Question

When you create a link to an executable file intended for download (like say update.exe), on a web page, IE7 gives the user the option to ‘Run’ or ‘Save’. I don’t want users to be running the update file they should be downloading.

Is it possible to disable the ‘Save’ option on the dialog the IE displays, or even force the download automatically.

Answer 1

EDIT: Sorry, I thought this piece of code would be self-explaining. Given the OP tagged it ASP.NET, I thought we were in the context of ASP.NET.

This could should go in a proxy file that is linked to, instead of directly to the .exe file. The proxy file then sends the .exe file and forces (tries to persuade) the browser into forcing a download of the file, instead of running it directly.

HttpContext.Current.Response.Buffer = false; HttpContext.Current.Response.ClearContent(); HttpContext.Current.Response.ClearHeaders(); HttpContext.Current.Response.AddHeader('Content-disposition', 'attachment; filename=filename.exe'); HttpContext.Current.Response.AddHeader('Content-length', contentLength); HttpContext.Current.Response.AddHeader('Content-Transfer-Encoding', 'binary'); HttpContext.Current.Response.ContentType = 'application/octet-stream'; HttpContext.Current.Response.TransmitFile(filePath);