Firefox can't view files

Firefox has today started to come up with the message "you do not have the
permissions necessary to view this directory". It means that I can only
save files to my home directory then copy them to the down-stream
directory. I tried logging on as root and found that I could not import
bookmark files for the same reason - even from the root directory. I've
uninstalled and re-installed Firefox and (temporarily) removed the .mozilla
directory but have had no success.

Epiphany and Konqueror work OK but Opera says it can't read my home
directory.


Graham

Graham P Davis wrote:

> Firefox has today started to come up with the message "you do not have the
> permissions necessary to view this directory". It means that I can only
> save files to my home directory then copy them to the down-stream
> directory. I tried logging on as root and found that I could not import
> bookmark files for the same reason - even from the root directory. I've
> uninstalled and re-installed Firefox and (temporarily) removed the
> .mozilla directory but have had no success.
>
> Epiphany and Konqueror work OK but Opera says it can't read my home
> directory.

Hi Graham,

I can't see that problem in KDE with SUSE supplied components.
What is version of SUSE?
What was source of installation, SUSE or download direct from Mozilla web
site? The same for Opera?

You can start checking permissions, and ownership of files including
programs. You can use Knqueror with tree view enabled.

--
Regards,
Rajko.

Rajko M. wrote:

> Graham P Davis wrote:
>
>> Firefox has today started to come up with the message "you do not have
>> the permissions necessary to view this directory". It means that I can
>> only save files to my home directory then copy them to the down-stream
>> directory. I tried logging on as root and found that I could not import
>> bookmark files for the same reason - even from the root directory. I've
>> uninstalled and re-installed Firefox and (temporarily) removed the
>> .mozilla directory but have had no success.
>>
>> Epiphany and Konqueror work OK but Opera says it can't read my home
>> directory.
>
> Hi Graham,
>
> I can't see that problem in KDE with SUSE supplied components.
> What is version of SUSE?
> What was source of installation, SUSE or download direct from Mozilla web
> site? The same for Opera?
>
> You can start checking permissions, and ownership of files including
> programs. You can use Knqueror with tree view enabled.
>

Sorry, I forgot to mention I'm using SUSE 10 and Firefox was installed
direct from SUSE CD and updated using YOU. Although Firefox 1.0.6 and 1.0.7
have worked without these problems until yesterday, both versions exhibited
the same trouble yesterday.

I checked the ownership of files yesterday and all appeared to be OK. I've
had another look and it's still OK from my own home session and root. When
looked at from another user-session, my files are owned by root. Is that
normal?

Another related problem is that when trying the bookmark manager importer
and clicking on the "show hidden files" button, Firefox crashes. However,
although this happens in both root and my own session, I have no such
trouble in the other user-session.

Graham

Graham P Davis wrote:

> Rajko M. wrote:
>
>> Graham P Davis wrote:
>>
>>> Firefox has today started to come up with the message "you do not have
>>> the permissions necessary to view this directory". It means that I can
>>> only save files to my home directory then copy them to the down-stream
>>> directory. I tried logging on as root and found that I could not import
>>> bookmark files for the same reason - even from the root directory. I've
>>> uninstalled and re-installed Firefox and (temporarily) removed the
>>> .mozilla directory but have had no success.
>>>
>>> Epiphany and Konqueror work OK but Opera says it can't read my home
>>> directory.
>>
>> Hi Graham,
>>
>> I can't see that problem in KDE with SUSE supplied components.
>> What is version of SUSE?
>> What was source of installation, SUSE or download direct from Mozilla web
>> site? The same for Opera?
>>
>> You can start checking permissions, and ownership of files including
>> programs. You can use Konqueror with tree view enabled.
>>
>
> Sorry, I forgot to mention I'm using SUSE 10 and Firefox was installed
> direct from SUSE CD and updated using YOU. Although Firefox 1.0.6 and
> 1.0.7 have worked without these problems until yesterday, both versions
> exhibited the same trouble yesterday.
>
> I checked the ownership of files yesterday and all appeared to be OK.

