Is it possible to create a link to a local exe file ?

[FM1]

Hello Together,

i´am creating at the moment some Konwledge Base Articles in our Environment, and i´m playing now with linking.

I want to create a link in my Knowledgebase Article Text to an Exe File , which is located at every users computer in our Environment.

Is it possible to create such a link, or is it not allowed because of security constraints ?

Best Regards

[Lorenzo Stermie · Accepted solution]

Hello FM,

Technically you could do this but you would also have to make several other changes (not only to ServiceNow but also to your browser security settings)

You can build the hyperlink to your file in this fashion:

<a title="link to file" href="file:///C:/folder/subfolder/file.exe">link to file</a>

Then you need to allow *.exe files to be run from the instance, Allow it also from the HTML Sanitizer as well as blacklist and check security policies for the browser.

For info on how to configure the HTML sanitizer see: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/london-platform-administration/page/administer/security/task/t_Co...

I would personally avoid implementing so many exceptions, all the settings you would have to change to allow EXE files to be run from a KB article would likely also allow them to run from incident attachments, this could be a pretty big security concern if you ask me. 

I do however understand the usefulness of running batch files or exe files for troubleshooting purposes, having said that for a company I used to work for I had created an intranet webpage that was nothing but a series of links to batch files and exe files that allowed users to trigger file transfers and other fun stuff, this would be relatively easy to build and host on one of your company servers.

You could then link from your KB to that page (note that you would still have to address any browser security setting)

Hope this helps. 

[FM1]

Hello Lorenzo,

thank you for the detailed description.

Best Regards

FM