14 DAY TRIAL // Mozilla Firefox is currently the world’s second most-used browser on the desktop, so every little bug that makes its way to production build could hit millions of users out there.
This is what happened recently in Firefox version 69.0.2 and Beta 70, with a number of users discovering that the browser is no longer able to download files. Any files, to be more precise, as the download immediately fails, leaving just an empty file in the downloads folder.
Mozilla has already acknowledged the bug and a fix is on its way, but in the meantime, more and more users discover they are unable to download files in the latest stable version of Firefox. So here’s everything you need to know about this issue.
Who is affected?
First and foremost, there are two conditions that must be met at the same time for the bug to occur. First, you need to be running Windows 10, and second, parental controls must be enabled on your device.
In other words, only the Windows 10 version is affected (both 32-bit and 64-bit impacted), and only, but ONLY, if parental controls are running on your computer and you are part of a family group.
Linux and macOS versions of Firefox, as well as the browser running on older versions of Windows, like Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, are perfectly fine with no bug breaking down downloads whatsoever.
What happens when you download files?
The behavior is as simple as it could be: you click a download link, the download itself appears to start but fails immediately. Retrying to download doesn’t work and all you get is an empty file in the downloads folder, no matter if this is the default location or a user-defined folder.
In a discussion on Bugzilla, some users explain that files that fail to download end up with 0 KB in size, and deleting them is the only option.
Some files apparently managed to slip through, albeit it’s not yet clear what files and how this is possible.
How to fix the bug?
Let’s start with the things you shouldn’t try to fix the issue. Removing Firefox and installing the latest stable build once again, changing the download location, resetting the configuration, and things like that do not help.
Basically because if you end up running Firefox 69.0.2 with parental controls still on in Windows 10, the bug still survives, breaking down downloads no matter what.
The easiest workaround is to just remove Firefox 69.0.2 and go back to version 69.0.1 because the bug does not exist in this version. The same glitch appears to be there in Firefox beta 70. If you do this, make sure that you block the automatic update back to version 69.0.2, as the new version should be automatically offered to all devices where an older version is installed.
An alternative solution is to simply disable parental controls on your Windows 10 device, although it goes without saying this isn’t always possible and is not necessarily the most convenient fix. Parental controls are most often enabled for good reason on computers, so maybe just going back to a previous Firefox install makes more sense for the majority of users.
On the other hand, it looks like Mozilla has already developed a fix, and it is included in Firefox Nightly, and another point release for the stable build should get the go-ahead in the coming days. An ETA isn’t yet available but for now, just stick with the workarounds mentioned above to able to download files once again.