I forgot to mention to check access rights too.
That appear in Konqueror as something like rwxr-xr-x , but it differ from
file to file.

> I've
> had another look and it's still OK from my own home session and root. When
> looked at from another user-session, my files are owned by root. Is that
> normal?

Not normal.
Let say that your troubled user is gpd than home directory would
be /home/gpd. You can run as root:
#chown -R gpd:users /home/gpd
That should bring ownership in home directory and all subdirectories in
order. After this watch to create files and directories in your home
directory logged as normal user, not root. Otherwise you'll end up with the
same problem again.

You can repeat the same for root:
#chown -R root:root /root
but there should be no problems.

> Another related problem is that when trying the bookmark manager importer
> and clicking on the "show hidden files" button, Firefox crashes. However,
> although this happens in both root and my own session, I have no such
> trouble in the other user-session.

This may be the same problem. To get more details try to start problem
programs from console, that usually gives more details that can help debug
the problem.

--
Regards,
Rajko.

Rajko M. wrote:

> Graham P Davis wrote:
>
>> Rajko M. wrote:
>>
>>> Graham P Davis wrote:
>>>
>>>> Firefox has today started to come up with the message "you do not have
>>>> the permissions necessary to view this directory". It means that I can
>>>> only save files to my home directory then copy them to the down-stream
>>>> directory. I tried logging on as root and found that I could not import
>>>> bookmark files for the same reason - even from the root directory.
>>>> I've uninstalled and re-installed Firefox and (temporarily) removed the
>>>> .mozilla directory but have had no success.
>>>>
>>>> Epiphany and Konqueror work OK but Opera says it can't read my home
>>>> directory.
>>>
>>> Hi Graham,
>>>
>>> I can't see that problem in KDE with SUSE supplied components.
>>> What is version of SUSE?
>>> What was source of installation, SUSE or download direct from Mozilla
>>> web site? The same for Opera?
>>>
>>> You can start checking permissions, and ownership of files including
>>> programs. You can use Konqueror with tree view enabled.
>>>
>>
>> Sorry, I forgot to mention I'm using SUSE 10 and Firefox was installed
>> direct from SUSE CD and updated using YOU. Although Firefox 1.0.6 and
>> 1.0.7 have worked without these problems until yesterday, both versions
>> exhibited the same trouble yesterday.
>>
>> I checked the ownership of files yesterday and all appeared to be OK.
>
> I forgot to mention to check access rights too.
> That appear in Konqueror as something like rwxr-xr-x , but it differ from
> file to file.
>
>> I've
>> had another look and it's still OK from my own home session and root.
>> When looked at from another user-session, my files are owned by root. Is
>> that normal?
>
> Not normal.
> Let say that your troubled user is gpd than home directory would
> be /home/gpd. You can run as root:
> #chown -R gpd:users /home/gpd
> That should bring ownership in home directory and all subdirectories in
> order. After this watch to create files and directories in your home
> directory logged as normal user, not root. Otherwise you'll end up with
> the same problem again.
>
> You can repeat the same for root:
> #chown -R root:root /root
> but there should be no problems.
>
>> Another related problem is that when trying the bookmark manager importer
>> and clicking on the "show hidden files" button, Firefox crashes. However,
>> although this happens in both root and my own session, I have no such
>> trouble in the other user-session.
>
> This may be the same problem. To get more details try to start problem
> programs from console, that usually gives more details that can help debug
> the problem.
>

Thanks for the suggestion. Tried chown but nothing has changed. Ownership
and access rights still appear correct and I've checked they're unchanged
from previous archives. I don't understand why Firefox seems to be picking
up a different ownership register to other applications.

I've tried creating a new user and copying the offending directory from
"graham", then changing ownership to the new user. The problem with Firefox
occurs in the new user-session.

