Download files from the web

The new browser recommended by Microsoft is here

Get speed, security, and privacy with the new Microsoft Edge .

There are several types of files you can download from the web—documents, pictures, videos, apps, extensions and toolbars for your browser, among others. When you select a file to download, Internet Explorer will ask what you want to do with the file. Here are some things you can do, depending on the type of file you’re downloading:

Open the file to view it, but don’t save it to your PC.

Save the file on your PC in the default download location. After Internet Explorer runs a security scan and finishes downloading the file, you can choose to open the file, the folder it’s stored in, or view it in Download Manager.

Save as a different file name, type, or download location on your PC.

Run the app, extension, or other file type. After Internet Explorer runs a security scan, the file will open and run on your PC.

Cancel the download and go back to browsing the web.

You can also save smaller files—like single pictures—to your PC. Right-select the picture, link, or file you want to save, and then choose Save picture or Save target as.

Find files you’ve downloaded on your PC

Download Manager keeps track of pictures, documents, and other files you download from the web. Files you’ve downloaded are automatically saved in the Downloads folder. This folder is usually located on the drive where Windows is installed (for example, C:\users\your name\downloads). You can always move downloads from the Downloads folder to other places on your PC.

To view files you’ve downloaded while using Internet Explorer, open Internet Explorer, select the Tools button, and then select View downloads. You’ll be able to see what you’ve downloaded from the web, where these items are stored on your PC, and choose actions to take on your downloads.

Change the default download folder on your PC

Open Internet Explorer, select the Tools button, and then select View downloads.

In the View Downloads dialog box, select Options in the lower-left.

Choose a different default download location by selecting Browse and then selecting OK when you’re done.

Why some files won’t open in Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer uses add-ons such as Adobe Reader to view some files in the browser. If a file that needs an add-on won’t open, you might have an older version of the add-on, which needs to be updated.

About download and security warnings

When you download a file, Internet Explorer checks for clues that the download is malicious or potentially harmful to your PC. If Internet Explorer identifies a download as suspicious, you’ll be notified so you can decide whether or not to save, run, or open the file. Not all files you’re warned about are malicious, but it’s important to make sure you trust the site you’re downloading from, and that you really want to download the file.

If you see a security warning that tells you the publisher of this program couldn’t be verified, this means that Internet Explorer doesn’t recognize the site or organization asking you to download the file. Make sure you recognize and trust the publisher before you save or open the download.

There are always risks to downloading files from the web. Here are some precautions you can take to help protect your PC when you download files:

Install and use an antivirus program.

Only download files from sites that you trust.

If the file has a digital signature, make sure that the signature is valid and the file is from a trusted location. To see the digital signature, select the publisher link in the security warning dialog box that opens when you first download the file.

How can I download a file from the Internet via Command Prompt? [duplicate]

As mentioned in the title I need a command line that allows me to download a file in the background without installing any tool just cmd I found this one but it doesn’t work in the background and Need a confirmation

so how to make the magic happen? and is there another command that i need to add it to the above line like a confirmation !?

1 Answer 1

CMD doesn’t have a built-in download command. You can download a utility like wget, and get the file with

PowerShell, which is built into every version of Windows 7 and above, does have a built-in command for downloading in Invoke-Webrequest

You can invoke this in one line from CMD by using the following PowerShell.exe command line.

Not the answer you’re looking for? Browse other questions tagged windows cmd or ask your own question.

Linked

Related

Hot Network Questions

site design / logo © 2021 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under cc by-sa. rev 2021.4.16.39093

By clicking “Accept all cookies”, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy.

How to download a file from a URL?

But let’s say I have a URL, and it’s either a SWF, a PNG or an MP3 or something. How can I force my browser (in this case I’m using Google Chrome) to download the file, instead of automatically displaying/playing it?

My quirky way around this is to create a one line HTML file with a hyperlink inside it pointing to the URL, then right click and save link as. But there has to be a better way to do this. I just can’t find it by Googling.

6 Answers 6

Download File from URL

There are a couple ways to do this. As mentioned, using the developer tools could work (more likely it will give you the url to the file) and right-clicking the link will work. Alternatively there are these options.

In Chrome

1. Go to the URL
2. Right-click the webpage
3. Select Save As.

For verification purposes, here are png, jpg, and mp3 links. Follow them and try these steps. However, in my experience. If you already have a url to a file, opening up Chrome and following these steps is rather tedious so here is an alternative.

In Command Line

1. Open your favorite terminal emulator
2. type curl -o myfile.mp3 ‘www.foo.com/bar.mp3’

• Where myfile.mp3 is what you want to call the file you’re downloading
• And www.foo.com/bar.mp3 is the URL to the file

[Note: This works for Linux and Mac users. If you are unfortunate enough to be a Windows user trying to use the cmd line, use Cmder and this method will work or if you’re a purist try this]

Windows batch file file download from a URL

I am trying to download a file from a website (ex. http://www.example.com/package.zip) using a Windows batch file. I am getting an error code when I write the function below:

The batch file doesn’t seem to like the «/» after the http. Are there any ways to escape those characters so it doesn’t assume they are function parameters?

