disable hardware acceleration in Flash: right-click the media in the player and choose Settings, then the first mini-tab and uncheck the box to use hardware acceleration.
More information in this support article from Adobe: http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/video-playback-issues.html#main_Solve_video_playback_issues
(3) Disable protected mode (Windows Vista and higher)
The protected mode feature of the Flash player plugin has security benefits, but seems to have compatibility issues on some systems. You can disable it using the Add-ons page. Either:
- Ctrl+Shift+a
- "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
In the left column, click Plugins. On the right side, find "Shockwave Flash" and click the More link. Then uncheck the box for "Enable Adobe Flash protected mode" and try that for a day to see whether it helps.