Internet Explorer - Change Default Download Location

How to Change Default Download Location in IE9, IE10, and IE11​

   Information

This will show you how to change the default download location that IE9, IE10, and IE11 saves to by default to be any folder that you select instead of the default C:\Users\(user-name)\Downloads folder.

   Note

In Windows 8, the IE10 Windows UI (Metro) version uses the same download location that you set for the IE10 desktop version below.

OPTION ONE

Change IE Default "Save" Download Location in Download Manager

1. Open IE9, IE10, or IE11.
NOTE: In Windows 8/8.1, you would open the desktop IE version, and not the modern IE version.

2. Click/tap on the gear icon in the upper right corner, then click/tap on View downloads. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: You could also press CTRL + J instead.

3. Click/tap on the Options link. (see screenshot below)

4. Click/tap on the Browse button. (see screenshot below)

5. Navigate to and select (highlight) the folder that you want IE9 or IE10 to use as the default download location, then click/tap on the Select Folder button. (see screenshot below)

6. Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below step 4)

7. Click/tap on Close. (see screenshot below step 3)

OPTION TWO

Change Internet Explorer Default "Save" Download Location in Registry

1. Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog, type regedit, and press Enter.

2. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes (Windows 7/8) or Continue (Vista).

3. In regedit, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main


4. In the right pane of Main, double click/tap on Default Download Directory to modify it. (see screenshot above)

5. Type in the full path of the folder that you want IE9 or IE10 to save downloads to by default, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot above)

6. Close regedit.

OPTION THREE

To Manually Select a "Save as" Download Location in Internet Explorer

NOTE: This option is to Save as a file you want to download to any location no matter what you set the default Save location in Option One above.
1. After you click/tap on the file's download link in IE9 oe IE10, click/tap on the drop down arrow on the Save button at the bottom of IE9 or IE10, and click/tap on Save as. (see screenshot below)

2. Navigate to where you would like to save the file to, and click/tap on Save. (see screenshot below)

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Turn On or Off Notify when Downloads Complete in Internet Explorer
• How to Delete and Clear the Download History in IE9, IE10, and IE11
• How to See Download Speed and Time in Download Manager of IE9 and IE10
• How to Change the Default Download "Save to" Location in Firefox
• How to Change the Default Download Location in Google Chrome
• How to View and Track Downloads in IE9, IE10, and IE11

 

[Dave76]

Nice tutorial, it's not that easy to find.

 

[Brink]

Thank you Dave. I agree, it sure was buried just a bit.

 

[iskenderc]

I cannot see the "view downloads" window when i click on it?

 

[neeraj]

Nice tutorial, it's not that easy to find.

yup you are right Dave it's not at all easy to find..!!

thanx for this tut.. Shawn..!!

 

[alphanumeric]

Doesn't work for me. In IE 9 64 bit nothing happens when I click View Downloads. In IE 9 32 bit IE crashes with a has stopped working prompt. Looks like there is something wrong with my IE 9 install. The download manager works OK so its not a big deal at the moment, I can live without that menu option.

 

[Spidey1976]

Nice update fella - I'd rep you, but I need to spread it around some more first.... +1

 

[Brink]

I cannot see the "view downloads" window when i click on it?

Doesn't work for me. In IE 9 64 bit nothing happens when I click View Downloads. In IE 9 32 bit IE crashes with a has stopped working prompt. Looks like there is something wrong with my IE 9 install. The download manager works OK so its not a big deal at the moment, I can live without that menu option.

This tutorial was tested on both the 32-bit and 64-bit IE9, and it worked on both at least for me. You may have a bad add-on or something that is causing this. As a test, reset IE9 completely to see if it it may work properly afterwards.

IE9 is still a beta, so there most likely will be some bugs in it still that may have IE9 not work properly on some system setups. Hopefully the next IE9 release will work better for you.

 

[alphanumeric]

Reseting IE 9 32 bit to defaults didn't help. It actually mad things worse, now it crashes every time I open it. Looks like I'm going back to IE 8.

 

[Brink]

That's no good. I suppose you could try uninstalling and reinstalling IE9 to see if it may have just been a bad installation.

 

[xxxdannyxxx]

Reseting IE 9 32 bit to defaults didn't help. It actually mad things worse, now it crashes every time I open it. Looks like I'm going back to IE 8.

Hi
Mine did the same just did a system restore to the day before and back in business. Dont know what the problem was though.

Danny

 

[alphanumeric]

I've uninstalled IE 9 and IE 8 seems to be OK. A couple of things happened after I did the reset in IE 9. I got prompted to enable two plugins, one was Research and the other one I can't remember, both were Microsoft. Then when my home page Google loaded I got a script error and there were two extra windows on the screen. One down the left side and one across the bottom. What was in them didn't make any sense to me and I closed them. I closed IE 9 32 bit and opened it again and Google loaded OK. I tried the view downloads again and it crashed like the first time only after that IE crashed every time I tried to open it. IE 9 x64 was OK though. I've uninstalled the Adobe flash beta too. I'm guessing if I had done a clean install of windows and then installed IE 9 beta with no third party add-ins that wouldn't happen. In a month or two I plan on buying a new SATA hard drive for this rig and will be doing a clean install. I'll likely try again then but for now I think I'll stay with IE 8.

 

[oreo27]

Hey Brink,

Just logged in to say thanks. It wasn't that easy to find. I was setting up my wife's newly formatted laptop and thought I'd organize her laptop nicely.

Thanks for the tip man.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Oreo.

 

[Mual]

Thanks for the info Brink

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Lee.

 

[Just Plain Erik]

This procedure did not work for me. What did work is:
1. Use Windows Explorer to go to the current location of the download folder. The default location is C:\Users\<user_name>\Downloads.
2. right-click the downloads folder and choose properties.
3. Select the Location Tab and then select move.
4. Browse to the new location.
5. Click Select Folder.
6. Click OK.

 

[Brink]

Hello Erik, and welcome to Seven Forums.

What part of the tutorial didn't work for you on changing where IE9 saves to by default?

What you described is completely different. That is for moving the default location of your Downloads user folder and not for changing the default "Save to" location that IE9 uses.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18629-user-folders-change-default-location.html

 

[Just Plain Erik]

This is the procedure I tried (Option 1). I was changing the location of the IE9 default download folder. I completed all the steps but the change was not saved.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...lorer-9-change-default-download-location.html

Now, I am confused. Your reply gave me a link to a different procedure. This procedure tells how to move User Profile Folders.
.http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18629-user-folders-change-default-location.html

Erik

 

[Brink]

Erik,

The link I gave was just for what you described you did in your post above to move that "Download" user folder. That's all.

It may not have worked before using the tutorial on the first page of this thread if the Download folder was not correct.