The update mechanism used to work but recently (for no apparent reason) has consistently produced this error:
"Unable to download the file. This could be due to a proxy or network issue or the hosting server not permitting downloads from your location." I'm located in Israel.
I tested updating only specific apps via the updater with the same results.
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[Fixed] Unable to download update
December 29, 2020 - 5:53am
#1
[Fixed] Unable to download update
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Try downloading the platform in Internet Explorer. That will help you determine if its an issue on your system or the network.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
After reinstalling via Internet Explorer, the issue remains.
Can this be related to the fact I'm using Windows 7?
I have exactly the same problem and also use Windows 7. Until recently automatic updates worked flawlessly but now mostly do not. I have noted that very occasionally Google Chrome updates do work automatically but others do not. I can manually download the update files from the PortableApps site using Internet Explorer but have to add ".exe" to the filename before installing it as the downloaded file always ends in .paf. Using Firefox or Chrome the downloaded files have the correct name and can be manually installed from the platform's "Install a new App" menu without first renaming.
When i started the PortableApps Platform a short while ago it offered two updates, Google Chrome and LibreOffice. It failed to connect to download the Chrome update file but successfully connected, downloaded and installed the LibreOffice update. I am not sure if this helps to diagnose the problem.
The download of Chrome itself is directly from Google and uses the Windows Internet Components (aka Internet Explorer). Right click and copy this link and paste it into Internet Explorer (and ONLY Internet Explorer) and see if it will download it.
LibreOffice Portable is downloaded from The Document Foundation's mirrors. Chrome Portable is downloaded in 2 parts, first the live installer is downloaded from SourceForge, then Chrome itself is downloaded from Google. It sounds like that's your only issue.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Thank you for your response John.
When Chrome failed to update yesterday I downloaded the update file directly from the PortableApps site using Internet Explorer. As I mentioned in an earlier post this downloaded a file named GoogleChromePortable_89.0.4389.130_online.paf[1] which I had to rename to GoogleChromePortable_89.0.4389.130_online.paf.exe. The platform's "Install a New App" menu was then used to successfully update Chrome.
I was notified of another new update today and again the Platform Updater failed to connect. Using your link in Internet Explorer downloaded a file named 90.0.4430.72_chrome_installer.exe which is not recognised by the PortableApps platform's "Install a New App" option. I therefore used a similar procedure as yesterday except that I used Firefox Portable to download GoogleChromePortable_90.0.4430.72_online.paf.exe from your site. This avoids the renaming step. I then successfully installed it using the platform's "Install a new App" menu option.
My problem is not getting Chrome or other portable app updates done at all but having to do it manually, one by one, each time. I was hoping that there would be a way to get the Platforms updater and installer working properly as it used to do until some months ago. Is this not possible? It seems that the problem lies with connecting to SourceForge?
I switched the chrome download server to the main one for the latest dev release and rebuilt the other 3 as a rebuild package.. All should work now.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I did a test today using a different machine also running windows 7. This machine has a full backup copy of my PortableApps on its hard drive, which I had not yet updated from yesterday's install on my main PortableApps set. I ran the PortableApps Platform from the hard drive backup copy and as expected it listed updates for Google Chrome and LibreOffice. The updater failed to connect and download the Chrome update file but connected, downloaded and installed LibreOffice without a problem. I then downloaded the Chrome installer from your website and ran it from the Platform "Install a New App" menu which download the Chrome update file and installed it correctly.
It seems that the updater will still fail for all updates not coming from some other server. So far this month apart from Chrome I have had to manually update Gimp, Thunderbird, Ghostscript, Firefox and Sigil.
For your information the error message from today's update failure read as follows:
"Unable to download the file. This could be due to a proxy or network issue or the hosting server not permitting downloads from your location. File: http://portableapps.com/redirect/?s=p&a=GoogleChromePortable&d Esfpa&wv=7&f=GoogleChrome Portable_90.0.4430.72_Rebuild_online.p af.exe"
That's a separate issue. The others you mention are all from sourceforge so there could be a local mirror issue. I'm working on a failover for this but that's not applicable to the issue this thread was created for.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Is there another active thread relating to the Sourceforge problem, which I could follow? In the interim I will continue to download and install updates manually when necessary.
Since the most recent platform update the software updater is again successfully downloading and installing App updates as it originally used to do with no changes on my side. It is a pleasure to have it back again.
Running Windows 10 2004. It "seems" that after a recent Windows Update I got this message when I tried to update:
"Unable to download the file. This could be due to a proxy or network issue or the hosting server not permitting downloads from your location."
I was running off of platform v18 and I tried updating manually to v19 but the problem persists. I can download and install .paf files but the update function does not work.
I've tried disabling all AV, FW, Anti-malware, etc. but nothing changes. I've had PA forever and never had an issue like this. What the heck is going on?
I have the same issue which started again very recently. ( I had the same problem some time ago but it was fixed and worked reliability for a long time. It is now back.) Automatic updates for Firefox, Thunderbird and Java all failed but could be downloaded from PortableApps.com and except for Java installed manually. The downloaded Java update fails to install with a SendRequestError.
[Update] My problem with the automatic updater since a platform update near the end of 2022 has remained practically unchanged up to the present. (July 2023). From December 2022 it has failed to successfully download and install updates. Presently no updates except LibreOffice are successfully downloaded. It always fails with "Unable to download the file. This could be due to a proxy or network issue or the hosting server not permitting downloads from your location" followed by details of the file concerned. I can reach the hosting server directly but not via the platform updater.
It seems that this is an isolated problem affecting a limited number of users and is unlikely to be fixed. I have given up worrying about it as updates can be done by downloading the required files from the PortableApps site and using the "Apps - Install a new app" menu in the platform. It is a nuisance but one I can live with.