Aspera Connect won't load without Firefox compatibility
Posted: 2015-09-23, 12:17
I'm having a problem with Pale Moon v25.7.0 (32-bit) launching Aspera Connect, on Windows 7 64-bit SP1.
Here are the steps to reproduce it:
Download and install Aspera Connect v3.6.1 from http://downloads.asperasoft.com/en/downloads/8?list
(I used Typical install, but I don't think it matters.)
Install Pale Moon 25.7.0. (Standard install, set as default browser, on first run Don't import anything. There was no existing PM installation or profile, so we have a default profile.)
Note that by default Pale Moon has Firefox Compatibility mode enabled.
Ensure that Aspera Connect is NOT loaded - when it's loaded you can see the "C" icon in the Windows taskbar notification tray. Right-click that icon and Quit to unload it - the icon will disappear from the tray.
With Firefox Compatibility enabled, go to http://demo.asperasoft.com/ - that page has a link to their demo server, and the username and password.
Click "Login to test page" and enter the username and password (asperaweb, demoaspera). Tell Pale Moon to remember the password (else you have to re-enter several times).
At this point you'll see that Aspera Connect is started: the icon appears in the system tray, and you may see a notification appear briefly on the top of the browser page.
Click aspera-test-dir-tiny, then select a file and download it. You may get prompts to connect to another server and to enter the password again, then the file downloads successfully.
Now disable Firefox compatibility mode in Pale Moon. Close Pale Moon. Aspera Connect is still running, so right-click the tray icon and Quit to unload it.
Restart Pale Moon and go to http://demo.asperasoft.com/ again. Click "Login to the test page" and supply username/password. The web page reports that Aspera Connect is unable to launch, and you cannot download anything.
Notice that in the Pale Moon address bar, to the left of the URL is the "half shield" icon, apparently indicating that the page includes some unsecured elements. Clicking that icon and "disabling protection on that page" does not solve the problem. However if I re-enable Firefox compatibility and press F5 to refresh the page, the problem goes away and Aspera Connect loads.
Obviously enabling Firefox mode solves the problem (as does using User Agent Overrider v0.2.4.1 from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-Us/firefo ... overrider/ to fake the identifier string) but I'd rather advertise Pale Moon's existence than hide behind a fake User Agent string - the more web servers that can be made to work with Pale Moon the better, as I'm sure you'll agree.
Remember when running repeated tests that Aspera Connect stays loaded even if the browser closes, so be sure to unload it manually if you want to re-test that it does get loaded on demand.
Here are the steps to reproduce it:
Download and install Aspera Connect v3.6.1 from http://downloads.asperasoft.com/en/downloads/8?list
(I used Typical install, but I don't think it matters.)
Install Pale Moon 25.7.0. (Standard install, set as default browser, on first run Don't import anything. There was no existing PM installation or profile, so we have a default profile.)
Note that by default Pale Moon has Firefox Compatibility mode enabled.
Ensure that Aspera Connect is NOT loaded - when it's loaded you can see the "C" icon in the Windows taskbar notification tray. Right-click that icon and Quit to unload it - the icon will disappear from the tray.
With Firefox Compatibility enabled, go to http://demo.asperasoft.com/ - that page has a link to their demo server, and the username and password.
Click "Login to test page" and enter the username and password (asperaweb, demoaspera). Tell Pale Moon to remember the password (else you have to re-enter several times).
At this point you'll see that Aspera Connect is started: the icon appears in the system tray, and you may see a notification appear briefly on the top of the browser page.
Click aspera-test-dir-tiny, then select a file and download it. You may get prompts to connect to another server and to enter the password again, then the file downloads successfully.
Now disable Firefox compatibility mode in Pale Moon. Close Pale Moon. Aspera Connect is still running, so right-click the tray icon and Quit to unload it.
Restart Pale Moon and go to http://demo.asperasoft.com/ again. Click "Login to the test page" and supply username/password. The web page reports that Aspera Connect is unable to launch, and you cannot download anything.
Notice that in the Pale Moon address bar, to the left of the URL is the "half shield" icon, apparently indicating that the page includes some unsecured elements. Clicking that icon and "disabling protection on that page" does not solve the problem. However if I re-enable Firefox compatibility and press F5 to refresh the page, the problem goes away and Aspera Connect loads.
Obviously enabling Firefox mode solves the problem (as does using User Agent Overrider v0.2.4.1 from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-Us/firefo ... overrider/ to fake the identifier string) but I'd rather advertise Pale Moon's existence than hide behind a fake User Agent string - the more web servers that can be made to work with Pale Moon the better, as I'm sure you'll agree.
Remember when running repeated tests that Aspera Connect stays loaded even if the browser closes, so be sure to unload it manually if you want to re-test that it does get loaded on demand.