I had an older FF Portable installed, but I think it got partially wiped when I had update problems a while ago. I am still having problems.
I am using PA on a local hard drive, Win XP SP3. Partway through the installation I get dialogs about inability to write to various .dll files in the directory:
D:\download\Software\PortableApps-installedapps\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable\App\firefox
I find that directory to be ReadOnly and the properties show 0 files and 0 folders. I cannot change the ReadOnly status from the Properties box.
Any suggestions? I don't have a lot of personalized info that I need to preserve for the FF installation, as I only use it occasionally.
TIA.
JK
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It's either corruption on the drive, a path that is too long, or invalid permissions. If you'd like to preserve your data, I'd suggest deleting the App\firefox directory and then reinstalling over it. After you've thoroughly checked your drive for errors and scanned for viruses, etc.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Thanks John,
Because the Firefox folder is ReadOnly (I assume), I can't delete it and it won't let me change the permissions. I admit that the path is way longer than you like, but it has been working.
I will try a reboot to see if I get more ability with less "stuff" running.
If that fails, I am open to suggestions. I'm thinking I may need to go to an outside utility to delete the folder or boot from a LiveCD. Thoughts?
JK
In that case, you'll need to log in as admin, check for errors, and reset the permissions on the folder. It's been owned/assigned to someone else, so you won't be able to use it. Note that Firefox Portable won't do this itself.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I am the admin, and only user on the machine, so that was not the problem.
I rebooted and the firefox folder had disappeared from within the firefox installation. (That is the buried, readonly one was not there any more.) The installation then went smoothly.
So, it's fixed, but d'd if I understand what happened.
Thanks for your help.
JK
Keep a close eye on things and do regular scans for logic errors and the like. It always makes me nervous when a machine does something odd like that. Though this is Windows XP which had a bit more random events like that. Glad it's working now!
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I just looked in:
D:\download\Software\PortableApps-installedapps\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable\App
and all the contained folders, including firefox, are read only. Is that normal?
JK
Nope. And our software never sets them that way. There's not even any logic in the Firefox Portable installer or launcher to do that. It's something going on on your PC.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I was able to turn off the read only through the properties dialog. I then launched FF Portable and they were back. I realized that they are gray checks in the ReadOnly box, rather than black. I was able to unset them again. I was able to set them as black and unset them again.
However, even just closing FF and refreshing the directory sets them as gray checks again.
I am afraid you are right about it being something on my machine. No clue as to how to find out what though.
JK
Generally it's either a misbehaving antivirus or malware/virus.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!