I get the horrible feeling that the only cure for this will be to re-install
10.0 as new.

Graham

Graham P Davis wrote:

> Rajko M. wrote:
>
>> Graham P Davis wrote:
>>
>>> Rajko M. wrote:
>>>
>>>> Graham P Davis wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Firefox has today started to come up with the message "you do not have
>>>>> the permissions necessary to view this directory". It means that I can
>>>>> only save files to my home directory then copy them to the down-stream
>>>>> directory. I tried logging on as root and found that I could not
>>>>> import
>>>>> bookmark files for the same reason - even from the root directory.
>>>>> I've uninstalled and re-installed Firefox and (temporarily) removed
>>>>> the .mozilla directory but have had no success.
>>>>>
>>>>> Epiphany and Konqueror work OK but Opera says it can't read my home
>>>>> directory.
>>>>
>>>> Hi Graham,
>>>>
>>>> I can't see that problem in KDE with SUSE supplied components.
>>>> What is version of SUSE?
>>>> What was source of installation, SUSE or download direct from Mozilla
>>>> web site? The same for Opera?
>>>>
>>>> You can start checking permissions, and ownership of files including
>>>> programs. You can use Konqueror with tree view enabled.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Sorry, I forgot to mention I'm using SUSE 10 and Firefox was installed
>>> direct from SUSE CD and updated using YOU. Although Firefox 1.0.6 and
>>> 1.0.7 have worked without these problems until yesterday, both versions
>>> exhibited the same trouble yesterday.
>>>
>>> I checked the ownership of files yesterday and all appeared to be OK.
>>
>> I forgot to mention to check access rights too.
>> That appear in Konqueror as something like rwxr-xr-x , but it differ from
>> file to file.
>>
>>> I've
>>> had another look and it's still OK from my own home session and root.
>>> When looked at from another user-session, my files are owned by root. Is
>>> that normal?
>>
>> Not normal.
>> Let say that your troubled user is gpd than home directory would
>> be /home/gpd. You can run as root:
>> #chown -R gpd:users /home/gpd
>> That should bring ownership in home directory and all subdirectories in
>> order. After this watch to create files and directories in your home
>> directory logged as normal user, not root. Otherwise you'll end up with
>> the same problem again.
>>
>> You can repeat the same for root:
>> #chown -R root:root /root
>> but there should be no problems.
>>
>>> Another related problem is that when trying the bookmark manager
>>> importer and clicking on the "show hidden files" button, Firefox
>>> crashes. However, although this happens in both root and my own session,
>>> I have no such trouble in the other user-session.
>>
>> This may be the same problem. To get more details try to start problem
>> programs from console, that usually gives more details that can help
>> debug the problem.
>>
>
> Thanks for the suggestion. Tried chown but nothing has changed. Ownership
> and access rights still appear correct and I've checked they're unchanged
> from previous archives. I don't understand why Firefox seems to be picking
> up a different ownership register to other applications.
>
> I've tried creating a new user and copying the offending directory from
> "graham", then changing ownership to the new user. The problem with
> Firefox occurs in the new user-session.
>
> I get the horrible feeling that the only cure for this will be to
> re-install 10.0 as new.
>

Hi Graham

Although cure would be to copy fresh .mozilla to graham, I have the same
feeling as you. You visited some web page that goofed your account. How
that transferred to root that you know, but as soon as the root account was
involved you can't say what actually happened, and than reinstallation
would be good move.

--
Regards,
Rajko.

