Enable Downloads on Windows Server 2008 R2?

I've just installed Windows Server 2008 R2 as a VM. Everything seems to be working fine apart of internet explorer.

I'm trying to download Siverlight and a few other things but IE8 keeps telling me that Downloads are disabled. When I go to the settings, security on IE8, the option to change the settings are faded and I can't change it at all.

Does anyone know what I should be doing to change it?

Cheers, Fred Kaiser

Solution 1:

It's a pain in the rear, isn't it? That is an intentional choice on Microsoft's part. There are ways to enable downloads, but wouldn't recommend it. No matter how certain you are of the reputation of the website you're visiting, it's a Server OS and you shouldn't be using it to browse the internet even to download patches, installers, etc.

Instead, use your workstation to do your downloading and then copy the files up to the Server for installation.

Solution 2:

I agree with everything ErikA said - however if you absolutally 100% totally do have to download on the server (and sometimes it is the only choice) then you need to add the site you're trying to download from into your Trusted Sites list.

This can be fun when the site you're downloading from keeps redirecting you to a random mirror each time you attempt the download, but it works most of the time.

The other option is to disable the IE Enhanced Security Configuration (IE ESC) from the front page of the Server Manager snapin ("Configure IE ESC"). This is quite drastic though and should only be done as a last resort, and should never ever be done on a production system (especially a terminal server)