Help - Can't download exe or large files from my server

[txyaaj]

I am running my web server as follows:
Apache 2.0.54 (Win32) on home pc with Windows XP
Dynamic IP on Static PC IP
Port 80
DSL
Linksys Router
ZoneAlarm

I am having problem serving executable files or any files larger than 100k (especially jpg's) from my web site.

When trying to download an exe file from the site, it would go through the downloading process but couldn't open the file. It would say "[full file name]... Only part of a ReadProcessMemory or WriteProcessMemory request was completed."

If the file is small, I could zip it (down to 36K)
then download it, then it would work. That's not to say that zipping the file/s would solve the problem either. Because if the zip file is too large the
same problem would occur.

I can't seem to find anything that would point me in the right direction to solve this problem...any help would be greatly appreciated.

Tou Yang
Wisconsin

 

[smah]

To begin to narrow down the problem, does this always happen when downloading to different machines, both inside & outside your local network?

Steve

 

[txyaaj]

Yes, it happens regardless of location - localhost, different machine on same network, and internet.

I though it has something to do with Mimetype settings, but everything in that file seems to be normal when compared to other that I have googled.

Tou

 

[smah]

With that information, my guess would be that it's related to firewall or antivirus. Antivirus scanning can significantly slow down the perceived transmission of compressed files (like zip & jpg).

Steve

 

[txyaaj]

OK. I have tested it with Zone Alarm off, but have not tested with the anti virus checkers turned off. Will try later without firewall or antivirus exe's.

Suppose those are the culprits, what's the work around? Are there any solutions that would be acceptable with Apache? I don't think running a web server without any protection is an option...

Thanks,

Tou

 

[txyaaj]

Steve,

I turned all security protection off and to no avail...

Tou

 

[smah]

Are you able to copy the exact same file from one computer to another within the local network using normal windows file sharing? If the problem is not internet connection related & not due to security software, the causes could be the local network connection to that machine or apache itself. Both of these seem unlikely, but I can't think of any others at the moment.

Steve

 

[txyaaj]

No, I couldn't get my network or shared folder to work between the local machines, but what I find disturbing is the problem seems to be limited to binary files and large zipped files. Text files and small zipped files downloaded just fine.

For examples:

Can't download -

http://hawkingdiary.com/wtconversion.exe

]

But the zipped file download fine -

http://hawkingdiary.com/wtconversion.zip

Another question is how much problem (data loss & reconfiguration) will I face if I reinstall the latest version of Apache to see if the problem would go away? And does Apache retain existing setting files?

Thanks,

Tou

 

[smah]

That's strange, I get both without any problem. When the zip file is extracted, both .exe's are the same size - 148K. When I try to run the non-zipped one, I get the error that you've posted. The zipped one works fine. Using the Windows Properties function on non-zipped one shows no version tabsheet. When the version information isn't available, that means that Windows doesn't think that it's a 32 bit application.

There does seem to be some kind encoding problem, probably in the configuration files. Because when I try to open

http://hawkingdiary.com,

Firefox sees a application/octet-stream (but that might be because your index page has no content type or character set info in the head) & tries to save some random filename, but IE opens the page OK. Check your config files for DefaultType text/plain

As for installing a newer version, I can't answer - I've never used the windows version.

Steve

 

[txyaaj]

My prevous post wasn't clear...That's exactly what I have been experiencing. Both downloaded fine, but only the zipped file will work.

Here's my httpd.conf setting for the default mime type:
#DefaultType text/plain
DefaultType application/octet-stream

It was originally set to "text/plain" but because of the problem, I changed it to the "DefaultType application/octet-stream", but the problem persists...

The mime.types setting is:
"application/octet-stream .bin .dms .lha .lzh .exe .class .so .dll .dmg"...
And "application/zip zip"

Tou