Comments on: How to parse "special" .lnk files, aka. MSI shortcuts aka. Windows Installer advertised shortcuts using C#

By: GeekTieGuy

GeekTieGuy — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:35:52 +0000

No problem. I haven’t seen problems with MS Office 2003 shortcuts myself, but I have seen Office 2007 shortcuts work. Maybe it depends on the install source (admin share, SMS, etc.)?

By: Greg Zelesnik

Greg Zelesnik — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:41:08 +0000

Thanks for responding! I am, in fact, using the WshShell method after the MsiGetShorcutTarget() returns null from parsing a .lnk file, and it works like a champ. However, it’s weird. It’s the MS Office 2003 advertising shortcuts that are returning null in my case, and I know they’re installed as I use them daily. The weird part is that the return value fromMsiGetShortcutTarget() call is 1603, which is ERROR_INSTALL_FAILED. The WshShell method returns the icon file for these links. Not sure what’s going on here, but I’m going to try it on some other advertising links that I know I have. Thanks for responding and letting me know that it’s not a fundamental Vista issue!

By: GeekTieGuy

GeekTieGuy — Fri, 16 May 2008 04:25:27 +0000

I’ve got it to work on Vista Home Premium and Ultimate. Maybe in your case the shortcuts are for things that are truly advertised and not installed yet, i.e. there is no real target at the time you try to resolve the link? Also, I apply the WshShell method after MsiGetShortcutTarget() returns null (note I didn’t include that code in the downloadable sample). I assume you are doing that too?

By: Greg Zelesnik

Greg Zelesnik — Thu, 15 May 2008 22:08:17 +0000

Have you ever gotten this code to work on Vista? The MsiGetShortcutTarget() method is returning nothing for advertised shortcuts on my Vista Business OS.

By: GeekTieGuy

GeekTieGuy — Sat, 10 May 2008 03:04:37 +0000

Glad to be of help. And thanks for taking the time to comment as well!

By: Greg Zelesnik

Greg Zelesnik — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:38:14 +0000

This was incredibly helpful to me. Thank you for taking the time to publish this explanation and example on the web. I have been trying to figure out how to parse advertised shortcuts for many hours, and this was just the ticket. thanks!

By: Parsing those *.lnk type files - VB.NET version | Hodson Report

Parsing those *.lnk type files - VB.NET version | Hodson Report — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 01:51:57 +0000

[...] sure to drop by his site and grab the rest of the sample code just incase you need more info - even if it is done in [...]