Opens a file on a local or network drive.
Syntax
file:///sDrives[|sFile]
Tokens
- sDrives
- Specifies the local or network drive.
- sFile
- Optional. Specifies the file to open. If sFile is omitted and the account accessing the drive has permission to browse the directory, a list of accessible files and directories is displayed.
Remarks
The file protocol and sDrives parameter can be omitted and substituted with just the command line representation of the drive letter and file location. For example, to browse the My Documents directory, the file protocol can be specified as file:///C|/My Documents/ or as C:\My Documents\. In addition, a single '\' is equivalent to specifying the root directory on the primary local drive. On most computers, this is C:\.
Available as of Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or later.
Note Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 (SP1) no longer allows browsing a local machine from the Internet zone. For instance, if an Internet site contains a link to a local file, Internet Explorer 6 SP1 displays a blank page when a user clicks on the link. Previous versions of Windows Internet Explorer followed the link to the local file.
Example
The following sample demonstrates four ways to use the File protocol.
//Specifying a drive and a file name. file:///C|/My Documents/ALetter.html //Specifying only a drive and a path to browse the directory. file:///C|/My Documents/ //Specifying a drive and a directory using the command line representation of the directory location. C:\My Documents\ //Specifying only the directory on the local primary drive. \My Documents\
If I use the normal protocol, "c:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\winword.exe" /t "C:\Documents and Settings\user name\My Documents\letter.doc" then word opens letter.doc. But using the file protocol above adding /t "C:\Documents and Settings\user name\My Documents\letter.doc" generates an error message "cannot find the file". The same happens if I add /a. I know that I can address the file directly using the above file protocol, file:///C|/Documents and Settings/user name/My Documents/letter.doc will open letter.doc in word; but this will not be possible for my program, as more than one file and some switches are needed by the program. I have used word to illustrate the problem, I have another program, which I want to use the above file protocol on and uses a number of parameters and switches. What am I doing wrong?
"Note Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 (SP1) no longer allows browsing a local machine from the Internet zone. For instance, if an Internet site contains a link to a local file, Internet Explorer 6 SP1 displays a blank page when a user clicks on the link. Previous versions of Windows Internet Explorer followed the link to the local file."
From the note above, is there a work-around option to enable this as I have found the feature of creating secured websites that have links to my local folders or files very useful?
Yes, you can access UNC paths (those starting with \\servername\sharename) via the file protocol.
The syntax is file://///servername/sharename/...
Essentially this is file:/// plus the path with backslashes flipped to forward slashes.
The text suggests this can be used for network drives that are unmapped e.g.
file:///mycomputer/public/hello.txt
but this didn't work for me. Is this possible?