20 Answers 20

With PowerShell 2.0 (Windows 7 preinstalled) you can use:

Starting with PowerShell 3.0 (Windows 8 preinstalled) you can use Invoke-WebRequest :

From a batch file they are called:

(PowerShell 2.0 is available for installation on XP, 3.0 for Windows 7)

There’s a standard Windows component which can achieve what you’re trying to do: BITS. It has been included in Windows since XP and 2000 SP3.

The job name is simply the display name for the download job — set it to something that describes what you’re doing.

This might be a little off topic, but you can pretty easily download a file using Powershell. Powershell comes with modern versions of Windows so you don’t have to install any extra stuff on the computer. I learned how to do it by reading this page:

Last I checked, there isn’t a command line command to connect to a URL from the MS command line. Try wget for Windows:
http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/wget.htm

In Linux, you can use «wget».

Alternatively, you can try VBScript. They are like command line programs, but they are scripts interpreted by the wscript.exe scripts host. Here is an example of downloading a file using VBS:
https://serverfault.com/questions/29707/download-file-from-vbscript

Downloading files in PURE BATCH. Without any JScript, VBScript, Powershell, etc. Only pure Batch!

Some people are saying it’s not possible of downloading files with a batch script without using any JScript or VBScript, etc. But they are definitely wrong!

Here is a simple method that seems to work pretty well for downloading files in your batch scripts. It should be working on almost any file’s URL. It is even possible to use a proxy server if you need it.

For downloading files, we can use BITSADMIN.EXE from the Windows system. There is no need for downloading/installing anything or using any JScript or VBScript, etc. Bitsadmin.exe is present on most Windows versions, probably from XP to Windows 10.

USAGE:

You can use the BITSADMIN command directly, like this:
bitsadmin /transfer mydownloadjob /download /priority FOREGROUND «http://example.com/File.zip» «C:\Downloads\File.zip»

Proxy Server:
For connecting using a proxy, use this command before downloading.
bitsadmin /setproxysettings mydownloadjob OVERRIDE «proxy-server.com:8080»

Click this LINK if you want more info about BITSadmin.exe

TROUBLESHOOTING:
If you get this error: «Unable to connect to BITS — 0x80070422»
Make sure the windows service «Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)» is enabled and try again. (It should be enabled by default.)

CUSTOM FUNCTIONS
Call :DOWNLOAD_FILE «URL»
Call :DOWNLOAD_PROXY_ON «SERVER:PORT»
Call :DOWNLOAD_PROXY_OFF

I made these 3 functions for simplifying the bitsadmin commands. It’s easier to use and remember. It can be particularly useful if you are using it multiple times in your scripts.

PLEASE NOTE.
Before using these functions, you will first need to copy them from CUSTOM_FUNCTIONS.CMD to the end of your script. There is also a complete example: DOWNLOAD-EXAMPLE.CMD

:DOWNLOAD_FILE «URL»
The main function, will download files from URL.

:DOWNLOAD_PROXY_ON «SERVER:PORT»
(Optional) You can use this function if you need to use a proxy server.
Calling the :DOWNLOAD_PROXY_OFF function will disable the proxy server.

Is it possible to download using the Windows command line?

Without using any non-standard (Windows included) utilities, is it possible to download using the Windows command line?

The preferred version is Windows XP, but it’s also interesting to know for newer versions.

To further clarify my question:

• It has to be using HTTP
• The file needs to be saved
• Standard clean Windows install, no extra tools

So basically, since everybody is screaming Wget, I want simple Wget functionality, without using Wget.

17 Answers 17

You can write a VBScript and run it from the command line

Create a file downloadfile.vbs and insert the following lines of code:

Run it from the command line as follows:

Starting with Windows 7, I believe there’s one single method that hasn’t been mentioned yet that’s easy:

(Broken into two separate lines with ^ for readability (to avoid scrolling).)

Warning: As pointed out in the comments, the bitsadmin help message starts by saying:

. but another comment reported that it works on Windows 8.

Windows 7 includes PowerShell and there’s pretty much nothing you can’t do with PowerShell.

PowerShell (included with Windows 8 and included with .NET for earlier releases) has this capability. The powershell command allows running arbitrary PowerShell commands from the command line or a .bat file. Thus, the following line is what’s wanted:

I found a way of doing it, but really, just install Wget.

You can use Internet Explorer from a command line (iexplore.exe) and then enter a URL as an argument. So, run:

Whatever the file is, you’ll need to specify it doesn’t need confirmation ahead of time. Lo and behold, it will automatically perform the download. So yes, it is technically possible, but good lord do it in a different way.

Windows Explorer (not to be confused with Internet Explorer) can download files via HTTP. Just enter the URL into the Address bar. Or from the command line, for example, C:\windows\explorer.exe http://somewhere.com/filename.ext .

You get the classic File Download prompt. Unless the file is a type that Windows Explorer knows how to display inline, (.html, .jpg, .gif), in which case you would then need to right-click to save it.

I just tested this on my VMware image of a virgin install of Windows XP 2002 SP1, and it works fine.

You can use (in a standard Windows bat):

It seems to require PowerShell v4.

From the command line:

etc. FTP is included in every Windows version I can remember; probably not in 3.1, maybe not in Windows 95, but certainly everything after that.

@RM: It is going to be rough if you don’t want to download any other tools. There exists a command line Wget for Windows and Wget is designed to do exactly what you’re asking for.