Firefox url shortcut downloads and opens a file

I'm running windows 10 pro build 14986. For example, I go to bing.com. I drag and drop the shortcut from Firefox to the desktop. I double click on the shortcut and it opens File:///C:/Users/Username/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/IE/OB0L0QRF/HGCFGEDM. I can watch it download and open bing.com but with no pictures. Now i thought maybe something was going on with my parents laptop. I went to my VM of the same build for windows and it does the same thing.
Is this a problem with Insider Preview builds because i don't see this on my Windows 10 pro build14393.

I made Microsoft Edge the default. Double clicked on the desktop shotcut and everything works fine. Me thinks MS is up to something. Breaking Firefox install?

How did you make shortcut and is the FF default browser ?
I just made a desktop shortcut with Url as target and it opened in a new instance of FF.

Oh, that's OK, I always make .url shortcuts this way so I can have a name for it as I want.

eascott said:

Hi,

Thanks for responding. To be sure I had a good definition of the problem, I changed my default browser and tried the shortcut procedure with Chrome, Opera and Safari. They all behaved the same way, i.e., they downloaded a file and ran the downloaded local file. The shortcut file in question is created by dragging the the icon on the left of the address bar onto the desktop. This procedure has worked for years but this new behavior started after the latest insider update, i.e., Windows 10 Insider Preview 14986.

All that being said, I need to apologize for wasting your time since I resolved the issue in the interim. I had went into the Programs and Defaults and made sure that all my preferences were restored (Firefox is my default browser for .html, .htm and the corresponding protocols) since WIndows 10 seems to want to change those to Edge every time it gets a chance. However, what I had overlooked, because it had never been an issue in the past, was the setting for a .URL shortcut file itself! When I checked that out I discovered that it was set for Internet Explorer. Changing that to Firefox resolved the problem.

Thanks for your support. I hope my feedback will help someone else resolve this issue without a lot of hassle.

I checked the .url shortcut and all I see is Internet Browser. Can not set the default for .url. The problem still persists.


I took a look at it again. Firefox wasn't listed as a default for .url. I looked for the firefox folder and now it works. Good now at least it's a fix. I should report this in Feedback Hub