cannot delete zotero.sqlite.tmp

brazooklyn
I got a new Mac and now every time i am using Firefox i keep getting the message "cannot delete zotero.sqlite.tmp". I am about to give up on firefox at its becoming impossible to use it. Any ideas?
  • dstillman
    Did you copy files from the old Mac? The file permissions in your Zotero data directory are likely messed up. All the files need to be owned by your current user account.
  • evelazquez
    Zotero is not what I expected and want to remove it from my computer, but I cannot find it on my Add/Remove. I don't like this program, how do I get rid of it? Please answer ASAP. Thank you!
  • anders_royce
    http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/uninstalling
  • brazooklyn
    How can i change ownership of files?
  • dstillman
    This is beyond the scope of what we can provide support for, but see http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh669.html

    If you still have trouble, try an OS X forum.
  • Bionatsci
    @evelazquez

    Zotero is removed in the same way as any other firefox extension.

    If you are still having trouble please start a new thread (big red button at the top left).
  • hdrabkin
    Today, 12-08-10, I am suddently constantly getting the same message "cannot delete zotero.sqlite.tmp". I have searched the computer and this file does not appear to exist.
    This is a Mac, 10.6.5, using Firefox 3.6.12; was fine yesterday.
    I have run diskutility to fix permissions. The libary appears ok, the zotero directory appears to have the correct read/write permissions, etc.
    what is trying to do the deleting? I assume the message appears because the file does't exist.
  • hdrabkin
    More on this: I decided to do a little "zotero" activity; So I added a few articles from some journal sites via my broswer. Opened word and made a document with citations and created a bib. NOW I can see a zotero.sqlite.tmp file in the zotero directory. Strangley, it is time stamped 10:25 AM although I did thins around 2PM. I still get the "cannot delete zotero.sqlite.tmp" window appearing every once in a while in Firefox.
  • dstillman
    edited December 8, 2010
    There's no way for us to tell you why that file can't be deleted, but you'd get that message when Zotero tries to make a backup of your database, which it does intermittently and on Firefox shutdown.

    Check the file permissions in that directory and on that file. Try disabling any security software you have (though I wouldn't imagine you would have any on a Mac). Is this a local drive or a network drive? (If the latter, that's the problem.)

    But basically you'll just have to figure out why Firefox can't delete that file.
  • samdiener
    Hello,
    I'm getting this same error message every few minutes that firefox is open. I recently "upgraded" to Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4 and never had the problem before the transition. I'm using Zotero 3.0.8.

    I tried re-applying the read-write ownership to all files. I've also done a disk utility check, repaired disk permissions, and repaired the disk, but I get the same error.
    Thanks,
    Sam
  • dstillman
    Sam: Do you have your Zotero data directory in the default location, on a regular hard drive?
  • samdiener
    Hi Dan,
    It is on a regular hard drive, but not quite in the default location, it looks like. Inside my Firefox "Profiles" folder, I have one folder called "default.jav" and another called "NewZoteroFFprofileFolder." Inside that folder is a bunch of folders, including the "zotero" folder. Could this be the problem?
  • dstillman
    You'd have to see for yourself whether that was actually the Zotero data directory in use, but just using another location shouldn't cause the above error. If you have security software on your system, that could do it. If there's an existing zotero.sqlite.tmp file, you can delete it and see if the problem recurs.
  • samdiener
    Hi Dan,
    I couldn't fix this directly, but then Zotero refused to open at all, and
    when I went to install any other Firefox add-on, Firefox refused to allow that. From suggestions in user forums about that error message, folks in mozilla forums recommended doing a Firefox reset (http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/reset-preferences-fix-problems). Firefox reset saves bookmarks and passwords, but gets rid of all add-ons. I reset, re-added Zotero, and set the Zotero preferences to my account. I clicked sync to download all my citations from the Zotero server, which took about an hour but worked just fine. Zotero works again!

    I'm grateful for you responsiveness, Dan. I've had a number of problems over many years and you've always been right there with helpful suggestions about what to try next. I appreciate it.
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