Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Is there a way to get Firefox to warn me before closing when I have downloads in progress? The lack of this feature makes me want to stop using Firefox altogether.

  • 6 cavab
  • 13 have this problem
  • 10 views
  • Last reply by Cloudchaser

more options

Is there a way to get a warning before Firefox closes when there is a download in progress? It's a bit annoying when I have to go back to the original site and restart a download if I accidentally close Firefox before the download is complete.

Is there a way to get a warning before Firefox closes when there is a download in progress? It's a bit annoying when I have to go back to the original site and restart a download if I accidentally close Firefox before the download is complete.

All Replies (6)

more options

You can set the pref browser.download.manager.quitBehavior to 2 on the about:config page.

That will make Firefox ask for confirmation if you want to cancel the download if you close Firefox.

See:


To open the about:config page, type about:config in the location (address) bar and press the "Enter" key, just like you type the url of a website to open a website.
If you see a warning then you can confirm that you want to access that page.

  • Use the Filter bar at to top of the about:config page to locate a preference more easily.
  • Preferences that have been modified show as bold(user set).
  • Preferences can be reset to the default or changed via the right-click context menu.
more options

Came here looking for a solution when I closed FF, interrupting a download and when I tried to restart, Oron.com told me I'd have to wait because the site only allows free users to start a download every three hours, even if a download didn't finish.

I just set the pref browser.download.manager.quitBehavior to 2 on the about:config page in my own installation of FF.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't FF used to have a checkbox in options for "Tell me if closing Firefox will interrupt a download"?

more options

As I recall, when you generate a download link as an unregistered user on Oron.com, it's valid for several hours. So if you bookmark that link, you can at least restart the download from the beginning without having to wait.

more options

That's what I thought too. Because when a download link is generated, it says that it's valid for my IP addy for one hour. But when I accidentally closed and restarted FF, I got a message saying something like "download could not be continued. Source file cannot be read"

more options

Cloudchaser wrote:

I got a message saying something like "download could not be continued. Source file cannot be read"

At that point, you can wait a few moments, then either right-click the entry in the Downloads window and choose Retry, or you can load the Download File link. Provided less than 1 hour has passed since the link was generated, this will allow you to restart the download without waiting. Resuming downloads from Oron.com requires a premium membership however.

more options

Got that, thanx! I'll try that if I have another download that gets broken