I’m tired of seeing the warning every time I download large files from Google Drive
Whenever I try to download a zip file that exceeds 25MB, I receive the following notification:
We cannot check this file for viruses because it is too large.
This file exceeds our scanning limits. Would you like to download anyway?
This occurs in my web browser and it’s really annoying since I have to click past it every time. I regularly download large files for work, so this delay is frustrating.
Is there any way to completely disable this warning? I am looking for a way in Google Drive or possibly a browser extension that allows me to bypass this virus scan notification automatically. I understand the risks involved, but I trust the files I’m downloading.
Has anyone discovered a method or setting to eliminate this message for good?
This warning drives everyone crazy when using Google Drive for work. After months of dealing with it, I found that using Google Drive’s API through third-party clients like rclone completely bypasses the problem. You mount your Google Drive as a local drive with rclone and download files without any browser warnings. Takes some setup initially, but then large downloads just work in the background. I also had success switching to Google Drive File Stream - it makes your Drive act like a network drive and cuts out the web interface completely. The virus scanning warning only shows up in the browser version.
unfortunately there’s no built-in setting to disable this, but I’ve got a workaround that works well. instead of downloading directly, i share the file with myself via email or copy it to another cloud service temporarily. sounds dumb but it completely bypasses google’s virus scanner since you’re not downloading from drive anymore.
Nope, there’s no way to turn off that warning permanently. I’ve dealt with this for years and tried everything. Google hardcoded it as a security feature - you can’t disable it in settings or anywhere else. Those browser extensions that claim to fix it? They’re garbage and break every time Google updates something. Best workaround I’ve found is using the desktop sync client instead of the web version. It downloads big files straight to your Drive folder without any warnings. You could also ask people to split large files into chunks under 25MB, but that’s not always realistic for work stuff.