Firefox application associations not working

Question

No matter what changes i make to file associations (actions) in the 'Applications' tab in Firefox, they're totally ignored.
For example, i set .wmv and .avi files to open with 'smplayer' but when i download a file and double-click on it (through the 'Downloads' window), it keeps opening with Totem player.

The default file associations through nautilus ('open with' tab) work fine, i.e. i've set smplayer as the default player and when i double-click a video file it open correctly.

I've tried to delete and recreate mimetypes.rdf but that didn't help.

Any ideas on what else should i check?

Answer 1

The fix

This fixes it for me:

cd .local/share/applications/
ln -s mimeapps.list defaults.list

and finally, restart Firefox. When it comes up again, its Download Manager should invoke the correct program (as specified in the .list files referenced above).

Details

Firefox (up through trunk nightlies as of this post) currently uses GnomeVFS API to ask "What app should I use to open files with this mimetype?" However, GnomeVFS has become deprecated in favor of GIO.

Nautilus (I'm looking at ver 2.32.2.1) now uses GIO to register user-specified default handler-applications (like smplayer in your case). GIO and GnomeVFS use different files to manage their settings, but the files are apparently in the same format (at least similar enough for the above "ln" hack to work for me. :))

(I've investigated this in a bit more detail on a Mozilla bug report.)

Answer 2

There is nothing to do with firefox.Because the file is already downloaded. if you want to open downloaded .wmv and .avi files with smplayer you can do it like this. right click on any .wmv file and select 'Open With' --> 'Other Application...' and select your favorite application(In this case smplayer) from the list and check the 'Remember this application for "WMV video" files' check box. do the same for .avi files also.

Or if you want to open files from firefox's save dialog box with your desired application just follow this article: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Managing%20file%20types

Hope this helps

Answer 3

The Applications tab in Firefox preferences controls how to play embedded or linked content, not downloaded files. To change the application that opens a specific mime type via download manager, close Firefox then delete the mimeTypes.rdf file from your profile, then open Firefox again and double click the file in the download manager. It will prompt for the application to be used. Choose /usr/bin/smplayer, then tick the option to remember your choice.

Answer 4

I know this question is now more than one year old but I had now the same problem with Firefox and found the solution after a long fight with a lot of editing and changing.

And I am so happy about it that I want to share it :)

The solution (im my case) is quite simple:

All files that are downloaded with firefox and opened with a click in the download window seemed to be opend by ??? cuz it was not handled with the firefox settings and not with mimeTypes.rdf ... . It is handled by Nautilus. (although I do not know why)

So just start Nautilus ... look for a filetype that is not handled by firefox correctly - right click on it - properties - open with -> choose the application you want this filestype to be opened with ... done.

From now on Firefox will open all files with the wanted app when clicking on it in the download window of firefox.