[PHP] Set exe to auto download

[mikeaag]

Hey,

Making a website for where i work, and there is a .exe file that we need people to download.

its a file that lets us set up a remote connection to their PC, so it really needs to stay as a exe file as well, because these people are stupid.

I've got some PHP code that i thought would make it download when you click a link, but it seems to download the php file instead.

i dont really understand how this auto download thing works, so if someone knows how to make this work, i would appreciate the help :D

<?php
header('Content-disposition: attachment; filename:DLA-Remote-Support.exe');
header('Content-type: application/octet-stream');
readfile('DLA-Remote-Support.exe');
?>

Thanks in advance

Im an idiot!

PHP isnt always the best solution. Some times you just gotta stick with good ol' HTML :D

[DomZ]

What's wrong with just having an <a> href link to the exe?

[Ambroos]

<?php
header("Location: DLA-Remote-Support.exe"); /
exit; 
?>

I think?

[mikeaag]

  On 29/05/2010 at 14:20, DomZ said:

What's wrong with just having an <a> href link to the exe?

im such an idiot!

as soon as i read back what i had put, i realised that. was just about to edit my post to say im an idiot :(

was going completely the wrong way about things.

[Colin-uk Veteran]

sounds like apache/your web server isnt serving it properly.

add a mime type for .exe file types to your server config or a .htaccess file if you use apache.

thats if you were going to do it the way you said in your first post :p

[Xoligy]

Yeh a href is definatly a better idea unless you going to add a counter and tell the person your about to download something onto there computr (yes i know they will get a save dialog) because if i was to load a page and it tried to automatically download something on my computer wihtout warning i would leave the site, delete the download and i may even write a not so nice email.

[giantsnyy]

  On 29/05/2010 at 14:33, Xoligy said:

Yeh a href is definatly a better idea unless you going to add a counter and tell the person your about to download something onto there computr (yes i know they will get a save dialog) because if i was to load a page and it tried to automatically download something on my computer wihtout warning i would leave the site, delete the download and i may even write a not so nice email.

Well... in a situation like mine where I do roughly the same thing 30 times a day and 28 out of those 30 times I'm explaining to the person why they should click "Run" on the file i'm telling them to download. It's a hassle... A big one. I'd rather have it download immediately and run itself, especially if it's only being accessed on my corporate intranet.

[Xoligy]

  On 03/06/2010 at 18:45, giantsnyy said:

Well... in a situation like mine where I do roughly the same thing 30 times a day and 28 out of those 30 times I'm explaining to the person why they should click "Run" on the file i'm telling them to download. It's a hassle... A big one. I'd rather have it download immediately and run itself, especially if it's only being accessed on my corporate intranet.

You might do the same thing 30x a day, but if my grandad contacted me and said "im just on xxx website and im being asked to download xxx and ive clicked nothing what should i do?" my response would be "click cancel" Like i said some warning before hand, or a a href link is best i never download anything thats automatic without some warning first would you download a file just because its an automatic download? Even it it is on an intranet does not mean its not a bad file!

[bosniamaj]

Hello,

I was searching for some tips for downloading files with php, and I found your forums.

Here is my experience:

When using something like this

<?php
header('Content-disposition: attachment; filename:DLA-Remote-Support.exe');
header('Content-type: application/octet-stream');
readfile('DLA-Remote-Support.exe');
?>

I can download zip and rar files with no problems, but when it comes to exe files, when downloaded, they can't open. I get some error message.

But when using

header("Location: file.exe")

it works well when downloaded. But, there is other problem. If I refresh (probably close too) the page, while downloading, it stops.

So, I still didn't find a perfect solution, I use combination of these two.

DomZ asked what's wrong with ordinary <a> link. It is better to use automatic download with php, 'cause in that case you can record some statistics for downloaded file.