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MUSO Support Common Problems - File Downloads

Problem

Students clicking on lecture notes (or any file types) in Blackboard receive a blank screen with the following error message at the top of the page:

"To help protect your security, Internet Explorer blocked this site from downloading files to your computer. Click here for more options... "

(See screenshot below)

To help protect your security, Internet Explorer blocked this site from downloading files to your computer. Click here for more options...

Solution

Recent updates to Internet Explorer have disabled automatic prompting for downloads which will stop you from being able to download many files, both inside and outside of Blackboard.

You will need to enable automatic prompting for file downloads to download your files. Please follow these instructions:

Open Internet Explorer
Click on the Tools menu option
Click on Internet Options
The Internet Options window will open. Click on the Security tab
Click on the Custom Level button
Scroll down to Automatic Prompting for File Downloads and set it to Enable
Click Ok
You will be asked if you are sure you want to change this setting. Click Yes
Click Ok
Try to download the file again.