Can't sync; probs w/ certificates, XML files, etc.?
Hello all,
After about seven years of no problems, my Zotero has abruptly stopped letting me sync. I'm using Zotero Standalone for Windows 10. When I click on the sync icon, it doesn't even make a full rotation of the little circular arrow before it stops trying.
When I click on the red error icon, it tells me, "Error connecting to server. Check your internet connection." My internet connection is fine.
When I click on "Report Error," it gives me the extremely long textdump that you see below the closing.
When I then click "Next" to send in the report, I get another error, "Error: Invalid response from repository."
When I try upgrading Zotero to fix the problem, after downloading the setup file and running it, I get "Update Failed. There were problems checking for, downloading, or installing this update. Zotero could not be updated because: Update XML file malformed (200)."
Turning off Windows Defender's real-time protection, and adding exclusions for Zotero, doesn't help.
Any thoughts on how to get past this?
Thanks in advance,
Andrew
[JavaScript Error: "Error connecting to server. Check your Internet connection." {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/sync.js" line: 2595}]
[JavaScript Error: "Error connecting to server. Check your Internet connection." {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/sync.js" line: 652}]
[JavaScript Error: "repo.zotero.org:443 uses an invalid security certificate.
The certificate is not trusted because the issuer certificate is unknown.
The server might not be sending the appropriate intermediate certificates.
An additional root certificate may need to be imported.
Error code: SEC_ERROR_UNKNOWN_ISSUER
"]
[JavaScript Error: "sync.zotero.org:443 uses an invalid security certificate.
The certificate is not trusted because the issuer certificate is unknown.
The server might not be sending the appropriate intermediate certificates.
An additional root certificate may need to be imported.
{AW: I deleted three more identical repetitions of this last couple of paragraphs.}
Error code: SEC_ERROR_UNKNOWN_ISSUER
"]
[JavaScript Error: "Error connecting to server. Check your Internet connection." {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/sync.js" line: 2595}]
[JavaScript Error: "Error connecting to server. Check your Internet connection." {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/sync.js" line: 652}]
[JavaScript Error: "repo.zotero.org:443 uses an invalid security certificate.
The certificate is not trusted because the issuer certificate is unknown.
The server might not be sending the appropriate intermediate certificates.
An additional root certificate may need to be imported.
{AW: I deleted five more identical repetitions of this last couple of paragraphs. The two repeated blocks were interspersed with each other, in no particular order.}
Error code: SEC_ERROR_UNKNOWN_ISSUER
"]
version => 4.0.29.17, platform => Win32, oscpu => Windows NT 10.0; WOW64, locale => en-US, appName => Zotero, appVersion => 4.0.29.17, extensions => Zotero LibreOffice Integration (3.5.12.SA.4.0.29.17, extension), Zotero Word for Windows Integration (3.5.6.SA.4.0.29.17, extension), Adobe Acrobat (17.9.20044.25828, plugin), Google Update (1.3.33.5, plugin), Photo Gallery (16.4.3528.331, plugin), Microsoft Office 2010 (14.0.4730.1010, plugin), Microsoft Office 2010 (14.0.4761.1000, plugin), McAfee SecurityCenter (15.4.4031.0, plugin), Java(TM) Platform SE 8 U131 (11.131.2.11, plugin), Java Deployment Toolkit 8.0.1310.11 (11.131.2.11, plugin), Intel® Identity Protection Technology (4.0.68.0, plugin), Intel® Identity Protection Technology (4.0.68.0, plugin), Picasa (3.0.0.0, plugin), Zoom launcher - 3.0.1 (4.0.25958.306, plugin)
After about seven years of no problems, my Zotero has abruptly stopped letting me sync. I'm using Zotero Standalone for Windows 10. When I click on the sync icon, it doesn't even make a full rotation of the little circular arrow before it stops trying.
When I click on the red error icon, it tells me, "Error connecting to server. Check your internet connection." My internet connection is fine.
When I click on "Report Error," it gives me the extremely long textdump that you see below the closing.
When I then click "Next" to send in the report, I get another error, "Error: Invalid response from repository."
When I try upgrading Zotero to fix the problem, after downloading the setup file and running it, I get "Update Failed. There were problems checking for, downloading, or installing this update. Zotero could not be updated because: Update XML file malformed (200)."
Turning off Windows Defender's real-time protection, and adding exclusions for Zotero, doesn't help.
Any thoughts on how to get past this?
Thanks in advance,
Andrew
[JavaScript Error: "Error connecting to server. Check your Internet connection." {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/sync.js" line: 2595}]
[JavaScript Error: "Error connecting to server. Check your Internet connection." {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/sync.js" line: 652}]
[JavaScript Error: "repo.zotero.org:443 uses an invalid security certificate.
