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We have an internal wiki setup and do a lot of linking to files on internal shares.

We typically use this format (where Share is the name of the server):

<a href="file:///\\share\blah\blah\file.txt">

This works in FireFox (after modifying the userpref.js) and IE.

We've now had a bit of an adoption of Google Chrome. These links do not appear to work in Chrome. I've been unable to find anything about it on the net so far. :/

This is served up on an IIS box (7.0, https). It seems to be that Chrome has some protection like FireFox does and prevents file links from being loaded from a webpage. Does anyone know of any workarounds?

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8 Answers 8

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How about the Enable local file links extension for file:// links?

Overview

Make it possible to open by click a link to a local file that is disabled by Chrome. In Google Chrome, links to local files are disabled, unlike IE. This extension allows you to open a link to a local file by clicking it.

[Security] A malicious page can not open a local file without permission, because this extension reacts only to the click operation by the user.

[Others] Personal information is not collected / used. Source code is released to GitHub (see "Website" link).

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  • Generally you shouldn't provide link only answers. For more info on answering, see How to Answer.
    – BDM
    Apr 8, 2013 at 9:19
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I just downloaded the latest chrome beta and <a href="file:///\\share\blah\blah\file.txt"> works.

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  • I just tried the latest version, 3.0.195.38 and it is not working. Added a comment to the question that this is being served from an intranet page (https). If save the page to a local file, that works, but it doesn't from the intranet.
    – Daemonic
    Dec 15, 2009 at 14:04
  • You need to have server in there: file:///\\server\share\file.txt
    – matpie
    Dec 15, 2009 at 17:18
  • In our case, share is the name of the server. I've clarified that in the question.
    – Daemonic
    Dec 16, 2009 at 19:44
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I found a work around. Introducing RightLink: http://www.chromeextensions.org/other/rightlink/

Right click the UNC path to open. You may need to enable the option to open local files (as opposed to paths) in the extension's options.

It works on my intranet.

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Try this format:

<a href="file://server/share/blah/blah/file.txt">

This worked for me with the latest Google Chrome Beta in a quick test.

A much simpler solution that would work with any browser/program would be to simply map the share to a drive, and then access it through that.

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  • 2
    But that one doesn't work in Firefox. I'm hoping to find something that works across all browsers (or at least all actively used browsers in the company).
    – Daemonic
    Dec 11, 2009 at 21:01
  • @Daemonic, maybe consider PHP parsing the user agent strings? Use simple if/else logic along with get_browser php.net/manual/en/function.get-browser.php This way you can display a different link depending on the browser of the visitor to ensure compatibility.
    – user1931
    Dec 11, 2009 at 21:46
  • Mapping a drive would work across all browsers
    – davr
    Dec 11, 2009 at 23:24
  • Mapping would work, but having everyone have a mapped drive. Also should note that I couldn't get that link to work from inside the wiki (https served data).
    – Daemonic
    Dec 15, 2009 at 14:06
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RightLink works, but is a bad workaround for me because it disables the right-click context menu, which I use all the time.

IETab on the other hand works great. I added several internal sites to its Auto-URL config (e.g. http://somesite/*) and they automatically open in an embedded IE tab. IE (or an IE tab) handles file:// links as expected according to the machine's trust configuration.

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We've found a better solution using the Chrome Extension Local Links: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jllpkdkcdjndhggodimiphkghogcpida

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OK, found a workaround for Chrome.

Go to this link in Chrome. Now when you right click you can open any document.

My link looks like this

file://SERVER/file
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Try this extension then. It bypasses Chrome restriction and allows users to open file & folder directly on Chrome. See if it works for you.

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