Google Chrome – Downloads won’t start / being blocked

Problem

When clicking on a link to download a file in Google Chrome – the download does not start.

No prompts appear on the page, screen or in the address bar.

Solution

A download not starting – with no error messages – most likely means the file is being blocked by Google Chrome because it’s being served from an HTTP address.

Google Chrome version 86 was released in October 2020 – and with it came blocking HTTP files on HTTPS websites

Check if the download is being blocked due to HTTP address

Before you continue – check that the download is being blocked due to a HTTP address.

  1. Open the website in Google Chrome
  2. Try to download the file again
  3. On your keyboard, press the F12 button to open the developer toolbar (or Ctrl + Shift + I)
  4. Open the ‘Console’ tab
  5. If the file was blocked down to HTTP address you will see a red error message for “Mixed content”

Solution 1: Right-click download (easy option)

  1. You can download the file by right-clicking on it
  2. and selecting ‘Save link as’
  3. This will load the ‘Save as’ dialog box – where you can choose where to save the file on your computer and start the download

Solution 2: Use another browser

Maybe it’s time you switched to the Firefox browser?

Firefox “just works” out of the box – it’s intuitive, fast and open source.

Solution 3: Use a download manager

If you really want to keep using Google Chrome – you could try a third-party download manager from the Chrome Web Store.