What are `Zone.Identifier` files, and how do I prevent them from being created? [closed]

Question

I often see files named 'blabla.exe:Zone.Identifier' when monitoring I/O with Process Monitor.
The files are seen on network-drives.

• What are Zone.Identifier files?
• What does the colon mean in the filename?
• Is the colon related the file's extended attributes?
• How do I prevent these files from being created when I copy code files from Windows Explorer to a WSL directory?

Thayer

The only way that I found to deal with these annoying "ZoneIdentifier" files was by creating an alias alias rzi="rm -rf **/*Zone.Identifier" and running it right before copy files. The other good one was adding **/*Zone.Identifier on the .gitignore file of my projects. – Olden

To remove them (ubuntu): find . -name "*Zone.Identifier" -type f -delete – Bun

Answer 1

The text after the colon is an identifier for an "Alternate Data Stream". ADS is used to store meta-information about the file. For example, the Zone identifier stores whether the file was downloaded from the internet.

Some specific info about URL Security Zones, Zone.Identifier Stream Name

See also Technet, Heysoft and this article about alternative data streams.

Finally, here's Streams, the Sysinternals tool for ADS.

Often

To remove problem on Windows side you need to configure it properly. Run gpedit.msc (Win + R) and go to User configuration > Administrative templates >Windows Components > Attachment Manager and set Do not preserve zone information in file attachments. (to run gpedit.msc you’ll need Windows Professional) -- found here: blog.realhe.ro/how-to-get-rid-of-zone-identifier-files – Hindustani

Apart from not saving the file, is something else happening ? – Uriniferous

@Hindustani That's worth posting a separate answer. If you do post one (like if there's an open question on Server Fault or something), I'll upvote. Here's a direct link to the policy documentation. – Chatterer

@Chatterer I would, if I could, but this question here is closed as off-topic^^ I'll eventually have a look at the other sites, though. – Hindustani