File:// Links not working on Chrome or Edge (Chromium)

[AENT_SysAdmin]

We've recently encountered an issue with IE11, and are trying to move to a different browser solution on company Workstations. Our intranet is Sharepoing 2013 (On-Prem), and we have a large number of documents linked in "file://" format. I would like to avoid replacing every single document on our intranet with a different link format; does anyone know of a way for Chromium based browsers to open "file://" based links in file explorer. I am aware of the "file://" chrome extension that opens them in an index search, but we want the links to open in file explorer. 

Thanks for your time!

~JP

[#2]

"By design!"

This is a security feature to prevent navigating across security boundaries. You can take a look at https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/local-explorer-file-manag/eokekhgpaakbkfkmjjcbffibkencdfkl to see if that would work.

[#3]

@Trevor Seward 

Hi Trevor, thanks for the response. We are aware that this is a security feature by design, but even in Microsoft Edge (Chromium), this invalidates a good 70% of the documents stored on our SharePoint. I don't see why this can't be disabled for local intranet files. I am looking into that extension, and associated integration module, and it looks promising. I'll have to vet the program itself, but thank you for pointing this out to me!

[#4]

@AENT_SysAdmin 
Hallo wir haben das gleiche Problem. Wir haben eine große SQL Datenbank mit programmiertem Frontend für eine Link Sammlung hinter denen Dokumente auf Firmenservern liegen. Also alles intern auf eigenen Servern. Sollte das weiterhin geblockt werden, killt das hunderte Links und eine Basisfunktionalität des Tools. 

Haben Sie eine Lösung für das Problem gefunden?

Beste Grüße

[#5]

@AENT_SysAdmin 

PR

PraveenKumarKatramalla

Created on February 2, 2021

Microsft Edge Chromium - Local References of href (Anchor) link does not work

Microsft Edge Chromium - Local References of href (Anchor)  link does not work

Eg:

Link does not work

<a href="localfile://uswlsappsprd01/MyIndex.application" title="MyIndex" onclick="javascript&colon;window.open('file://uswlsappsprd01/MyIndex.application', '_blank');">My Index</a>

Link does not work

<a href="" title="MyIndex" onclick="javascript&colon;window.open('file://uswlsappsprd01/MyIndex.application', '_blank');">My Index</a>

Link does not work

<a href="" title="MyIndex" onclick="javascript&colon;window.open('//uswlsappsprd01/MyIndex.application', '_blank');">My Index</a>

What is the solution for this?

[#6]

I am stumbling on the same issue, and I am struggling to explain this to the end users.

For example, the search results from file share are also not working anymore... 

Has anyone perhaps come accross a solution or workaround?

[#7]

@AENT_SysAdmin We were having the same issue for SharePoint links to shared drives.   Was able to fix by using the 'IE Tab' extension installed on Chrome and Edge.  Provided users instructions on how to configure the IE tab to automatically open using the "Auto URLs" setting in the extension.  This way anytime they click links from the SharePoint page or Doc Library, (which happen to be linked to our internal Shared drive), they all work.  Here is the link to the extension: IE Tab - Chrome Web Store (google.com)

You will likely need this extension also: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/enable-local-file-links/nikfmfgobenbhmocjaaboihbeocackld

Hope it works for you too.

[#8]

We were having the same issue for SharePoint links to shared drives. Was able to fix by using the 'IE Tab' extension installed on Chrome and Edge. Provided users instructions on how to configure the IE tab to automatically open using the "Auto URLs" setting in the extension. This way anytime they click links from the SharePoint page or Doc Library, (which happen to be linked to our internal Shared drive), they all work. Here is the link to the extension: IE Tab - Chrome Web Store (google.com)



You will likely need this extension also: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/enable-local-file-links/nikfmfgobenbhmocjaaboihbeocackld



Hope it works for you too.

[#9]

@AENT_SysAdmin  Just want to share. I put all the file:// links into a word document in SharePoint as a workaround. For an extra click, the users can open the links after open the word document. Too much hassle to install the extension if you do not have a lot of links.