I have tried dozens of times to download the game software. Each time, it transfers a few dozen MB, then dies.
There are numerous problems with this website (besides the fact that the layout and design stink). Is this inability to download the game part of these issues?
About an hour ago, I logged onto the Foldit site using
Microsoft Edge and went to the Download page at https://fold.it/play.
The Download page said I was signed in as jeff101, so Step 1 was complete.
I clicked on the Windows 7/8/10 icon for Step 2 and it started to download Foldit-win_x64.exe.
The first time it got to about 199 MB worth and then stopped, saying "Couldn't download - Network issue".
The second time it was making a file called "Unconfirmed 863378.crdownload" in my laptop's
Downloads directory. This file grew to at least 299 MB, but a few minutes later when I looked
at the https://fold.it/play page, it said Foldit-win_x64.exe couldn't download - Network issue.
My computer is a Dell Inspiron 3543 laptop w/64-bit op system & x64-based processor
running Windows 10 Home Edition version 21H2. What do you think is going wrong?
Do you think my anti-virus is blocking installation, so I need to tell it that https://fold.it is a safe site?
Also, how large should the fully-downloaded Foldit-win_x64.exe file be? Could I use a Foldit-win_x64.exe
file from an old install before the website was upgraded instead? How have other people installed Foldit
since the website was updated? Please help.
Thanks!
I had to stat several times that this software is safe (by clicking on "more" or "advanced" buttons).
I could download, but installation failed (see other discussions)
My guess is that this is network instability on the part of our servers that is interrupting the download before it can finish. We have had intermittent network problems since launch that didn't appear on the dev.fold.it test site. We are still in the process of tracking these down.
The "Unconfirmed 863378.crdownload" is the browser's temporary file for a partial download before it is finished.
I doubt it is an antivirus blocking your download, as I suspect this would at least wait until the file was completely downloaded. What anti-virus are you using?
For completeness:
The total size of the windows installer download is 398,016 KB
The md5sum of the installer is: 406ee51cc6fb086038f3c3d678e18c10
I had to disable "Smart Screen for Microsoft Edge" as it was preventing the download.
My download speed is apparently on the slow side. Some players have been able to download the entire 398 MB Foldit-win_x64.exe file in 18-20 seconds, but on my machine, one failed download took at least 10 minutes to reach 199 MB, another took 12 minutes to reach 242 MB, and another took 13 minutes to reach 299 MB. Maybe my personal solution will be to take a flash drive to someone else's house and download the Foldit-win_x64.exe file onto my flash drive there.
Files like "Unconfirmed 863378.crdownload" in the downloads directory have temporary names assigned by Windows Defender SmartScreen. You get these files when downloading using Microsoft Edge as your browser.
I was able to simply rename the crdownload file to foldit-win-x64.edge.exe and run it.
In Edge, you can open the downloads list with control+j, or by clicking on the download icon at the top right. For each download entry, you'll see a "…" menu, which gives more options when clicked. Then you can confirm you want to keep the download, although there is a series of steps involved.
I used Firefox (mozilla.org), and don't have these problems. But when I try to run the installer (Foldit-win_x64.exe), I get a Windows Defender popup. For that one you click "More info", then "Run anyway" on the following screen.
Most of these complications are due to Foldit not being a signed application. Having a digitally signed install program might make life a little easier.
Thanks to @jeff101 for prompting this investigation. I'll post some screenshots over in discussions.
See https://fold.it/forum/discussion/download-with-windows-defender for screenshots of what happens with Windows Defender SmartScreen. I didn't do anything to disable SmartScreen, but was able to click through warnings to get the download.