Change Browser download folder using C#

问题

Is there a way I could change the download folder of the default web browser using c#.

回答1:

Concurring with other's comments, you can only do it in a desktop app if you have the right permissions.

Here's some sample code to find out the default browser of the system (from this post):

private string getDefaultBrowser()
{
    string browser = string.Empty;
    RegistryKey key = null;
    try
    {
        key = Registry.ClassesRoot.OpenSubKey(@"HTTP\shell\open\command", false);

        //trim off quotes
        browser = key.GetValue(null).ToString().ToLower().Replace("\"", "");
        if (!browser.EndsWith("exe"))
        {
            //get rid of everything after the ".exe"
            browser = browser.Substring(0, browser.LastIndexOf(".exe")+4);
        }
    }
    finally
    {
        if (key != null) key.Close();
    }
    return browser;
}

However, things get tricky from here. Different browsers have different ways of saving the default location.

E.g.,

IE may store it in registry (usually under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Internet Explorer)
FF stores it in prefs.js in Profile folder (checkout this post to get to it via code)
Not sure about Chrome and Safari

but you get the idea.

Not sure what your end goal is, but from a UX standpoint, I think the best thing to do would be to ask user to specify the Download directory (in other words, you expose a Setting in your App for the default download location).

回答2:

To expand on Ash's comment - if you're within a web app, no. If you're a desktop app, and you have sufficient permissions (i.e. running as Administrator), probably. But you'd need to find the default browser (from the registry presumably) and know how to set the download folder for each popular browser, or every browser you want to work with.

回答3:

Where are you trying to do this from? If you mean "someone hits our website and ...", the answer is no, as anything you run is in a security context. You can certainly suggest the user changes the folder, but you are stuck.

Assuming you are not a web application, you have options. The main user download directory is located at X under the key {374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B}. Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun. You can learn how to hack the registry programatically here. But, the user can specify a specific folder in the browser, as well. This means you have to know what browser the user is using and hack it, or you can attempt to hack all.

The bad news is the app, running (most likely) in the user context, may not have administrator rights and be able to whack the registry keys to change the folder.

来源：https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7011710/change-browser-download-folder-using-c-sharp

标签

browser

client