Error in zotero plug in with firefox

rachelf22

Hello,

I'm running the zotero plug in with my mozilla firefox browser (24.0) on my new Asus laptop. It has been working fine until recently. Now I get a yellow triangle with an exclamation point over the zotero words in the lower right portion of my browser. The error that comes up is the following:

Database upgrade error

[Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80520013 (NS_ERROR_FILE_READ_ONLY) [mozIStorageConnection.executeSimpleSQL]" nsresult: "0x80520013 (NS_ERROR_FILE_READ_ONLY)" location: "JS frame :: chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/db.js :: <TOP_LEVEL> :: line 149" data: no] [QUERY: DELETE FROM itemTypesCombined] [ERROR: attempt to write a readonly database]

Any ideas on how to fix? When I log onto the web site, I see all of my files just fine.

Thanks.

rachelf22

by the way I'm on windows 8....

aurimas

Find your data directory ( http://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data ), right-click anywhere within the directory (not on a file), select properties, make sure "Read-only" is unchecked.

adamsmith

have you tried restarting your computer?
Did you ever move your Zotero data folder to a custom location (e.g. to a network drive or dropbox)?

rachelf22

I have tried restarting my computer but that didn't work.
I originally had zotero on my old (dead computer) and I transferred everything from my old hard drive onto my new computer-could that be an issue?

I also tried to find my data directory within mozilla, but when I try to open zotero via the tools tab, the same error comes up and it won't allow me to access it through that route either. How else could I find my data directory?

aurimas

Check the default location referenced on that page. I'm actually not sure if on Windows 8 it's different from Windows 7. You can also search your computer for the "zotero.sqlite" file, which will be located inside the Zotero data directory.

rachelf22

I searched for that file but nothing came up. On zotero's page, there is no info for windows8 unfortunately! I tried running a bunch of the options for other OS's but none of them worked....

aurimas

By default, Zotero data directory (named "zotero") is inside the Firefox profile directory. See these instructions to find the Firefox profile directory: http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data

rachelf22

Found it in the firefox profile directory-clicked on zotero folder, then hit properties and unchecked the 'read only' box- it applied it to my computer, i re started my computer and the error signal is no longer there! What did the deletion of the 'read only ' option do? Just curious how it works....and what may have prompted this to suddenly happen when zotero was working previously?
Thanks again!

aurimas

Great! Out of curiosity (and to supplement Zotero documentation), what was the path to the Firefox profile directory (feel free to omit any personally identifiable information)?

What did the deletion of the 'read only ' option do?

Selecting that option on any file on Windows makes that file "read-only". That is, the file can be accessed and the contents of it can be read, but it cannot be modified (i.e. written to). Zotero needs to be able to modify its own database, which is why it was not working. I'm not sure what would have caused this though.

rachelf22

In firefox, click on 'help,' then 'troubleshooting information.' Next, click on the 'show folder' button and it will open up to all files, including the zotero folder. Once in the zotero folder I right clicked on properties than unchecked the read only button. Now that i think of it, my word docs were also being created as read only for some reason. Maybe there's a connection there?