310026 - External web shortcuts with URLs exceeding 483 bytes do not work if Firefox is not running.

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[constant_irritation]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050915 Firefox/1.0.7
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050915 Firefox/1.0.7

An external web shortcut does not work if its URL exceeds 483 bytes, it results
in whatever error that the external program that contained the shortcut will output.

This *only* occurs if Firefox is *not* currently running when the shortcut is
launched.  If Firefox *is* running when the shortcut is launched, it opens the
page in Firefox as expected.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
Under Windows 98[SE] 4.10.2222.A:

1. Find a URL that exceeds 483 bytes (the entire URL including the protocol,
etc).  Eg.:
http://electronics.attr-search.ebay.com/zire-31_Handheld-Units_New-Never-Opened_W0QQa10244Z22656QQa10244Z22656QQa12ZQ2d24QQa14ZQ2d24QQa35ZQ2d24QQa35ZQ2d24QQalistZa14Q2ca10255Q2ca12Q2ca35Q2ca10244QQcatrefZC6QQcoactionZcompareQQcoentrypageZsearchQQcopagenumZ1QQfposZQ5AIPQ2fPostalQQfromZR10QQfrppZ50QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQftrtZ1QQftrvZ1QQgcsZ7QQmaxrecordsreturnedZ300QQpfZShowQ20ItemsQQpf_queryZQ22zireQ2031Q22QQpfidZ7QQpfmodeZ1QQsacatZ38331QQsadisZ200QQsargnZQ2d1QQsaslcZ2QQsatitleZQ22zireQ2031Q22QQsbrftogZ1QQsofocusZpf
2. Create a shortcut for that URL in an external application.  Eg.: navigate to
the URL in Firefox and drag the URL icon from Firefox to an Explorer window, the
desktop, or a toolbar *OR* send yourself an email with that URL.  This email
must be received in an external email client (eg.: not webmail).  [Note that
these are just two possibilities in which this behaviour can occur.  The outcome
or error depends on the application from which the shortcut was launched.]
3. Close all instances of Firefox including download windows, extension windows,
etc.
4. Attempt to launch the shortcut from the external program you created it in.
Actual Results:  
If the URL is opened from a shortcut (*.URL) in Windows explorer, the desktop,
or a toolbar, the following error message is displayed:
"Access to the specified device, path, or file is denied"

If the URL is opened from a different external application, the results depend
on that application.  For example, launching the shortcut from Eudora resulted
in no error message of any kind - it was just "click" and nothing happened.

Expected Results:  
The shortcut should have launched Firefox and navigated to the URL.

 - I am currently using NO additional themes nor do I have any installed
 - I am currently using NO additional extensions nor do I have any installed
 - I am currently using the SPL and SWF Macromedia Flash pluggins
 - I have the Adobe PDF pluggins, but they are disabled
 - There was no "Illegal Operation" error or crash when this occured
 - There was no TalkBack report or crash ID (I *do* have TalkBack installed)

There is no fully-fixing or complete work-around that I am aware of.  One can
manually copy the URL from the shortcut and paste it into the address bar in
Firefox.

Comment 1

[Kevin Brosnan]

WFM - Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8b5) Gecko/20050925
Firefox/1.4

Comment 2

[Jesse Ruderman]

The error message doesn't come from Firefox:
http://lxr.mozilla.org/aviary101branch/search?string=access+to+the+specified

It probably comes from Windows 98, which makes me think this is a bug in Windows
98.  Does the same thing happen if you set another browser as your default
browser, such as Opera or Internet Explorer?

Comment 3

[constant_irritation]

(In reply to comment #2)
> The error message doesn't come from Firefox:
> http://lxr.mozilla.org/aviary101branch/search?string=access+to+the+specified
> 
> It probably comes from Windows 98, which makes me think this is a bug in Windows
> 98.  Does the same thing happen if you set another browser as your default
> browser, such as Opera or Internet Explorer?

I think that [Windows 98] could be part of the problem because I tried
reproducing this in Windows XP, during which the bug did not occur.  However,
this bug also does *not* occur when Internet Explorer is the default browser on
Windows 98, so there definately is something with Firefox.  The URL opens as
expected regardless of the source (*.URL, email client, etc.) when Internet
Explorer is the default browser under Windows 98.

BTW, the search you gave me yielded no results.

Comment 4

[Jesse Ruderman]

What if you set the default browser to something other than Internet Explorer or
Firefox?  It's possible Microsoft used some kind of special hack to make it work
in Internet Explorer, which Firefox may or may not be able to copy.

> BTW, the search you gave me yielded no results.

That was my point: the error message text does not appear in Firefox's source
code, so it is unlikely that the error message comes from Firefox.

Comment 5

[constant_irritation]

(In reply to comment #4)
> What if you set the default browser to something other than Internet Explorer
> or  Firefox?  It's possible Microsoft used some kind of special hack to make 
> it work in Internet Explorer, which Firefox may or may not be able to copy.
Yeah...it's called explorer.exe ;)

I'll try to duplicate this in Opera and a few other browsers.  Thanks.

> > BTW, the search you gave me yielded no results.

> That was my point: the error message text does not appear in Firefox's source
> code, so it is unlikely that the error message comes from Firefox.

Yes, I completely agree with you - the resulting error message or lack thereof
does it depend on Firefox.  I already acknowledged that the error message
depends on the external application from with the shortcut is launched.

Comment 6

[constant_irritation]

OK, I have tested this in a few browsers set as the default, and these are my
results...

Opera 8.5:
Links over 483b open from any source when browser is running or closed. 
However, if the browser is closed when the shortcut is launched, it first opens
a tab with a "Could Not Open File" webpage immediately before it opens the URL
in a new tab as expected.

Netscape 8.0.3.3:
This exhibits the same behaviour as Firefox, but Netscape *is* basically
Firefox's mom with a "pretty" face.

K-Meleon
Links over 480b (<- note the filesize, not a typo) don't work period on this
browser - running or closed.  The only way to get it to work is to drag it to
the browser's window

So, I guess this is probably an issue mostly with Windows.  It could be solved
if Firefox had a little TSR app to keep it open.

Comment 7

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

This bug was reported on Firefox 2.x or older, which is no longer supported and will not be receiving any more updates. I strongly suggest that you update to Firefox 3.6.3 or later, update your plugins (flash, adobe, etc.), and retest in a new profile. If you still see the issue with the updated Firefox, please post here. Otherwise, please close as RESOLVED > WORKSFORME
http://www.mozilla.com
http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Managing+profiles
http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Safe+mode

Comment 8

[Kevin Brosnan]

This was shown to be a W98 issue closing as worksforme with xp and higher.