Problem with dowloading products and Internet Explorer

[Benjamin]

Hi

In my membership program (with eMember) I have pages with pdf files people can download with a link (made with eStore and stamped with PDF stamper).

I had an issue with IE (“cannot open download.php”), and after a search on the forum I resolved it by removing the line “header(“Content-Type: “.$mimetype);” in download.php

Now I can download through IE but I still have the information bar saying ” To help protect your security, Internet Explorer has blocked this site from downloading files to your computer” and I have to click on it to download the file.

Any idea how to resolve this last issue ?

[wzp]

There is probably an IE option to disable that message.

[Benjamin]

Maybe but the problem is not for me , it’s very annoying for all my subscribers.

It would be easier if I could change something on my side in the plugin

[admin]

You shouldn’t need to change any code in the plugin to make a download work in IE (eStore’s download works in all major browser… remember, a lot of users are using it).

The only time you will see an issue if there is some setup in the server going wrong which makes the whole process suffer. Sometimes this can even come from another plugin. So instead of going for the workaround… I would try to identify the root cause first.

Do you have a caching plugin active? Caching plugins can send gzipped content (if you are using that option) and earlier versions of IE doesn’t handle that very well.

[Benjamin]

Yes I have a caching plugin and I already tried to desactivate it and it didn’t change anything.

I’m testing with IE8, so not an old version.

By the way, I also tried with mobile phones (Android and Iphone) and it the download does not work too, I’d like to know if it’s normal ?

[wzp]

Have you tried a different download method setting?

https://support.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forums/topic/wp-estore-download-methods#post-7636

[Benjamin]

I’ve just tried the different download methods, no change.

[wzp]

If you enabled the debugging logs, does the download_manager_debug.log file contain any interesting information? Specifically, if the DL method is dispatched, but there is no completion status.

[Benjamin]

Here is a part of the debug file (I put xxx in place of file path as I don’t want this to be public) :

[09/03/2011 2:46 PM] – Status : Dispatching DL method = 3

[09/03/2011 2:47 PM] – Status : Unresolved DL file path = xxx

[09/03/2011 2:47 PM] – Status : Resolved DL file path = xxx

[09/03/2011 2:47 PM] – Status : Dispatching DL method = 6

[09/03/2011 2:47 PM] – Status : Unresolved DL file path =xxx

[09/03/2011 2:47 PM] – Status : Resolved DL file path = xxx

[wzp]

The download script is being terminated by the server. How large is the file in question?

[Benjamin]

Small, around 500k. And again, there is no issue with Firefox, Chrome ou Safari.

I’d just like to know if there’s any way to make this information bar blocking the download in IE disappear.

I’ve already seen some of my clients clicking on the download link frenetically because they didn’t see this info bar in IE, so it’s very annoying.

And I’m sure the issue comes from IE, as I tested standard download links on several websites, and I’ve seen it’s a common issue. But maybe I can do something on my side to help with it…

[wzp]

That would explain the debug log. IE itself was interrupting the download process.

As to “doing something about it,” here is what I think… Bill & company, in their infinite wisdom decided to make this an IE behavior. If you or anyone else were able to override this behavior from the server side, you’ll not only get 15 minutes of fame in InfoSec News, but you’ll cause Microsoft to work around your fix, in the interests of keeping humanity safe from people who download things by accident.

[wzp]

Maybe you could do what some download sites do; add a warning about what to do if the download does not start.

[Benjamin]

Ok I’ll do that and thanks for the help.

[Author]

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