Unable to verify server for syncing with WebDAV

howard.matthews
Hi, I have just reinstalled Zotero Standalone for Windows after having used it a couple of years ago.
I used to sync with Box before with no problems.
I now have an account with Yandex.Disk in addition, which I would prefer to use for WebDAV syncing.

But when I set my Zotero Preferences for either Yandex.Disk or Box and click on Verify Server the following message appears:

"An unknown error occurred.
Please check your file sync settings or contact your WebDAV server administrator.
HTTP 412"

If I can get the sync with Yandex.Disk working I will be uninstalling Box, but to get anything working at all would be a godsend. I am positive my settings are correct for each.

Can you offer any help please? (Not too technical, thanks!)

  • dstillman
    edited February 10, 2018
    If you can provide a Debug ID for the Verify Server attempt we might be able to tell you more, but this is likely going to be something you'll need to take up with them.
  • howard.matthews
    Thank you for the quick response!
    Debug ID for an attempt at verifying https://webdav.yandex.ru/zotero
    is D521619119
    and for https://dav.box.dav/zotero
    is D1016972657

    You say "this is likely going to be something you'll need to take up with them" but it is my assumption that if I am getting the same error with more than one provider, something else is the cause.
  • dstillman
    edited February 10, 2018
    Neither of this is Box (though Box is currently having trouble), and they're unrelated errors.

    Koofr:
    (1)(+0000080): HTTP OPTIONS https://****@app.koofr.net/dav/zotero/ failed with status code 412:

    WebDAV cannot be accessed from web browsers to prevent hotlinking.

    Yandex:
    (1)(+0000403): HTTP OPTIONS https://***@wedav.yandex.ru/zotero/ failed with status code 403:

    <html>
    <head><title>403 Forbidden</title></head>
    <body bgcolor="white">
    <center><h1>403 Forbidden</h1></center>
    <hr><center>nginx</center>
    </body>
    </html>
    The first one you'd definitely need to talk to them about. The second one is what you would get if you entered your username or password incorrectly.
  • howard.matthews
    Thanks again.
    Interesting that Koofr came up, because I did try that yesterday before reaching the conclusion that it is not suitable for sync with WebDAV. They do actually say in their Help that "this type of connection does not allow you to synchronise data."

    But I definitely had my Box credentials filled in for the first one. Could the problem be that for some reason the Koofr details are somehow stuck in the system and I can't use any other WebDAV provider unless they are cleared?
  • dstillman
    Clear the WebDAV info completely, restart Zotero, and try again. (But again, you may have trouble with Box until their issue is resolved.)
  • howard.matthews
    I cleared all of the WebDAV info as you advised, closed everything, cleaned with CCleaner, did a restart of the computer, and cleaned with CCleaner again.

    Now when I enter WebDAV details for EITHER Yandex or Box I get an error message saying 'Please enter a WebDAV URL'.

    The URLs I enter are https://webdav.yandex.ru/zotero and https://dav.box.com/dav/zotero as shown on this List of WebDAV Services:
    https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/webdav_services
  • dstillman
    edited February 10, 2018
    Press Enter instead of clicking Verify Server directly. There's a bug some people are seeing where it doesn't seem to take properly otherwise, though for me just clicking Verify Server a second time does the trick.
  • howard.matthews
    Yes! Pressing 'Enter' seems to be the solution!

    Now it is telling me it can't reach the Box server, so clearly there is still a problem with Box (I've seen the thread that was started about that) while my user name and/or password are not recognised for Yandex.Disk, which is something I will have to sort out myself or take up with them.

    Even though I am still not connected, that is not your fault. Many thanks for the excellent support.
  • dstillman
    OK, sorry for the trouble. We'll try to figure out what's going on with that button.
  • dstillman
    OK, this is fixed for the next version.
Sign In or Register to comment.