Rajko M. wrote:

> Graham P Davis wrote:
>
>> Rajko M. wrote:
>>
>>> Graham P Davis wrote:
>>>
>>>> Rajko M. wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Graham P Davis wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Firefox has today started to come up with the message "you do not
>>>>>> have the permissions necessary to view this directory". It means that
>>>>>> I can only save files to my home directory then copy them to the
>>>>>> down-stream directory. I tried logging on as root and found that I
>>>>>> could not import
>>>>>> bookmark files for the same reason - even from the root directory.
>>>>>> I've uninstalled and re-installed Firefox and (temporarily) removed
>>>>>> the .mozilla directory but have had no success.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Epiphany and Konqueror work OK but Opera says it can't read my home
>>>>>> directory.
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi Graham,
>>>>>
>>>>> I can't see that problem in KDE with SUSE supplied components.
>>>>> What is version of SUSE?
>>>>> What was source of installation, SUSE or download direct from Mozilla
>>>>> web site? The same for Opera?
>>>>>
>>>>> You can start checking permissions, and ownership of files including
>>>>> programs. You can use Konqueror with tree view enabled.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Sorry, I forgot to mention I'm using SUSE 10 and Firefox was installed
>>>> direct from SUSE CD and updated using YOU. Although Firefox 1.0.6 and
>>>> 1.0.7 have worked without these problems until yesterday, both versions
>>>> exhibited the same trouble yesterday.
>>>>
>>>> I checked the ownership of files yesterday and all appeared to be OK.
>>>
>>> I forgot to mention to check access rights too.
>>> That appear in Konqueror as something like rwxr-xr-x , but it differ
>>> from file to file.
>>>
>>>> I've
>>>> had another look and it's still OK from my own home session and root.
>>>> When looked at from another user-session, my files are owned by root.
>>>> Is that normal?
>>>
>>> Not normal.
>>> Let say that your troubled user is gpd than home directory would
>>> be /home/gpd. You can run as root:
>>> #chown -R gpd:users /home/gpd
>>> That should bring ownership in home directory and all subdirectories in
>>> order. After this watch to create files and directories in your home
>>> directory logged as normal user, not root. Otherwise you'll end up with
>>> the same problem again.
>>>
>>> You can repeat the same for root:
>>> #chown -R root:root /root
>>> but there should be no problems.
>>>
>>>> Another related problem is that when trying the bookmark manager
>>>> importer and clicking on the "show hidden files" button, Firefox
>>>> crashes. However, although this happens in both root and my own
>>>> session, I have no such trouble in the other user-session.
>>>
>>> This may be the same problem. To get more details try to start problem
>>> programs from console, that usually gives more details that can help
>>> debug the problem.
>>>
>>
>> Thanks for the suggestion. Tried chown but nothing has changed. Ownership
>> and access rights still appear correct and I've checked they're unchanged
>> from previous archives. I don't understand why Firefox seems to be
>> picking up a different ownership register to other applications.
>>
>> I've tried creating a new user and copying the offending directory from
>> "graham", then changing ownership to the new user. The problem with
>> Firefox occurs in the new user-session.
>>
>> I get the horrible feeling that the only cure for this will be to
>> re-install 10.0 as new.
>>
>
> Hi Graham
>
> Although cure would be to copy fresh .mozilla to graham, I have the same
> feeling as you. You visited some web page that goofed your account. How
> that transferred to root that you know, but as soon as the root account
> was involved you can't say what actually happened, and than reinstallation
> would be good move.
>

The re-install has worked but, as I expected, I was right to be wary of it.
It's taken a couple of days to get my wireless connections set up again. My
fault for not leaving detailed instructions for myself - or possibly doing
so and forgetting where I'd put them?

I think there may have been something more serious than problems
with .mozilla as I'd replaced that without effect. Also the SUSE recovery
system failed as it couldn't find a valid /root directory.

