Problems downloading items from the Media Library in IE

We’ve had an issue for a wee while now whereby if you were using Internet Explorer then you couldn’t use the Download links in the Media Library to download a file.  With a little insight from TERMINALFOUR and a poke around in the configuration settings this issue has now been resolved.

The problem

What happened in IE was that if you clicked on the Download link (either when right-clicking a Media Library item or while modifying a Media Library item, see screenshot below) then a blank page would open.

Download link in Media Library

It worked as expected, however, in Firefox.

The solution

It turns out that the solution can be found within Site Manager handlers’ configuration (TOOLS > CONFIGURATION > Handlers tab).

Site Manager configuration

1. Go to TOOLS > CONFIGURATION.
2. Click on the HANDLERS tab.
3. Locate the Download Handler.
4. Click on Configure.
5. Make sure “Download Method” is set to Attachment.
6. Click UPDATE.

The problem was that our Download Method was set to “Inline”.

Download handler - set Download Method to Attachment

Interestingly, there’s a letter answered in this month’s .net magazine about a very similar issue involving the content-disposition HTTP header.