IE8: Prompting for downloading files although website is a trusted site

Check to make sure your Trusted Sites zone allows 'Automatic login with current username and password'.

Open IE, Tools -> Internet Options -> Security -> Trusted Sites.

1. Click 'Sites' and make sure your SharePoint site url is in there.

2. Click 'Custom Level', scroll to the bottom and ensure 'Automatic Logon with current user name and password' is selected.

There is no native way to do this with Group Policy.

Others will come along and suggest you write a login script for the users to set the Site to Zone Assignments locally on the machine which will still allow them to add/change sites. I think that's a really bad idea personally.

We handle this by getting Site/Deskside Support to ascertain the problem, and then submit a ticket to us to add the site. We still retain control, because as professionals we know what's best. Not the users.

Does it create a little extra administrative overhead? Yes. Is it less overhead than all the extra work required to resolve infections and outbreaks in the environment? Yes.

The way we handle that scenario is to move their Test PCs into a Test Lab OU, create and link a GPO (that only sets the Site to Zone Assignment List) specifically to that OU, and delegate Group Policy Object Editing for that GPO to a member of the Dev/QA team.

They can then edit that single GPO to their hearts content.