Download a file from a different internal server than the site is running from

Question

I need to download a file from an internal server different than the one the site will be sitting on. I've tried the following...

<a href="javascript:Start('file://servername/path/filename.txt')>

<a href="//servername/path/filename.txt" download="filename.txt">

<a href="\\servername\path\filename.txt" download="filename.txt">

<a href="https://servername/path/filename.txt" download="filename.txt">

<a href="ftp://servername/path/filename.txt" download="filename.txt">

None seem to be working. Any ideas?

What do you mean by internal server? Web server? FTP server? File server? Have you tried `href="file://servername...`. Is the problem with the path or the download attribute? — j08691, Mar 12 '20 at 18:16
server where the file is accessed via smb or in windows \\servername\path\filename, and yeah I tried that and it isn't working. — Fiddle Freak, Mar 12 '20 at 18:19

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 12 '20 at 18:16

0

The documentation says that the download tag only works :

for same-origin URLs, or the blob: and data: schemes.

So you cannot make it work with the download tag

answered Mar 12 '20 at 18:16

Seblor

Thanks, is there a good way to make it work without the download tag, or must the file be stored in the same website directory? – Fiddle Freak Mar 12 '20 at 18:17
You can always try to find workaround with JavaScript and by using the blob scheme with some fiddling. – Seblor Mar 12 '20 at 18:18

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 12 '20 at 18:17

Browsers generally block access to file: URLs from pages loaded over http: (or https:)
Linking to files over Windows File & Print Sharing requires file: URLs
The download attribute doesn't have any effect cross-origin

So:

Use an http: (or https:) scheme URL
Make sure an HTTP server is running on the target server
Use the Content-Disposition HTTP response header to mark the file as for download

2 Answers2