Safari won't open protected directories

[Macette]

Grrr. My Safari - nobody else's, as far as I can tell - won't open protected web directories. When I go to those URLs, it SHOULD roll down a little authentication screen, asking for username and password, but it doesn't - on any sites that use this login style.

Not only this, but after I've tried accessing these sites, Safari won't load anything else until I've quit and restarted the program.

I've deleted the prefs and Safari folder from the Library, and still no dice. I'm wondering if it's to do with Safari things I've installed in the past (like Saft and SafariNoTimeout), but I've used the Uninstallers these utilities come with and still no dice. Am I going to have to reinstall my WHOLE OPERATING SYSTEM to fix this? That would piss me off.

Anybody got any ideas of what else I could try?

 

[kaylee]

what exactly do you mean by protected directories??

if you are talking about ftp directories and you are running panther (10.3), you should use finder's connect to server function (go->connect to server or alternatively shortcut is key-with-apple-on-it + K).

if it something more like where you need to enter a username and password to get to a page (like where i have to sign in to access some stuff on uni webpages), then for some reason safari is ignoring the "authentication required" or similar status that would be sent back by the website when you request the webpage. In this case, all i can suggest is to make sure nothing is left from the safari add on programs you had installed - check your library folder (under your user/home directory), then try uninstalling and reinstalling safari. Have you checked if this problem is occuring in any other browser, or is it just safari? And do you have a firewall running, maybe its affecting things?? Reinstalling the OS is something i would leave as a last resort. I'm not really an expert or anything on this, just thought i'd try to give you an idea of what steps i would take in your position.

 

[HexMonkey]

Also try repairing permissions if you haven't already.

If that still doesn't fix it, create a new user and see if the problems occur there, which will at least narrow down the problem. If it works in the new user, then the problem is in your user's Library folder, if it doesn't, then the problem is elsewhere.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

what exactly do you mean by protected directories??

if you are talking about ftp directories and you are running panther (10.3), you should use finder's connect to server function (go->connect to server or alternatively shortcut is key-with-apple-on-it + K).

if it something more like where you need to enter a username and password to get to a page (like where i have to sign in to access some stuff on uni webpages), then for some reason safari is ignoring the "authentication required" or similar status that would be sent back by the website when you request the webpage. In this case, all i can suggest is to make sure nothing is left from the safari add on programs you had installed - check your library folder (under your user/home directory), then try uninstalling and reinstalling safari. Have you checked if this problem is occuring in any other browser, or is it just safari? And do you have a firewall running, maybe its affecting things?? Reinstalling the OS is something i would leave as a last resort. I'm not really an expert or anything on this, just thought i'd try to give you an idea of what steps i would take in your position.

kaylee - It's those sites that send "authentication required" status messages to your browser that are affected. Don't forget to check the "all users" library folder (located at [Hard Drive]/Library) for files that add-on applications for Safari may have left behind. Have you tried trashing the Safari cache folder (located in [Your User Directory]/Library/Caches/Safari) or Safari's cookies file (located in [Your User Directory/Library/Cookies/Cookies.plist)?

 

[Rower_CPU]

I've had no issues with Saft and protected directories. You might want to try the "Reset Safari..." command under the Safari menu - that'll empty out all caches, preferences, etc.

 

[Macette]

Thanks for helpful suggestions - I've tried ALL of them, several times, and no luck. Not even the 10.3.4 update has helped. Sigh. VERY annoying.

 

[rainman::|:|]

Are you running a custom firewall? Perhaps authentication uses a different port than 80. Don't remember.

Can you give me a URL to try on my machine, to see if it does it? I've never had problems with them in the past, but perhaps this is a different authentication scheme.

i can see how annoying it would be...

paul

 

[Macette]

I've got three Macs, and it's only my main Mac that's having the problem. The same URLs behave perfectly on the others. No custom firewalls or anything like that - it's a glitch, and I don't know where to begin looking for a fix.

 

[HexMonkey]

Thanks for helpful suggestions - I've tried ALL of them, several times, and no luck. Not even the 10.3.4 update has helped. Sigh. VERY annoying.

Did the problem occur in other users on that computer? Knowing this will narrow down the source of the problem and will help us to find out what's wrong.

 

[Macette]

i only have one user on this computer, and i'm loathe to make another one - i like to keep it clean. but i guess it's better than rebuilding the whole OS from scratch... i'll give it a try and get back.

 

[DillHarris]

Keychain

Some authentication issues refer to keychain... You might try this: Open Keychain Access (in your utilities folder). If the keychain tray isn't sticking out the side, click the "show keychains" icon. If the keychains "X509Anchors" and "X509Certificates" aren't listed, go to FILE, ADD KEYCHAIN. Browse to system/library/keychains and select X509Anchors. Repeat and add X509Certificates.

 

[bupsy]

I am having this same exact problem. However, this problem only began after doing a fresh install of Leopard. I work at a production company and we do many postings within protected directories for clients and it is becoming quite a pain to have to jump over to another machine just to review the posting. Has anyone else had/fixed this issue??

 

[SonomaGreen]

Same issue for me...

I've been having the same issue (since installing Leopard). The problem doesn't seen to persist when I try from a Guest Account so I know it has to do with my particular account.

I've tried many of these other suggested fixes with no luck:

-Trash the "login.keychain" file located in the Keychains in the users Home folder. (Users/yourname/Library/Keychains/)

-Repairing permissions in Disk Utility

-Changing my firewall port to something other than 80.

-Adding X509Anchors and X509Certificates to my keychain.

...unfortunately none of these fix the problem for me.

The only thing that fixes the issue is to "Reset Safari" from the Safari menu. This really sucks because it erases all of my history, passwords, etc. This fix also seems only temporary. After about 3 days the issue starts up again. Joy. Is there ANY other option?

Truly frustrated with this.