File Downloader

Table of Contents
Welcome
Package Content
Syntax
Authentication
Return Codes (ERRORLEVEL)
Status Codes
Known Issues
History
Latest Version
Registration
Redistribution
Contact Details

File	Description
download.exe	File Downloader program.
logenc.exe	Credentials Encoder program (see Authentication).
wait.exe	Program whose purpose is to wait for a specified time period or until any key is pressed. It is similar to the TIMEOUT command in Windows Vista and later. It is used in the sample.bat example.
sample.bat	Script that shows a way to use download.exe in a batch file.
batch.txt	Sample text file that shows how to use the /batch parameter to download many files in one call.
readme.htm	This file.
license.htm	File only included with the full version.

File Downloader features many parameters, for a whole list of the supported parameters and a description, type the following command in a Command Prompt:

download /?

The simplest syntax only requires the URL of the file or the resource to download, e.g.:

download http://www.server.com/file.zip

This command downloads the file.zip file from the webserver at www.server.com and places it in the current folder. This simple syntax may not be enough though. For example, you may get the following error:

Could not get file time on server.

In this case, you have to append the /notime parameter. Note that you may also specify this parameter if you want the filetime of the created file to be the one of the local system and not the one of the server.

The /overwrite parameter may also be required if you get the following error because the file already exists in the destination folder:

Could not create destination file.

The syntax would then look like this:

download http://www.server.com/file.zip /notime /overwrite

This syntax tells File Downloader to ignore the filetime of the file on the server and to overwrite any existing file.zip file in the current folder.

If the URL does not contain a filename and the server does not suggest one, you will get the following error:

An output filename is required

In this case, you can specify a filename using the /output parameter. You may also use the /output parameter to override a default or a suggested filename or to choose an alternate destination folder. Here is an example:

download http://www.server.com/download.php?res=1 /notime /overwrite /output:"c:\download\file.zip"

Notes:

If authentication is required, see the Authentication paragraph for more information.
Both long file names (LFN) and clear-text credentials (especially when they include blanks or special characters) must be quoted, e.g.:
```
download http://www.server.com/file.zip /credentials:"my login","my-password"
```
Absolute paths, relative paths, and environment variables (e.g. %USERPROFILE%) are supported in both download.exe and logenc.exe programs, e.g.:
```
download http://www.server.com/file.zip /output:"%userprofile%\Desktop"
```
or
```
download http://www.server.com/file.zip /output:..\backup
```
Only addresses beginning with http://, https:// and ftp:// are supported, all others will give the following error:
```
Unsupported Internet scheme: HTTP, HTTPS or FTP expected.
```

When authentication is required on the server, you can pass the login and password to the program, either as clear-text or in an encrypted form.

Clear-text authentication

The clear-text login and password are simply passed as second and third parameters after URL, e.g.:

download <url> mylogin mypassword [...]

or using the /credentials parameter like this:

download <url> /credentials:mylogin,mypassword [...]

Encrypted authentication

If you prefer to use encrypted credentials so that no one can see the login and password, you first have to create a credential file using the provided logenc.exe program. This program takes the login and password as parameters and optionally a credential filename. If no filename is specified, the default filename (credentials.dat) is used, e.g.:

logenc mylogin mypassword

or with an alternate output filename:

logenc mylogin mypassword server.bin

You can then use the credential file with download.exe, e.g.:

download <url> [...] /credentials:credentials.dat

or

download <url> [...] /credentials:server.bin

Notes:

The extension of the credential file does not matter.
If the value passed to the /credentials parameter is a directory, not a filename or a path to a file, the default filename (credentials.dat) is automatically appended.
For webservers running in a domain, mylogin must be in the form: domain\account
Credentials encryption will only hide your login and password in the Command Prompt or in the script. When the credentials are transmitted over the Internet they will still be in clear text if you use either FTP or unsecure HTTP.
The last /credentials parameter before the /proxy parameter (if any, or the last one in the command-line otherwise) applies to the target server. The last /credentials parameter after the /proxy parameter applies to the proxy server.
logenc.exe and download.exe must be used on the same computer and in the same system otherwise the encrypted credentials won't be valid and download.exe won't be able to decrypt them.

When File Downloader is used in a batch file, you can use ERRORLEVEL to check the completion code returned by the program. The possible return codes are listed in the table below. See the sample.bat example for a way to test the return codes.

Code	Description
0	Success.
1	Syntax error or help/registration information displayed.
2	Download failed.
3	Invalid URL.
4	Destination file or folder error.
5	System error (e.g. out-of-memory).
6	Batch file error.

The table below lists some of the status codes that may be reported when a download fails. The short description should give you some hints at what might be wrong.

For more information, please see Microsoft Knowledge Base article ID 943891.

Code	Description
400	Syntax error.
401	Access denied.
403	Request forbidden.
404	Object not found.
500	Internal server error.

February 23, 2010 - Version 1.12 (build 88.2)

Adds a /utf8 parameter to enable UTF-8 support on some FTP servers (opts utf8).
Fixes "could not set working directory" error with some FTP downloads.
Fixes some possible issues with FTP downloads.
Batch files now accept parameters. The parameters in the batch file override the command-line parameters.
The /newest parameter can now be combined with the /subdir parameter to download the most recent file from multiple folders and sub-folders (FTP only).

April 22, 2008 - Version 1.11 (build 76.2)

Fixes some minor issues from the previous build.

April 9, 2008 - Version 1.10 (build 73.3)

First Unicode release, the program is no more supported on older Win9x/ME systems.

Improves overall credential security.

Improves parameter parsing.

Improves error reporting during application initialization.

