[ARCHIVED] Students unable to download files "download failed - needs authorisation"

[SGarcka]

I hae a student that cannot download some files displaying in one of our Canvas modules. The download bar comes up with the message "download.html Failed - Needs authorisation". I tested this with other student accounts (including my own fake student account) and the same thing happened. On my Admin account, I was able to download the files.

I have gone through and checked the files to make sure they are all published and they are - Has this happened to anyone before? Any advice would be great.

(I'm waiting to hear back from Canvas also)

Thank you

[Ron_Bowman]

@SGarcka -

Just to make sure it hasn't been overlooked (mainly because I do this all the time).  Are the files in question in a folder that has not been published?

If so, then that would be the issue.

I have master courses with everything I need in them and load them into each course each semester - I keep everything unpublished until I actually post the work.  Invariably I forget to publish the folder with the files about 4 or 5 times a semester.

[SGarcka · Accepted solution]

@Ron_Bowman - Thanks for your reply. I did check and they were all published but thanks for flagging this!

I believe I have solved the issue - The downloads were linked to files in other modules, so if the students didn't have access to the other module, they couldn't download it. Seems pretty obvious now I'm writing it out! I asked the tutors to upload their files into the module in question and voila - Everyone can now access.

[Ron_Bowman]

@SGarcka - glad you found the problem.  There are lots of ways similar to what you described to confuse yourself into thinking everything looks good.