I have created a brand new j3 k2 2.71 website.

The default (empty) root attachments saves the files here: /media/k2/attachments

I changed the root attachments folder to "images/podcasts" and have confirmed that k2 creates that folder here: /administrator/images/podcasts (which seems wrong to me but a moot point)

I then goto the frontend to 173.236.80.186/~k2/index.php/test/item/1-1 and the download link again does not work and shows "File does not exist". Here is the actual link: 173.236.80.186/~k2/index.php/test/item/download/1_d45c89266a285c4f573f43938d3c0d6c

My goal is to make the uploaded attachments accessible via the media manager. So I set the root attachments folder to "../images/podcasts" and the files do indeed get saved here: public_html/images/podcasts

However, no matter where the files are saved, I cannot download them on the front end and I just get the "File does not exist" blank page.

The download link in the backend works fine: /administrator/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&task=download&id=3_e39690aff127f7ecf5be98e14f5e1d67

FTP shows that they all do exist: dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4967834/joomla/Screen%20Shot%202017-02-23%20at%209.24.58%20AM.jpg
Permissions on ../images/podcasts is 777

And to confirm, I can use k2-item/media/Media source/"Browse media on server" and select /images/podcasts/3Untitled.m4a And that media plays on the frontend. So the file "does exist".

In addition, the Allvideos "Download (Right-click & select "save link as" or "save target as"...)" link associated with the media source does work which is: 173.236.80.186/~k2//images/podcasts/3Untitled.m4a

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So why do I get the "File does not exist" alert when using the k2 attachments download button?

What are your SEF settings?

I have tried both enabled and disabled in global config. I have also tried with and without htaccess. K2 advanced SEF is disabled, but I have tried both.