<p>Problem:<br/></p>

<ol>
<li>html file on local server (inside our organization) with link to an exe on the same server.</li>
<li>clicking the link runs the exe on the client. Instead I want it to offer downloading it.</li>
</ol>

<p>Tried so far:<br/></p>

<ol>
<li>Changed permissions on the exe's virtual directory to be read and script.</li>
<li>Added Content-disposition header on the exe's directory.</li>
<li>I can't change settings in the browser. It's intended for a lot of people to consume.</li>
</ol>

[{'answer_id': 82246, 'author': 'David Webb', 'author_id': 3171, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/3171', 'pm_score': 2, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>You need to set <code>content-disposition</code> in the HTTP header.</p>\n\n<p><a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/260519" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This Microsoft Knowledge Base entry</a> has more detail on how to do this.</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 82251, 'author': 'Cetra', 'author_id': 15087, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/15087', 'pm_score': -1, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>Whether a file is downloaded or opened automatically is a browser, not a server, side setting.</p>\n\n<p>The other way of doing it would be to change the MIME type for the file to something like application/octet-stream or similar to try and force your browser to download it.</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 82261, 'author': 'Duncan Smart', 'author_id': 1278, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1278', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': "<p>Runs them where: on the server, or on the client? If on the server: set the handler mappings of the file so that CGI-exe is disabled. If on the client: then this is a web browser issue - it shouldn't be running EXEs directly! What browser is it? </p>\n\n<p>As Dave Webb mentions, you could use the <em>Content-Disposition</em> HTTP header: these can be added using <strong>HTTP Response Headers</strong> in IIS7 for that directory/file.</p>\n"}]
['https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/82232', 'https://Stackoverflow.com', 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/11519/']