Adds /batch parameter to support batch downloads. When this parameter is specified, the <source> parameter should point to a text file where files and resources to download are listed (see batch.txt).
Source code reorganized and synchronized with File Uploader. Now both programs share a common code base.
Some advanced parameters are now only available in the registered version.

July 16, 2007 - Version 1.09 (build 59.1)

Fixes a possible HTTP redirection issue. If the redirection URL pointed to a FTP server, download.exe would report that the URL is invalid.

May 30, 2007 - Version 1.09 (build 58.3)

Fixes an issue with the /nocerterror parameter that could freeze the program.

May 11, 2007 - Version 1.09 (build 57.5)

Adds /useragent parameter to override the default user-agent string with a custom one.
Adds /nocerterror to ignore invalid certifcate errors (HTTPS).
Adds support for files larger than 4GB in size (FTP only).

May 23, 2006 - Version 1.08 (build 54.2)

Fixes a possible R6002 exception that could arise if a redirection URL holds encoded characters like %20.

April 11, 2006 - Version 1.08 (build 53.2)

Adds optional parameters to control the /update option. You can now update a local file either if it is older or if sizes differ or both.

January 6, 2006 - Version 1.07 (build 50.5)

Fixes a bug that prevented download redirections from working since the new authentication method was implemented.

December 6, 2005 - Version 1.07 (build 49.2)

Environment variables (e.g. %windir%) are now supported in the output parameter.
If both the /resume and the /update parameters are used, the /update parameter is now automatically cleared since both are incompatible.

November 4, 2005 - Version 1.07 (build 48.5)

Adds /unescape parameter to possibly replaces escape characters (in the form %xy) with the actual characters they represent in the destination file name.

October 10, 2005 - Version 1.07 (build 45.1)

Adds /overwrite parameter to force output file to be overwritten otherwise an error is reported if the file already exists.
Adds /stop parameter, when used with wildcards (FTP) the program stops on the first error encountered.
Adds /subdir parameter which allows a recursive copy of a folder on a FTP server.
Adds support for proxy authentication, specify /credentials after /proxy (HTTP only).
/credentials now accepts login and password in clear text as well.
Fixes a HTTP authentication issue.

August 22, 2005 - Version 1.06 (build 40.1)

Fixes: the file was always deleted after the download when the /update and /delete parameters were both set.

August 6, 2005 - Version 1.06 (build 39.6)

Fixes: the file was deleted after the download when the /update parameter was set.

July 23, 2005 - Version 1.06 (build 38.6)

Adds /resume parameter.
Adds /display parameter, replaces and extends /silent parameter.
Changes progression to a more informational display.
Updates logenc.exe to automatically create a default key container.

June 24, 2005 - Version 1.05 (build 27.5)

Adds support for optional proxy name.
Adds /credentials parameter.
Adds /timeout parameter.
Adds /silent parameter.
Now supports URL up to 4096 characters.
Now supports output file without extension with complex URL.
Displays cumulated number of bytes downloaded.
Fixes download could not create the file if /output was not specified.

April 19, 2005 - Version 1.04 (build 22.2)

Adds /cookies parameter to support cookie-enabled authentications.

April 8, 2005 - Version 1.04 (build 21.5)

Adds /move parameter to delete a file from a FTP server after the download successfully completes.

March 30, 2005 - Version 1.04 (build 20.3)

Fixes: download.exe confused some complex URL (redirection) with wildcards.
Enhances support for web redirections.
Changes syntax, output path and/or file name are now optional.

March 24, 2005 - Version 1.03 (build 17.4)

Adds /referer parameter to specify an optional referer URL, e.g.:

download http://www.server.com/file.zip /referer:http://noeld.com

March 8, 2005 - Version 1.02 (build 15.2)

Adds /noredirect parameter. This simply displays the Location of the resource and does not attempt to download it.

January 26, 2005 - Version 1.02 (build 12.4)

Adds /notime parameter. This parameter is used to avoid errors when the server does not provide the last-modified header. If this parameter is supplied /update and /newest are ignored.

December 2, 2004 - Version 1.01 (build 10.4)

Adds /update parameter. The file on server is only downloaded if local file does not exist or is older.

November 4, 2004 - Version 1.01 (build 7.4)

Adds support for wildcards (FTP only).
Adds /newest parameter. Forces the application to only download the latest version of the file matching the wildcard (FTP only).
Adds /delete parameter. Deletes the file created locally if the download does not successfully complete.
Tests the HTTP status code before the download and reports error accordingly.
Returns errorlevel codes.

August 3, 2004 - Version 1.0 (build 3.2)

Adds /post parameter to allow downloads from a HTTP POST request.

August 2, 2004 - Version 1.0 (build 2.1)

Clears Internet Explorer's Work Offline mode before attempting download.

July 30, 2004 - Version 1.0 (build 1.5)

Initial build.

The latest demo version of File Downloader is always available for download from this address:

http://noeld.com/programs.asp?cat=misc#download

The demo version of this application only features a subset of the parameters supported by the registered version. When advanced parameters are used with the demo version, a REGISTRATION REQUIRED message will be displayed and the parameters will be ignored.

To register, click the link just below and follow the instructions.

https://www.regnow.com/softsell/nph-softsell.cgi?item=4076-9

Alternatively, you can type the following command in a Command Prompt to open the registration page in the default browser:

download /register

Orders and delivery are handled by the Register Now company.

Computer magazine publishers are welcome to redistribute the demo application as-is on their complimentary or monthly CDs. Any other redistribution of the application with commercial products is strictly forbidden without my written permission. Please contact me for a license agreement (see Contact Details).

E-mail: webmaster@noeld.com

WWW: http://noeld.com/