Hi,

Since yesterday, when I start Limewire 2.8.5, a dialog box appears and says:

Your save directory is not valid. It may have deleted, you may not have permission to write it, or there may be another problem. Please choose a different directory.

My directory exists and I have the permission to write into. I tried to choose a different directory but I have the same error. I tried also to reinstall Limewire.

Does someone knows something about this problem?

I use Windows XP.

Thanks.

I downloaded a few songs this morning but when I went to open the program up this afternoon I have the same message as the previous poster. I too have XP. I downloaded the 2.8.6 version.

Can someone please help. I see that it has been a few days since the other message was posted and no reply.

Thanking you in advance for your help. PLEASE PLEASE HELP

I encountered the same problem three days ago, after having ran LimeWire 2.8.6 Pro on my Windows XP Dell Dimension for some time without any problems. I became aware of this issue when some, but not all, of the files I was downloading during a particular session ended up in the wrong folder. Every attempt at restoring my previous Save Directory - which I have been using for 15 months - were futile. Removing and re-installing the software did not solve the issue, nor did shutting off the Cookie controls of my ZoneAlarm Pro firewall.

I just e-mailed LimeWire Support to inquire about this issue. As soon as I am informed of a fix, I will share its details here.

Hi, I too received this message. I played around with attempting to get a new directory file to save to. It worked once when I made up a new file folder in the limewire folder. It doesn't want to work again.

I just upgraded to the newest version and that didn't fix it. I uninstalled the old version and then installed the new version again. That didn't fix it.

This error shows up at the time that Limewire wants to install. It also does not show up on the "control alt delete" list of running programs. (Just more info for the guys who want to know).

And then the odd thing that happened before this began: I remember a flash of a window that popped up while using Limewire just before this new "save dir not valid" error window pops up-- I just cannot remember what it said as I was rushing out the door. Anyone else remember? It was something to do with certification or authorization or something like that. Like the layperson idiot I am, I clicked ok, reading it to mean "whatever", and tried to shutdown asap as I was in rush.

I don't recall the appearance of any pop-up windows or error messages prior to encountering this issue. In fact, I only became aware of the problem when I couldn't find some of the files I had downloaded in the expected folder. One would think that performing a clean installation of the software might have solved any problems any such error alert might have brought to the user's attention.

I received a reply from Limewire support, with the usual "uninstall all versions of Limewire, their installers, and desktop icons, and download the multi-language installer. Reinstall the software." (I swear, these people must work for McAfee.com, too. That's essentially their standard reply regardless of the issue one brings to their attention!) Unfortunately, that trick didn't work. I even shut down my firewall's privacy controls during installation, in case the latter was preventing Limewire from creating the appropriate cookie, but the problem was not solved. (In case you're wondering, I am running ZoneAlarm Pro 3.5.)

My Limewire Pro license will expire in a few days, and I have decided not to renew it, mainly as a result of this experience, as well as based on the fact that two inquiries I have made regarding the release of a "new and improved" Limewire version 3 within the six month period since my last renewal have been ignored. (The claim is now being repeated, too.) With no significant improvements, poor support, and no way to get a refund, the only thing Limewire might be getting is a complaint to the Better Business Bureau rather than my continued support. I have promoted this software and purchased licenses for over a year, but I am beginning to question whether continued support is warranted.

I have the same problem. I am running Windoze 98 though. I noticed that I have zero files shown as being shared. I thought I would add my music directory. That's when I started getting that error.

I had this problem, too. I'm still not sure what caused it but I know how to fix it.
Java/LW thinks the given save directoy is write protected, which is not really true (you can copy files in it on Windows at least, though when looking at the Properties it shows it as being write protected, which doesn't mean too much because I still use FAT32 which doesn't have real permissions and all folders show up as write protected - at least for me).
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Anyway... make a new dir, move the contents of your old save directory over to the new dir, delete the old dir and rename the new dir to the name of the old one.
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Takes like 10 secs and should work.

At first I thought my Linux changed the permissions on my fat drive but now that many ppl get this problem I guess somewhere along the 2.8.x line LW fussed around with the permissions of the save directory.

I am having the same problem as those described here. I have tried everything including the last recommendation but nothing has fixed it. Although the above solution I had tried on my own prior to reading it a couple days ago and it worked for a half day but then failed again and it hasn't worked again. I wonder if the law or some other individual has placed a worm in the app to keep people from using the service?

It is highly unlikely that this issue is the result of someone altering the Limewire code as to prevent the downloading of copyrighted material. Why? Because the issue in question does not affect the downloading process at all, but rather the place in your hard drive in which downloaded files end up. Moreover, it's not as if you can't figure out where your files are - all you need to do is click on the Tools tab of the Limewire Pro interface, then on Options. Your Save Directory will be listed. It is reasonable to assume that if Big Brother didn't want you to enjoy downloaded files, they'd make it significantly harder for you to find them!

Because the problem with the Save Directory appeared around the time Windows XP's Service Pack 1 was released, a more likely explanation is some sort of software compatibility issue.