Google Drive: Troubleshooting
This guide provides various troubleshooting hints for downloading from Google Drive.
JDownloader is not adopting the folder structure of my added Google Drive Folders, how to fix this?
This should work fine by default.
If it doesn't, it most likely fails due to wrong settings see this article.
I'm unable to add private folders!
Private folders are supported but in case you're having trouble adding them there are some workarounds you can try.
If you are unsure whether the folder URL you're trying to add to JD is private or public, you can do the following to find this out:
- Open a new private browser tab or log out of your current google account in your existing browser session.
- Open the folder URL again:
If you can still view the folder, it is publicly shared and JD should definitely be able to handle it.
If it doesn't work nevertheless, continue with the next troubleshooting point regarding public folders.
If it is a private folder, Google will usually ask you to login at this point in which case you'd can try the steps down below.
Possible workarounds for adding private folders:
- If it's not your folder:
Ask the person who shared the private folder with you to share it as a public folder (link sharing which is not restricted to a specified google account).
This is safe as long as you're the only person who knows the URL.
If the person does not want to do that, try the next step.
- Import/copy the privately shared folder into your own Google account and then share it as a public folder.
As long as you're the only one who knows the URL to a public folder no one else will be able to access it.
Once you've downloaded it, you can revoke the public URL on the Google Drive website.
- In case you only need a hand full of files of that public folder or it only contains a hand full of files:
Navigate to those and add them one by one to JD
Again: files, not folders! Single file URLs typically look like this: drive.google.com/file/d/xx-yy...
You will be able to download single private files just fine as long as the Google account with the appropriate rights is added to JD!
- If none of this works, you can still manually download that folder:
Open it in your browser, click on the small downward pointing arrow next to the folder name -> Download
This may take a while because google will now serverside create a .zip archive containing all contents for you to download.
This way you can download all contents of a folder with one click.
I'm unable to add a public folder.
Add an API key and try again.
I'm getting error "Plugin outdated".
Add an API key and try again.
I'm getting error "Download disabled by file owner!".
Ask the person who uploaded the file to enable downloads for it or:
If it is a audio/video file and you can stream it in your browser, make sure that stream download fallback in JDownloaders drive.google.com plugin settings is enabled.
It is enabled by default and JD should be able to download such files as long as they are streamable files.
I'm getting error "Too many requests" or "429 too many requests".
- Check if you can download the same file in your browser. If it fails via browser too, all you can do is to wait and try again later.
- If you are getting this error when adding Google Drive links/folders:
Are you adding large amounts of items? If so, change your IP address, add them slower or one by one and check if you are still running into this problem.
- Add your Google Drive account (drive.google.com) to JDownloader and try again.
- If it keeps failing, add an API key and try again.
- If it keeps failing, report this error to our support.
I'm getting error "Download quota reached", "Quota limit reached" or similar.
For most of all publicly shared files, there is an invisible quota limit which will kick in for files with a lot of downloads in a short time.
Google applies this limit in two stages and it is usually temporary though Google does not provide any information on when the limit will be removed again.
Stages of Google Drive download quota limitations:
- Public downloads are being restricted so the file can only be downloaded for users who are logged in in a Google Drive account.
You can easily verify this by opening such a link in a private browser window where you are not logged in:
You will get a similar error message in your browser like in JD.
- For files restricted even further, they cannot be downloaded at all for a certain time - not even via account.
You can easily verify this by opening such a link in your normal browser while being logged in in a Google Drive account:
You will get a similar error message in your browser like in JD.
In this case all you can (officially) do is to wait and try later.
One final possible manual solution is listed down below.
What can I generally do to get around this limit?
- Retry later
- Retry with another IP and/or Google account
- If nothing helps: Try the following last resort method (without JDownloader): Click | Video tutorial: Click
How to setup JD to avoid this limit in the best way?
The default settings should be okay but there are some additional steps you can try:
- Add your Google Drive Account to JDownloader via Settings -> Account Manager -> Add -> drive.google.com
Google sometimes allows logged in users to download files that are urrently not downloadable for anonymous users.
- Add an account usage rule to force JD to never attempt downloads without account.
- [Optional] For users who have added an API Key to JDownloader:
If you're often downloading quota limited, got to Settings -> Plugins -> drive.google.com and be sure to use the following setting:
- API Download mode: Use website if account is available and file is quota limited
I'm getting error "file not found" when trying to download or in the linkgrabber.
or also: Error "file not found" when trying to download private files.
- Double-check if that file is really online by opening the link in your browser.
If it is not online, you will not be able to download it with JDownloader.
- If it is a private file:
- If you've added an API Key: Delete it and try again. You cannot add/download private files in API mode!
- If you haven't yet added your Google Drive account to JDownloader, add it and try again -> Account is required to download private files!
If it keeps failing:
Delete the link in JD, create a new public share link for the same file and check if you can download it now.
You can revoke public share links after downloading them using the Google Drive website.
Public share links are nearly as safe as private links. As long as you do not share them with anyone else, only you will be able to access- and download them.
If you can't create a public share link because the file is shared by another user: Well then there is nothing you can do except to download that file manually via browser.
- If it's a public file-link: Add an API key and try again.
I'm getting error "Skipped - Account is missing"?
This error can happen when you're trying to:
- Add a private folder without the required permissions (e.g. you can vide the folder with Google account A but in JDownloader you've added another 'Google account B'.
- Download a private file without the required permissions
- Download a file which was public before but is now private
Solution:
Add your Google Drive account to JDownloader and try again. See Settings -> Account Manager
Also make sure that this account has the required permissions to view/download the file(s)/folder(s) you want.
JDownloader is downloading lower quality audio/video streams instead of the original file, how to fix this?
- Go to Settings -> Plugins -> drive.google.com
- Make sure that "Preferred video quality" is set to "Original file".
- In some cases, JDownloader may download the stream of an audio/video file as fallback.
If you do not want this to happen, you can disable those fallbacks, see settings 'Allow stream download as fallback if ...'
Important note:
If you disable all of those stream download fallback options and if you're trying to download an item which can't be downloaded officially but can only be streamed, you will get an error message instead!
My login cookies keep expiring, how can I fix this?
Most likely you did not follow the cookie login instructions closely.
Although these instructions might only recommend using a separate browser profile or private tab to obtain the login cookies, for Google (Drive) login this is mandatory otherwise the cookies in JDownloader may expire very quickly.
Reference to our public support forums where this has been thoroughly tested and verified: Click
Tags: Google Drive, GDrive