Thanks,

Graham

Graham P Davis wrote:

> Rajko M. wrote:
>
>> Graham P Davis wrote:
>>
>>> Rajko M. wrote:
>>>
>>>> Graham P Davis wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Rajko M. wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Graham P Davis wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Firefox has today started to come up with the message "you do not
>>>>>>> have the permissions necessary to view this directory". It means
>>>>>>> that I can only save files to my home directory then copy them to
>>>>>>> the down-stream directory. I tried logging on as root and found that
>>>>>>> I could not import
>>>>>>> bookmark files for the same reason - even from the root directory.
>>>>>>> I've uninstalled and re-installed Firefox and (temporarily) removed
>>>>>>> the .mozilla directory but have had no success.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Epiphany and Konqueror work OK but Opera says it can't read my home
>>>>>>> directory.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi Graham,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I can't see that problem in KDE with SUSE supplied components.
>>>>>> What is version of SUSE?
>>>>>> What was source of installation, SUSE or download direct from Mozilla
>>>>>> web site? The same for Opera?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> You can start checking permissions, and ownership of files including
>>>>>> programs. You can use Konqueror with tree view enabled.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Sorry, I forgot to mention I'm using SUSE 10 and Firefox was installed
>>>>> direct from SUSE CD and updated using YOU. Although Firefox 1.0.6 and
>>>>> 1.0.7 have worked without these problems until yesterday, both
>>>>> versions exhibited the same trouble yesterday.
>>>>>
>>>>> I checked the ownership of files yesterday and all appeared to be OK.
>>>>
>>>> I forgot to mention to check access rights too.
>>>> That appear in Konqueror as something like rwxr-xr-x , but it differ
>>>> from file to file.
>>>>
>>>>> I've
>>>>> had another look and it's still OK from my own home session and root.
>>>>> When looked at from another user-session, my files are owned by root.
>>>>> Is that normal?
>>>>
>>>> Not normal.
>>>> Let say that your troubled user is gpd than home directory would
>>>> be /home/gpd. You can run as root:
>>>> #chown -R gpd:users /home/gpd
>>>> That should bring ownership in home directory and all subdirectories in
>>>> order. After this watch to create files and directories in your home
>>>> directory logged as normal user, not root. Otherwise you'll end up with
>>>> the same problem again.
>>>>
>>>> You can repeat the same for root:
>>>> #chown -R root:root /root
>>>> but there should be no problems.
>>>>
>>>>> Another related problem is that when trying the bookmark manager
>>>>> importer and clicking on the "show hidden files" button, Firefox
>>>>> crashes. However, although this happens in both root and my own
>>>>> session, I have no such trouble in the other user-session.
>>>>
>>>> This may be the same problem. To get more details try to start problem
>>>> programs from console, that usually gives more details that can help
>>>> debug the problem.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks for the suggestion. Tried chown but nothing has changed.
>>> Ownership and access rights still appear correct and I've checked
>>> they're unchanged from previous archives. I don't understand why Firefox
>>> seems to be picking up a different ownership register to other
>>> applications.
>>>
>>> I've tried creating a new user and copying the offending directory from
>>> "graham", then changing ownership to the new user. The problem with
>>> Firefox occurs in the new user-session.
>>>
>>> I get the horrible feeling that the only cure for this will be to
>>> re-install 10.0 as new.
>>>
>>
>> Hi Graham
>>
>> Although cure would be to copy fresh .mozilla to graham, I have the same
>> feeling as you. You visited some web page that goofed your account. How
>> that transferred to root that you know, but as soon as the root account
>> was involved you can't say what actually happened, and than
>> reinstallation would be good move.
>>
>
> The re-install has worked but, as I expected, I was right to be wary of
> it. It's taken a couple of days to get my wireless connections set up
> again. My fault for not leaving detailed instructions for myself - or
> possibly doing so and forgetting where I'd put them?
>
> I think there may have been something more serious than problems
> with .mozilla as I'd replaced that without effect. Also the SUSE recovery
> system failed as it couldn't find a valid /root directory.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Graham

You are welcome.
Said wireless connection, is it possible that somehow someone logged into
your computer and played around. Now after installation there is no log
files, but if that happen again, just copy /var/log to external medium,
before reinstallation.

--
Regards,
Rajko.