href="file://" doesn't work - html

Question

I have a problem with:
href="file://"
Well I want to point a link in html to file, in browser if I write like
file:///K:/filename.pdf
It works to open a file, but if I point it to:
href="http://file:///K:/AmberCRO%20SOP/2011-07-05/SOP-SOP-3.0.pdf"
It doesn't work. link is changed to:
file///K:/AmberCRO%20SOP/2011-07-05/SOP-SOP-3.0.pdf
The colon after file disappears. Any suggestions as to what to do?

Answer 1

The reason your URL is being rewritten to file///K:/AmberCRO%20SOP/2011-07-05/SOP-SOP-3.0.pdf is because you specified http://file://
The http:// at the beginning is the protocol being used, and your browser is stripping out the second colon (:) because it is invalid.
Note
If you link to something like
yourfile.pdf
The above represents a link to a file called k:/yourfile.pdf on the k: drive on the machine on which you are viewing the URL.
You can do this, for example the below creates a link to C:\temp\test.pdf
test.pdf
By specifying file:// you are indicating that this is a local resource. This resource is NOT on the internet.
Most people do not have a K:/ drive.
But, if this is what you are trying to achieve, that's fine, but this is not how a "typical" link on a web page works, and you shouldn't being doing this unless everyone who is going to access your link has access to the (same?) K:/drive (this might be the case with a shared network drive).
You could try
test.pdf
test.pdf
test.pdf
Note that http://file:///K:/AmberCRO%20SOP/2011-07-05/SOP-SOP-3.0.pdf is a malformed

Answer 2

%20 is the space between AmberCRO SOP.
Try -
href="http://file:///K:/AmberCRO SOP/2011-07-05/SOP-SOP-3.0.pdf"
Or rename the folder as AmberCRO-SOP and write it as -
href="http://file:///K:/AmberCRO-SOP/2011-07-05/SOP-SOP-3.0.pdf"

Answer 3

Share your folder for "everyone" or some specific group and try this:
Download PDF

Answer 4

Although the ffile:////.exe used to work (for example - some versions of early html 4) it appears html 5 disallows this.
Tested using the following:
<a href="ffile:///<path name>/<filename>.exe" TestLink /a>
<a href="ffile://<path name>/<filename>.exe" TestLink /a>
<a href="ffile:/<path name>/<filename>.exe" TestLink /a>
<a href="ffile:<path name>/<filename>.exe" TestLink /a>
<a href="ffile://///<path name>/<filename>.exe" TestLink /a>
<a href="file://<path name>/<filename>.exe" TestLink /a>
<a href="file:/<path name>/<filename>.exe" TestLink /a>
<a href="file:<path name>/<filename>.exe" TestLink /a>
<a href="ffile://///<path name>/<filename>.exe" TestLink /a>
as well as ...
1/ substituted the "ffile" with just "file"
2/ all the above variations with the http:// prefixed before the ffile or file.
The best I could see was there is a possibility that if one wanted to open (edit) or save the file, it could be accomplished. However, the exec file would not execute otherwise.