Forum Discussion
ClickOnce application downloads instead of directly opening the app
When opening a ClickOnce app, the *.application file gets saved to my Downloads folder instead of directly opening it. Additionally, since the file is downloaded, then opened from Downloads, it loses the cookie information required for our app to function correctly.
44 Replies
CodeDJ This is still not working when the VSTO file (Word Addin) is hosted in a Document Library to distribute to users. Any solutions for this issue?
We have developed a few Word Addins (Word Taskpanes) and we host the click once installers (VSTO) files in a SharePoint Document Library. When click on it, it gets installed. It worked perfectly for us in IE until now. Unfortunately the VSTO file downloads locally instead of installing.
We tried hosting the addins directly in IIS and tested with a simple HTML page using MS Edge. That works as expected. But the same VSTO files hosted in SP2013 Document Library fails. Any help would be much appreciated.
CodeDJ , thanks for the feedback! We would definitely need to think through some interesting security implications here (it would be analagous to setting "Always run executables" for downloads).
Vidmo , sorry I couldn't get back to you earlier; it looks like you were able to answer your question. We do not currently have plans to enable ClickOnce for ALL users, but you currently should have access to group policy to ensure that your organization has ClickOnce turned on by default if necessary. The policy is described here https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/DeployEdge/microsoft-edge-policies#clickonceenable
aclowe , please take a look at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/DeployEdge/microsoft-edge-policies#clickonceenabled for the group policy to support exactly what you mentionedAs Eric mentioned, we will be looking into the vsto bug! Thanks everyone for your feedback!
Our customers have relied on Microsoft .NET ClickOnce support for a long time, and we are unclear how to document the path forward with Edge chromium.
- Will Edge chromium supplant existing Edge HTML installations via Windows Update?
- Will ClickOnce be disabled by default?
- Will there be a way for end users to enable ClickOnce support via settings, without having to resort to group policy or developer flags?
- Why is there now a mime-type dialog displayed asking the user to select an application for launching the ClickOnce application? Shouldn't Edge chromium be associated with .application files without an end user decision?
We obviously prefer to have ClickOnce enabled by default, but if not there should be a simple configuration option each user can toggle. We don't have any plans to retire our ClickOnce feature at this time, so continued support is critical.
- Eric_Lawrence
Microsoft
1. Yes, the new Edge will start replacing the old Edge on Windows PCs next year.
2. ClickOnce is presently disabled by default.
3. ClickOnce support can be enabled via edge://flags and Group Policy. There's no option in edge://settings.
4. A screenshot and/or OS information should be helpful here. File associations are owned by Windows, not the browser. If you save a .application file to your desktop and open it on the machine in question, what happens?
CodeDJ Just updating this thread to say that ClickOnce support is now in Canary (79.0.283.0). Users may opt into using ClickOnce by heading to the about:flags page and looking for "#edge-click-once".
More information on this is available here:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/DeployEdge/edge-learn-more-co-di?branch=pr-en-us-105
Thanks everyone for your patience!
- Eric_Lawrence
mjonestx: On which version of Windows are you having this problem? Is your server URL public, or can you otherwise see what `Content-Type` response header it's sending (using Fiddler or similar?) If you try the sample link at https://webdbg.com/test/clickonce/, does it pop the UI?
Thanks for the update, working perfectly for me after enabling the flag.
Our business would not be opposed to having to enable the option with it off by default if that decision is made for security or other purposes. It would be nice to have this available via Group Policy or other deployment options.
CodeDJ We really appreciate the feedback! ClickOnce support was on our mind as we were thinking through the Downloads workflow in Edge. It is feedback like yours, and others responding to this post, that help us in prioritizing ClickOnce support relative to other areas we are investing in. ClickOnce is a feature that we are working towards implementing, so stay tuned!
Hi Vidmo, thanks for checking in! We have engineers actively working on getting ClickOnce support and this is high on my priorities. While I can't reveal the timeline for this, I will try to update this post when I have more information to share. Feel free to ping this thread again if you don't hear back from me!
Yep same here, this was one of the first things I wanted to check as we really need this to be working out of the box for the new Edge.
CodeDJ I have this same issue. I get around it by calling iexplore.exe in front of the app to launch it from IE. This is a workaround, I would like Microsoft to fix this so it is handled correctly.
Here is my example that I use in the shortcut:
"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" http://website.com/example.application
CodeDJ There is a Chrome extension called "https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/clickonce-for-google-chro/kekahkplibinaibelipdcikofmedafmb". This can be installed in Edge, if you allow extensions from other stores and then acquire the extension from the https://chrome.google.com/webstore/. Although, this is not a built-in function, the extension does allow ClickOnce apps to execute normally, instead of being downloaded.
I do hope that this ClickOnce function will be addressed in Edge, so that we don't have to use an extension or another work-around.
I'm experiencing this as well. This is known behavior for how Chrome handles ClickOnce applications, but we use Edge today for launching ClickOnce applications.