The certificate is not trusted because the issuer certificate is unknown.
The server might not be sending the appropriate intermediate certificates.
An additional root certificate may need to be imported.
Error code: SEC_ERROR_UNKNOWN_ISSUER
"]
[JavaScript Error: "sync.zotero.org:443 uses an invalid security certificate.
The certificate is not trusted because the issuer certificate is unknown.
The server might not be sending the appropriate intermediate certificates.
An additional root certificate may need to be imported.
{AW: I deleted three more identical repetitions of this last couple of paragraphs.}
Error code: SEC_ERROR_UNKNOWN_ISSUER
"]
[JavaScript Error: "Error connecting to server. Check your Internet connection." {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/sync.js" line: 2595}]
[JavaScript Error: "Error connecting to server. Check your Internet connection." {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/sync.js" line: 652}]
[JavaScript Error: "repo.zotero.org:443 uses an invalid security certificate.
The certificate is not trusted because the issuer certificate is unknown.
The server might not be sending the appropriate intermediate certificates.
An additional root certificate may need to be imported.
{AW: I deleted five more identical repetitions of this last couple of paragraphs. The two repeated blocks were interspersed with each other, in no particular order.}
Error code: SEC_ERROR_UNKNOWN_ISSUER
"]
version => 4.0.29.17, platform => Win32, oscpu => Windows NT 10.0; WOW64, locale => en-US, appName => Zotero, appVersion => 4.0.29.17, extensions => Zotero LibreOffice Integration (3.5.12.SA.4.0.29.17, extension), Zotero Word for Windows Integration (3.5.6.SA.4.0.29.17, extension), Adobe Acrobat (17.9.20044.25828, plugin), Google Update (1.3.33.5, plugin), Photo Gallery (16.4.3528.331, plugin), Microsoft Office 2010 (14.0.4730.1010, plugin), Microsoft Office 2010 (14.0.4761.1000, plugin), McAfee SecurityCenter (15.4.4031.0, plugin), Java(TM) Platform SE 8 U131 (11.131.2.11, plugin), Java Deployment Toolkit 8.0.1310.11 (11.131.2.11, plugin), Intel® Identity Protection Technology (4.0.68.0, plugin), Intel® Identity Protection Technology (4.0.68.0, plugin), Picasa (3.0.0.0, plugin), Zoom launcher - 3.0.1 (4.0.25958.306, plugin)
I'm currently working through the recommended steps given in the documentation.
1. I rebooted everything. Nope.
2. Time zone & clock correct. Yup.
3. "Nothing to see here."
4. Following the instructions at https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/site_certificate_info, I found that the certificate issuer is "CovenantEyesProxy(44895)."
I will contact C.E. support and see if they know of any compatibility issues. I have been using C.E. for longer than I have been using Zotero, so if this is the issue, it is certainly a new and unexpected one.
By the way, I also turned off McAfee real-time scanning and firewall, rebooted Zotero, and tried again... nothing.
I'm not in an institutional environment, but perhaps Covenant Eyes works similarly to that sort of environment.
Anyway, I have tried the certificate override instructions to which you linked, to no avail. I don't mind my connection to Zotero being intercepted or monitored, by the way. Also, I don't have a clue what a WebDAV server is (despite looking it up on Wikipedia and reading the jargony definition) but I don't think I'm using a WebDAV.
I did go to the trouble of downloading and installing Firefox and then trying to go to https://sync.zotero.org, and I get a big error message that says,
"Your connection is not secure. The owner of sync.zotero.org has configured their website improperly. To protect your information from being stolen, Firefox has not connected to this website. This site uses HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) to specify that Firefox may only connect to it securely. As a result, it is not possible to add an exception for this certificate."
So I cannot follow the instructions given by the certificate override instructions to "accept the certificate, and then copy the cert_override.txt file from the Firefox profile directory to the Zotero profile directory."
So... what now?
Thanks for your help!
Any other suggestions?
I've sent the CE support team the URL to this comment thread, so perhaps they can help. I will reiterate that I've had Covenant Eyes a lot longer than I've had Zotero, and I've had Zotero for actually I think eight years, and the combination has never been a problem for me until now. Not sure why it's started clashing suddenly.
I went to C:\Users\Andrew\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\wnanma5l.default, and this is what I found:
cache2
jumpListCache
OfflineCache
safebrowsing
startupCache
thumbnails
directoryLinks.json
frequencyCap.json
and when I search the folder for anything with "cert" in the title, it comes up blank.
What am I doing wrong?
Thank you for your patience in helping me with this. Much appreciated!