Tip: Block or Restrict All Kinds of File Downloads in Chrome

If you are running an organization, office, cyber cafe or school and you want to block or restrict users from downloading anything from the Internet in Google Chrome web browser, this article will help you.

Many times people want to completely disable or remove the built-in file download functionality in a web browser to prevent users from downloading files from websites. For example, a school management might want to restrict students from downloading stuffs from Internet. They might just want to allow students to browse the web.

Fortunately, Google Chrome web browser comes with a hidden secret policy which can be implemented in the browser to permanently disable its download manager tool or feature.

Once you implement or apply this policy in a device, users will be able to open websites but will NOT be able to download anything from the Internet. As soon as they try to click on a link to download something, Google Chrome will display following error message in the download flyout:

If the user clicks on the message, Google Chrome will display more details about the download restriction as shown in following screenshot:

If you also want to block or restrict users from downloading files in Google Chrome web browser, following steps will help you in disabling the built-in download manager feature:

STEP 1: Press WIN+R key combination to launch RUN dialog box then type regedit and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor.

STEP 2: Now go to any of following keys:

If you want to disable the file download functionality for all Windows users:

If you want to disable the file download functionality for current user only:

STEP 3: Under Policies key, create a new key and set its name to Google

STEP 4: Again under Google key, create a new key and set its name to Chrome

So the final key path will be one of following:

STEP 5: Now select Chrome key and in right-side pane, create following DWORD value to block or restrict the file download feature in Chrome:

To create the DWORD, right-click on empty area and select “New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value” option.

STEP 6: Now set the new DWORD value as following:

Change the DWORD value to 3 to completely block and restrict all kinds of file downloads functionality in Chrome.

The default value is 0 which enables the file download functionality in Chrome.

If you change the value to 1, it’ll block malicious files along with all dangerous file types.

If you change the value to 2, it’ll block malicious files along with uncommon files as well as all dangerous file types.

If you change the value to 4, it’ll block malicious files but will not block dangerous file types.

STEP 7: Now restart Chrome browser and the file download functionality will be blocked or modified in your web browser based upon the policy setting.

PS: In future, if you decide to restore the file download functionality to default in Chrome, delete the above mentioned DWORD from Registry.

Your Browser is Managed by Your Organization Message After Applying Registry Tweak

After applying the above mentioned policy or registry tweak, you may notice “Your browser is managed by your organization” message showing on Settings page and main Menu in Google Chrome browser. Don’t worry! It happens when you implement a policy in the web browser. You can safely ignore the message.

Following article provides more details about this message:

[Fix] Your Browser is Managed by Your Organization in Google Chrome

Also Check:

How to Enable / Disable All New AI Features in Google Chrome

[Fix] Chrome Asking for Password to Scan Downloaded Archives