439870 - Unable to disconnect USB storage after downloading to it

Status: UNCONFIRMED

(Toolkit :: Downloads API, defect)

Description

[Mathias Burén]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; sv-SE; rv:1.9) Gecko/2008052906 Firefox/3.0
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; sv-SE; rv:1.9) Gecko/2008052906 Firefox/3.0

If I insert a USB mass storage device (such as a USB memory stick), download something to it with Firefox, click the icon in the Windows systray to Safely Remove Hardware, select my USB stick, press stop, it will complain about "another program is using the USB device, cannot stop/remove".

To be able to remove the USB device safely I have to download something in Firefox again but to another destination, such as C:. Then I can successfully remove the USB stick.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Insert a USB mass storage device (USB memory stick).
2. Start Firefox3. Download something, saving it directly to the memory stick.
3. Wait for the download to finish.
4. Doubleclick on Safely Remove Hardware in the Windows system tray.
5. Select your USB stick and press Stop.
Actual Results:  
Windows complains about the USB device being in use by an application so it can't remove it.

Expected Results:  
Firefox finished the download and should release the file, and I should be able to safely remove the memory stick.

The memory stick in question is an 8GB Traxdata one.

Comment 1

[Jack Todaro]

Apologies, but i downloaded directly to my USB memory stick and i did exactly what you said to reproduce the problem, but it worked fine. however i did not have an 8GB Traxdata USB. also make sure you are not running the application when attempting to eject. Thank Again.

Comment 2

[Mathias Burén]

So you're saying I have to quit Firefox before I attempt to remove the USB stick? Why, the download has finished.

Comment 3

[Jack Todaro]

my apologies for not being entirely clear but what I meant was that make sure you are not actually running the program that you downloaded or it will not eject. for example, if you are running a word document on your computer, which is saved on your USB and you try to elect it, you cannot because it is saved on that USB and in order to eject it you must close the word document. i know it sounds a bit hard to understand but I couldn't find the right words. also when ejecting your USB, a quicker way is to just click the eject symbol ONCE and a box will appear saying safely remove hardware or something like that, and it is much simpler. have you had any recent problems similar to this?
please notify me immediately if you do.
Kind Regards,
jack

Comment 4

[Mathias Burén]

I understand you. However, that is not the problem. Maybe this is a problem with windows and not Firefox itself. It does not matter what I download, but as long as I save it to the USB stick (and I don't open the file, or anything, just DL it), and try to remove it, I will get this message. Maybe it is anti-virus related? However, after the DL finishes, and the AV-scan is done, no program should be accessing the file... therefore I think I'm entitled to remove the USB stick. Any thoughts on that?

Comment 5

[Jack Todaro]

thanks for the comment reply. yes I strongly believe it is not Firefox related, slight possibility of AV, but also try this: download anything at all (for example python) but change your download destination to the desktop. then drag to your USB drive and attempt to eject. please notify me of the results as I am always interested in fixing your problem.
regards,
jack

Comment 6

[JoSH Lehan]

It would be great if Firefox could chdir() back to a "neutral" directory, perhaps the directory the application itself is running from, after downloading to a folder.  That would release Firefox's claim to that directory, from the operating system's point of view.

It would be an easy fix, and it would prevent Firefox from clashing with removable USB media like this.

Comment 7

[Kevin Brosnan]

Works for me using Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.3) Gecko/20090824 Firefox/3.5.3

Downloaded Firefox from mozilla.com to a usb drive once the download completed I was able to eject the drive without any problems.

Comment 8

[Hollis Waite]

I'm able to reproduce this problem when I *upload* from a USB drive.  Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.5) Gecko/20091102 Firefox/3.5.5.  Should I enter a new defect?

Comment 9

[Matthias Versen [:Matti]]

Is this still a problem with recent Firefox versions ?