What are the ways to make an html link open a folder

html directory hyperlink
Sebastien Lachance picture Sebastien Lachance · May 13, 2009 · Viewed 405.3k times · Source

I need to let users of an application open a folder by clicking a link inside a web page. The path of the folder is on the network and can be accessed from everywhere. I'm probably sure there is no easy way to do this, but maybe I'm mistaken?

Answer

Andrew Duffy picture Andrew Duffy · May 13, 2009

Do you want to open a shared folder in Windows Explorer? You need to use a file: link, but there are caveats:

  • Internet Explorer will work if the link is a converted UNC path (file://server/share/folder/).
  • Firefox will work if the link is in its own mangled form using five slashes (file://///server/share/folder) and the user has disabled the security restriction on file: links in a page served over HTTP. Thankfully IE also accepts the mangled link form.
  • Opera, Safari and Chrome can not be convinced to open a file: link in a page served over HTTP.

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