# Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player cause double send\_file downloads? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [October 5, 2008, 4:50am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/internet-explorer-and-windows-media-player-cause-double-send-file-downloads/150166 "2008-10-05T04:50:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 4:50am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/internet-explorer-and-windows-media-player-cause-double-send-file-downloads/150166/1 "2008-10-05T04:50:08Z")
Hi, Our Rails application allows WAV file downloads. The user clicks on a link, or clicks a button, and the WAV file gets sent as a response, using send\_file. It looks like IE is discarding the initial WAV file and passing the URL to Windows Media Player. Windows Media Player then re-requests the file!! In addition to the performance problems, this design problem causes failures in the case of the download being initiated from a POST, since the re-request from the Media Player is only a GET, not a POST. How do I prevent this re-request? Thanks, David ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 5:01am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/internet-explorer-and-windows-media-player-cause-double-send-file-downloads/150166/2 "2008-10-05T05:01:49Z")
removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid wrote: > In addition to the performance problems, this design problem causes > failures in the > case of the download being initiated from a POST, since the re-request > from the > Media Player is only a GET, not a POST. > > How do I prevent this re-request? I have found that the way that works for me (I use this for PNG) is to serve it up with the mime type ‘application/unknown’ so that IE does not try to interpret what program should handle the information coming down. Cheers, Mohit. 10/5/2008 | 10:59 AM. ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 5:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/internet-explorer-and-windows-media-player-cause-double-send-file-downloads/150166/3 "2008-10-05T17:30:42Z")
On Oct 4, 9:59 pm, Mohit S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > Media Player. Windows Media Player then re-requests the file!! > > serve it up with the mime type ‘application/unknown’ so that IE does not > > try to interpret what program should handle the information coming down. > > Cheers, > Mohit. > 10/5/2008 | 10:59 AM. I tried setting the ‘type’ to ‘application/unknown’. The problem persists. The Windows Media Player re-requests the file, using an http GET request. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/internet-explorer-and-windows-media-player-cause-double-send-file-downloads/150166/4 "2008-10-06T21:16:22Z")
> failures in the > case of the download being initiated from a POST, since the re-request > from the > Media Player is only a GET, not a POST. > > How do I prevent this re-request? I don’t think you can. Years ago a collegue had an issue with large PDF’s being sent as a result of a POST. The PDFs that were under 1meg IE would download and then give that file to Adobe. Above 1meg and it would download some if it, then pass it to Adobe – losing all the POST variables in the process. The only solution we found was to convert that POST into a GET (or redirect it to a temp url that is a get). And suffer with the re- sending. This was probably 6 years ago though… but sounds like it hasn’t changed one bit. ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 7:15am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/internet-explorer-and-windows-media-player-cause-double-send-file-downloads/150166/5 "2008-10-07T07:15:09Z")
Philip H. wrote: > > failures in the > > would download some if it, then pass it to Adobe – losing all the > > POST variables in the process. > > The only solution we found was to convert that POST into a GET (or > redirect it to a temp url that is a get). And suffer with the re- > sending. > > This was probably 6 years ago though… but sounds like it hasn’t > changed one bit. I had a similar problem that a dynamically generated PNG was re-requested when a user right clicks and does a ‘save’ (both in FF and IE). There was a GET request triggered after the initial POST that generated the image. We got around this by setting the mime type to application/unknown for the content. That way, IE and FF do not try to decode the content and do not try to ‘support’ it through plugins, external programs, etc. I think it just asks to save the file. I think I replied this in an earlier mail. But, either way, hope this helps. Cheers, Mohit. 10/7/2008 | 1:13 PM. ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/internet-explorer-and-windows-media-player-cause-double-send-file-downloads/150166/6 "2008-10-07T18:58:27Z")
removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid wrote: > > > How do I prevent this re-request? > > I tried setting the ‘type’ to ‘application/unknown’. > > The problem persists. The Windows Media Player re-requests the file, > using an http GET request. > > Any ideas? > Does it work in Firefox? Does it show that the MIME type is unknown? > Sorry, I’m out of ideas for now in that case. Hopefully someone else > can help. Cheers, Mohit. 10/8/2008 | 12:56 AM.