Zotero Standalone unavailable - Chrome+Win8x64

charlie80
Hello. I am always getting a "Zotero Standalone is currently unavailable" status in my Chrome browser, even though Zotero Standalone is up and running. I collected a ReportID:349956136 error from Chrome and ReportID:1561180468 from Zotero (the latter, I think, is totally unrelated).

My setup:
Chrome 33.0.1750.117 (Official Build 252094) m
Windows 8 x64
Zotero 4.0.17

Can someone help me to diagnose the problem? If you need more info, please ask.

Thank you for your help.

Carlo
  • charlie80
    Ok, some more info. If I enable debug output logging in the Zotero Connector, and if I try to update the status of Zoero Standalone, I get the following:

    (3)(+0001480): HTTP POST {} to http://127.0.0.1:23119/connector/ping

    (3)(+0001006): Connector: Method ping failed with status 0

    which, I guess, means that something (avast antivirus?) is blocking traffic to localhost. Can anyone confirm this diagnosis? Any experiences on this?
  • dstillman
    edited February 25, 2014
    Sounds right. Try disabling it. If there's a firewall component, and a place to whitelist hosts, make sure 127.0.0.1 can be accessed from itself.
  • charlie80
    Thanks for the feedback. I tried to completely disable Avast, but the problem is still there (weird). I also white-listed both localhost and 127.0.0.1 in avast. I don't know if it's relevant, but a ping both addresses (locahost and 127.0.0.1) gives 0% packet loss.

    I don't think I have any other software blocking my traffic...

    Any further ideas?
  • dstillman
    Well, the better test is just trying to load that above URL (which is Zotero's embedded HTTP server) in the browser. When it's working properly it will say "Endpoint does not support method".
  • dstillman
    Proxy server settings could also interfere here, btw.
  • charlie80
    Thanks Dan. No, that URL does not open in Chrome ("Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to 127.0.0.1:23119"). With IE the behavior is the same. All proxies are disabled. I'm quite lost...
  • charlie80
    sorry, any other idea to chase this problem?
  • adamsmith
    Could be the Windows firewall? Though I'd assume that'd be a more common issue. No ZoneAlarm or the like installed?

    FWIW http://127.0.0.1:23119/connector/ping should give you "Endpoint is not supported by this application"
  • charlie80
    Thank you for replying adamsmith. Following your suggestion, I also turned on full logging on the Windows Firewall for all domains, but there are no blocked connections when I try to access that URL. I have no other things like ZoneAlarm or similar...
  • aurimas
    Verify that Zotero is actually listening on that port. Open cmd and use the "netstat -aon" command to list all listening ports. Post the relevant details here
  • charlie80
    Ok, thanks aurimas. I suppose I should search the output of netstat a line like this

    TCP 127.0.0.1:23119 ...

    but, no, there is no such line (and there is no other line referring port 23119). What next...?
  • charlie80
    OK WAIT! I nailed it: the culprit is the Better Bib(La)TeX exporter!

    Disabling the "export by HTTP" option of this plugin kills all the communication on 127.0.0.1:23119, including obviously the Zotero Connector. Re-enabling the "export by HTTP" option in Zotero Preferences->Better Bib(La)TeX and restarting Zotero Standalone solves the problem:
    * opening http://127.0.0.1:23119/connector/ping now gives me "Endpoint is not supported by this application"
    * Zotero connector finally says: "Zotero standalone is currently available"

    I guess I should report the problem to the developer of the relevant plugin, right?

    Thank you for you guidance and patience guys.

    Carlo

    PS: can someone mark the thread as [solved]?
  • emilianoeheyns
    My apologies for the confusion and causing you guys extra work. I added that option because enabling the http server in Zotero is non-obvious; I hadn't considered some people would want to disable this option and thereby affecting the non-FF plugins. I've added an obnoxious red warning to the preferences warning dialogue if you disable http export.
  • dstillman
    edited February 26, 2014
    When that option is unchecked, can't you just disable your feature in a way that doesn't break Zotero functionality?
  • emilianoeheyns
    That's not the problem; the problem is that I need to *en*able the Zotero-embedded server. I don't think it would be sensible to have 'on' mean 'enable Zotero server and http export' and 'off' meaning 'disable http export but leave Zotero server as-is'. I could go for a tri-state such as
    1. Zotero http on, http export on (=current 'on')
    2. Zotero http off, http export off (=current 'off')
    3. Zotero http on, http export off (disable http export)
    But I think the warning server the same purpose.
  • dstillman
    The embedded server stuff isn't my code, so I may be misunderstanding something, but the server is enabled by default in Standalone. That's how the connectors work. So yes, in Standalone (Zotero.isStandalone == true), you should absolutely leave it enabled when that setting is unchecked.
  • emilianoeheyns
    Ah, like that. I've released a new version that simply hides the checkbox if Zotero is standalone and the httpserver is on. You're right that allowing people to turn the server off in standalone makes it too easy for people to shoot themselves in the foot (and you have to deal with the wound).
  • pgardois
    edited July 3, 2014
    Hi,

    I seem to have a similar problem. Zotero connector works fine in Firefox, but does not work at all in Chrome with Zotero Standalone.
    I tried to disable all other chrome extensions, reinstall the extension from the Zotero website, and update Zotero standalone: nothing seemed to work.

    Zotero Standalone status is always: "Zotero Standalone is currently unavailable".

    The logged output is the following:

    (3)(+0025396): HTTP POST {} to http://127.0.0.1:23119/connector/ping

    (3)(+0000115): Connector: Method ping failed with status 503

    In netstats -aon the output includes a line with
    "TCP 127.0.0.1:23119 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING 12916"

    If I try to connect to the URL: http://127.0.0.1:23119/connector/ping :

    - in Chrome and Explorer, I get an error message ("While trying to retrieve the URL: http://127.0.0.1:23119/connector/ping
    The following error was encountered: Connection to 127.0.0.1 Failed
    The system returned: (111) Connection refused")
    - in Firefox, the answer is correct: Endpoint does not support method

    Anyone can help me with this issue?

    Thanks
    Paolo

    [Sorry - solved by checking "ignore proxy server for local addresses" in the proxy configuration window]
  • dstillman
    edited July 3, 2014
    I'd check your system proxy settings. If that doesn't help, try temporarily disabling security software.

    [Edit: Ah, right then.]
  • krugger
    I had the same problem with zotero connector for chrome (it always said Zotero Standalone was unavailable). As I was connecting ahrough a proxy server at my university network, I thought the problem could be related to this.

    I finally solved it adding the address 127.0.0.1 to the Exception box that can be located in (Windows 7):
    Internet Options > Connections > LAN Configuration > Proxy Server (Advanced Options) > Exceptions

    Maybe it can be helpful for others having a similar problem.

    Best regards.
    Pablo
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