Whenever I download a .dmg, .exe file, etc. Google Chrome assumes I don't know what I am doing and asks me if I understand the risks and warns me that the file may be harmful to my computer. I get the idea, but I want these prompts to stop. How do I do this?
09 Answers
This issue has been brought up a few times, and the answer unfortunately seems to be no. If you know your way around source code, the Chromium project may be of interest. You can hack away at the code and remove the warning.
2I know this is very counter-intuitive but I just did it and it stopped the exe download warning for me. Enable this option: [Protect you and your device from dangerous sites] Yeah, I know, it doesn't make sense, but enabling it resolved my issue on Chrome v59. I would think the exact opposite would be true but no, this did it.
0The solution without turning off security settings is to to go to Under the Hood, in the Download section, click box next to "Ask where to save each file before downloading".
For those of you who don't know where your normal Download folder is or you are like me that you want a folder on your desktop for easy maintenance, create a new folder on Desktop, and I bet you can't guess what I named it, Download.
Then go to a site and do a search for something that has a PDF document or other downloadable file. Download it. The first time you download this type of file, the normal box pops up at bottom of your browser asking to keep or discard, select keep.
After the file is downloaded and the icon appears for that type of file, click on the little arrow to the right and click on it and in the little menu box select always open this type of file.
4There IS a way to stop Chrome (or Chromium) from showing this annoying prompt. You have to exit browser, locate Preferences file of your Chrome profile (~/.config/chromium/Default/Preferences in Linux), find 'download' section that looks like:
"download": { "directory_upgrade": true, "extensions_to_open": "", "prompt_for_download": false
},and change "extensions_to_open": "", to "extensions_to_open": "pdf", and you won't see that prompt any more :) If there are already other extensions, use a colon to separate pdf from the existing entries (i.e. "foo:bar:pdf"). Then save the configuration file.
Originally found at askubuntu.com, posted by Rinzwind
5If you are in an enterprise environment, there is an ADMX template for Group Policy that has a setting to control the warnings.
The description says that it's only for Domain Joined machines, but the templates typically manage the registry, so it may be that this can be tuned on standalone machines, too.
What I do is tell chrome to ask me where I want each file to go. I dont get a warning, but I "will" get the file/save dialog. Just go to customize and control - settings - Advanced settings - Tick "Ask where to save each file before downloading" and tell it where your default download folder is.
I have created a large default folder (C:/Temp/Downloads)with other specialized folders within it.You can use.../documents/download or anywhere you choose. Videos go to the video folder (C:/temp/downloads/videos), utilities go to the utilities folder C:/temp/downloads/utilities),texts got to the text folder and programs stay in the download folder. I have made other types also. If it is set up this way, its a simple thing to determine where a download will go and as a plus it wont tell you that a file has the possibility of being a danger to all life on earth......... lol.
I use this method to pre-sort my downloads so it is easier to find the songs from the videos from the programs from the pictures from the etc. Works for me, especially after a night finding all types of stuff that I want to try or see. Works well to create a special you-tube folder too.
Hope this helps.
There is a workaround on Ubuntu for people that are really fed up with this problem by now and do not want to recompile the source code on the other hand. The reasoning is quite simple. Perhaps we do not want Chrome to decide which files to automatically open, but we are better able to do it ourselves.
So, just as Uniblab suggests, tell Chrome to download the file, not open the file. This only means pressing Enter once. Use for example $HOME/setup as download folder.
Then (on Linux) have a script in the background that is notified through inotify.
#!/bin/bash
path=$HOME/setup
flags="--format %f"
while true; do download=$(inotifywait $flags -e close_write $path) file="$path/$download" extension="${file##*.}" if [ "$extension" != "pdf" ]; then continue fi mime=$(file -b --mime-type "$file") if [ "$mime" = "application/pdf" ]; then acroread "$file" & fi
doneThis will automatically open a file if it has MIME type application/pdf, so be careful. You can check for malicious code yourself before you open it using your favorite executable code scanner. To use the script at start-up, edit crontab -e:
@reboot /usr/bin/abovescriptI think this might actually be the proper way to do stuff. It should be the task of a dedicated program (much more complicated then this script) that is allowed to start applications on your computer. Perhaps to allow Chrome to do that is actually a potential security breach.
Of course on Windows you will need to find another tool. On MacOS, you might want to use fswatch which is in homebrew.
I know this question is old but I would like to provide the alternative answer here, along with some commentary.
This prompt is the single most annoying thing in all Chromium-based browsers and it is equally effective as a security measure as it would be asking guests at a party whether they will behave themselves before deciding to let them in or not without actually putting in any effort to confirm they are not drunk or carrying any contraband.
The reasons why the prompt is not only useless but poorly designed are as follows:
It does not provide the user with any additional information about the file which would help them to decide what option to pick.
It is redundant, because the operating system will show its own prompt before launching the file and present more information (like publisher and validity of digital signature) that will help the user make a better informed decision.
It is misleading because no, that NVIDIA driver setup download the user initiated from NVIDIA's website cannot really harm their computer.
It is conditioning the user to click through security dialogs without reading, therefore reducing their overall security posture.
It is not actually checking the file contents to make sure it is harmful, so it is basically a scare prompt.
That said, Microsoft realized it is pointless, and in Microsoft Edge it allows configuring the list of domains (and list of extensions for each domain) where it will not show the prompt using Group Policy. You can even fully disable it by using * as the value for both.
Microsoft also got rid of the retarded Chromium download bar at the bottom of the screen, and added a vastly superior download manager UI in Microsoft Edge.
So, my answer to the question is -- no, you cannot disable the keep / discard prompt in Google Chrome, Brave, etc, but you can switch to Microsoft Edge and disable it there.
If you are OK with Microsoft's telemetry and personal data collection (most of which can be disabled with some effort), you can download and install Microsoft Edge for business along with ADMX templates, and then follow the instructions on how to Configure Microsoft Edge policy settings on Windows devices or how to Configure Microsoft Edge policy settings for macOS using a property list, and configure Microsoft Edge policies to your liking.
The policy you want is Disable download file type extension-based warnings for specified file types on domains.
Do note that some of the policies will work only on domain-joined computers, but most will work on standalone workstations too. For people reading superuser.com satisfying the "domain-joined" requirement shouldn't be a problem anyway.
Migration of your browsing data should be easy since Microsoft Edge is based on Chromium, and Google Chrome extensions work in Microsoft Edge as well once you allow installation from Chrome Web Store.
It is sad that the only way to express our disapproval for this "feature" to Google Chrome and Chromium developers is to switch to another browser, but at least now we have that option as well.
Go to Options / Under the hood / Privacy and uncheck "Enable phishing and malware protection".
And voilà, no warnings anymore.
4
