Windows

Changing The Default Download Directory In Vista

Posted by on Oct 15, 2007 | 4 Comments

Internet Explorer is the Web browser included with Vista. When you download information from the Internet, the default target directory is the ‘Documents’ folder. However, you may want to change the default directory to a different folder or a different partition or hard drive. Doing so only requires a quick registry change.

Open the Registry Editor by clicking the Start button, typing regedit in the Search field and pressing Enter. Navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer

Change the value of the “Download Directory” string to the new path you want Internet Explorer to use as the download directory. Close the Registry Editor.

[tags]vista, vista tips, windows vista[/tags]

  • Bob Garrett

    When I try to download mp3 files (ie7-vista), they go straight to a temporary file. I accidentially clicked the “don’t show” box on the screen that let me pick the directory. Now, I can’t get that back. How do I do this? How do I recover the ability to assign downloaded mp3 files to a directory? Thanks a lot! BG

  • Brenda

    I found some articles that describe how to do that by editing. But since I have already been burnt once when I edited the registry (the PC wouldn’t boot and I had to pay a technician to reinstall the OS for me) I stay away from from such solutions.

    The most elegant and the most cost effective solution I found so far was a 99 cents utility called “My Preferred Download Folder”:

    http://www.softwarecandy.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_free_shipping_info&cPath=2&products_id=59

    Hope this helps.

  • Anje

    I simply want to choose where any download is saved to, but Vista just automatically saves in my ‘downloads’ folder and that is exceptionally useless as it is usually where I do not want it to be saved. Each time I save it may be to a different location
    Please can you advise?

  • Josh

    Great info. helped alot Thanks!!