nintendraw said

In particular, whenever I try to download something from DeviantArt's storage site, Sta.sh, it downloads as a 27.6 KB "Firefox HTML" unusable file.

How do you usually save the files? Does Firefox show its "Open or Save" dialog for a download?

If we assume they are probably HTML files, try changing the file extension to .html and loading one or more of them in a browser tab. It may be a message about why the actual file wasn't downloaded. Anything interesting?

By the way, in case you haven't already, it's easier to change file extensions if Windows is set to show all of them: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-show-file-extensions-in-windows/

jscher2000 said

How do you usually save the files? Does Firefox show its "Open or Save" dialog for a download? If we assume they are probably HTML files, try changing the file extension to .html and loading one or more of them in a browser tab. It may be a message about why the actual file wasn't downloaded. Anything interesting? By the way, in case you haven't already, it's easier to change file extensions if Windows is set to show all of them: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-show-file-extensions-in-windows/

Here's a dummy download from my own Stash (it just contains a small Photoshop file): https://sta.sh/02et5p6lx3fa

You're supposed to be able to leftclick on the file (big ZIP button) or the Download button (upper right) to automatically start the download or prompt Firefox. Leftclicking takes me to a "page not found" prompt (idk why; this and the download works fine in Chrome). I don't get an "Open or save file?" prompt. Thus, I am obliged to use rightclick > Save link as.

Changing the extension to html before saving reproduces the same error webpage. I don't think I need to screenshot, but I can easily do so.

Thanks for checking that, and the sample link.

When I click the big ZIP Download button, Firefox requests

https://sta.sh/download/8816415100791958/dummy_by_nintendraw-dcsdtrz.zip?token=4382ce5ab6c1a2950723e970013c9fa12be49ccb&ts=1542658892

The site sends Firefox a redirect to

https://orig00.deviantart.net/85c2/f/2018/323/7/d/dummy_by_nintendraw-dcsdtrz.zip

and I get a download dialog showing the expected file size. So far, so good.

If I remove the token parameter from that first URL and try

https://sta.sh/download/8816415100791958/dummy_by_nintendraw-dcsdtrz.zip

Then the site shows an "Oops The page you wanted to visit doesn't exist!" page.

Can you check the address bar on the error page you get, is the token parameter missing?

If that's what is happening, we need to track down why.

When you hover your mouse over the original ZIP Download button and view the URL in the lower left corner, is the token parameter already gone, or is it disappearing between the time you click and the time Firefox sends the request?

Either way, actually, I would suspect an add-on might be modifying the link or the request. Do you have any anti-tracking extensions?

jscher2000 said

Thanks for checking that, and the sample link. When I click the big ZIP Download button, Firefox requests https://sta.sh/download/8816415100791958/dummy_by_nintendraw-dcsdtrz.zip?token=4382ce5ab6c1a2950723e970013c9fa12be49ccb&ts=1542658892 The site sends Firefox a redirect to https://orig00.deviantart.net/85c2/f/2018/323/7/d/dummy_by_nintendraw-dcsdtrz.zip and I get a download dialog showing the expected file size. So far, so good. If I remove the token parameter from that first URL and try https://sta.sh/download/8816415100791958/dummy_by_nintendraw-dcsdtrz.zip Then the site shows an "Oops The page you wanted to visit doesn't exist!" page. Can you check the address bar on the error page you get, is the token parameter missing? If that's what is happening, we need to track down why. When you hover your mouse over the original ZIP Download button and view the URL in the lower left corner, is the token parameter already gone, or is it disappearing between the time you click and the time Firefox sends the request? Either way, actually, I would suspect an add-on might be modifying the link or the request. Do you have any anti-tracking extensions?

Hello, I never got notified about this.

The error page URL I get when clicking on the big ZIP button is https://sta.sh/download/8816415100791958/dummy_by_nintendraw-dcsdtrz.zip?token=3e318ef35ecce5fef6c692244f95701099ac4f99&ts=1542833427 (The error page itself says the same thing you found). Hovering still displays that token portion.

I did install a battery of anti-privacy extensions, following a guide from Best VPN. Specifically, I have Cookie Autodelete, HTTPS Everywhere, Norton Safe Web, Privacy Badger, and uBlock Origin. (For sake of completeness, I also have Bypass Paywalls, Cite This!, Momentum, OneTab, StartPage, Video Download Helper, Youtube Adblock (disabled), and Honey (disabled).

The guide also suggested modifying some things in the about:config page (or Mozilla's equivalent); I know I modified a dom:storage and a location thing (I think I reverted the latter for classes); who knows what else I modified. But re: extensions, is there one known to cause this sort of problem? And (I'll ask another question for this, but in case you know), could one of those privacy extensions/settings also be the cause of my FB chat heads crashing (disappearing and not reappearing) whenever I attempt to paste a copied URL into the message area?

I think my short answer is: one or more of those things is affecting the site, but I couldn't tell you which one.

Could you test in Firefox's Safe Mode? This will help because:

• If the site WILL give you the real file in Safe Mode, most likely the problem is one of your extensions
• If the site still WON'T give you the real file in Safe Mode, it must be a setting

If Firefox is not running: Hold down the Shift key when starting Firefox. (On Mac, hold down the option/alt key instead of the Shift key.)

If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help button > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
• (menu bar) Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

and OK the restart.

Both scenarios: A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).

Any difference?

jscher2000 said

Restart in Safe Mode. Any difference?

Doing so resulted in the file downloading properly. (I didn't get the "what would you like to do with this file" window, but that probably just means I have memorized what to do with zips.) Now to see if we can figure out which add-on is causing the glitch...

Update: Well, that was easy. It seems that whitelisting Sta.sh solved the problem. Thank you for helping me realize that!

Thanks for reporting back. Did you whitelist it in a Firefox feature or in one of your extensions? For the benefit of the next person who runs into this, feel free to provide brief "how to" steps and mark that as the solution.

jscher2000 said

Thanks for reporting back. Did you whitelist it in a Firefox feature or in one of your extensions? For the benefit of the next person who runs into this, feel free to provide brief "how to" steps and mark that as the solution.

I whitelisted it in Cookie AutoDelete (leftclick extension --> blue "Whitelist" button under the "*(site . com)" option). Hopefully this helps someone!