How to get the real target of a shortcut?

Question

How to get the real target of a shortcut?

Heiko 1,291

I have a shortcut on the desktop, that opens Adobe Reader XI, in the following path:

C:\Users\Heiko\Desktop\Adobe Reader XI.lnk

In my app, I am trying to get the destinations of various shortcuts. However, with Adobe Reader XI, I only get an ico file as a target. When I look at the properties of the shortcut on the desktop, the target field is locked and the name of the app is shown in it.

AdobeReader

However, if I start the lnk file with Process.Start(), a process is started with C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Reader 11.0\Reader\AcroRd32.exe.

// Add Reference to 'Microsoft Shell Controls And Automation' from COM area.

Shell32.Shell shell = new Shell32.Shell();

Shell32.Folder folder = shell.NameSpace(@"C:\Users\Heiko\Desktop");

foreach (Shell32.FolderItem item in folder.Items())
{
	if (item.IsLink)
	{
		Shell32.ShellLinkObject lnk = item.GetLink;

		Shell32.FolderItem target = lnk.Target;
		string path = target.Path;	// path: C:\Windows\Installer\{AC76BA86-7AD7-1031-7B44-AB0000000001}\SC_Reader.ico
	}
}

target.Path contains the ico file, although AcroRd32.exe is started. Is there any way to find out if there is a target other than lnk.Target.Path behind the shortcut?

Hui Liu-MSFT 48,641 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-06-05T03:21:03.8933333+00:00
Hi,@ Heiko.Welcome Microsoft Q&A.

Is there any update to the question? Did the answer below solve your problem? If so, you could accept it as the answer. It's helpful for community members with related questions.

If not solved, you caould try the following code to see if it helps you.

In some cases, the Target.Path property may not provide the desired result, as it may return an icon file instead of an executable.

To determine if there is a different target behind the shortcut, you can check the ShellLinkObject properties TargetPath and Arguments. If TargetPath ends in ".lnk" and the Arguments property is not empty, another shortcut is referenced. In this case, you can resolve targets recursively by getting the ShellLinkObject referencing the shortcut and retrieving its TargetPath and Arguments properties.

using Shell32; Shell shell = new Shell(); Folder folder = shell.NameSpace(@"C:\Users\Heiko\Desktop"); foreach (FolderItem item in folder.Items()) { if (item.IsLink) { ShellLinkObject lnk = (ShellLinkObject)item.GetLink; string targetPath = lnk.Target.Path; string arguments = lnk.Arguments; while (targetPath.EndsWith(".lnk") && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(arguments)) { ShellLinkObject linkedLnk = (ShellLinkObject)shell.NameSpace(targetPath).Items().Item().GetLink; targetPath = linkedLnk.Target.Path; arguments = linkedLnk.Arguments; } string finalTarget = targetPath; // Use finalTarget as the resolved target for the shortcut } }
Heiko 1,291 Reputation points

2023-06-05T10:25:00.66+00:00

Thank you. But it's not a case of recursively linked shortcuts.

Accepted answer

1 additional answer

Your answer

Hui Liu-MSFT 48,641 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-06-05T03:21:03.8933333+00:00

Hi,@ Heiko.Welcome Microsoft Q&A.

Is there any update to the question? Did the answer below solve your problem? If so, you could accept it as the answer. It's helpful for community members with related questions.

If not solved, you caould try the following code to see if it helps you.

In some cases, the Target.Path property may not provide the desired result, as it may return an icon file instead of an executable.

To determine if there is a different target behind the shortcut, you can check the ShellLinkObject properties TargetPath and Arguments. If TargetPath ends in ".lnk" and the Arguments property is not empty, another shortcut is referenced. In this case, you can resolve targets recursively by getting the ShellLinkObject referencing the shortcut and retrieving its TargetPath and Arguments properties.

using Shell32; Shell shell = new Shell(); Folder folder = shell.NameSpace(@"C:\Users\Heiko\Desktop"); foreach (FolderItem item in folder.Items()) { if (item.IsLink) { ShellLinkObject lnk = (ShellLinkObject)item.GetLink; string targetPath = lnk.Target.Path; string arguments = lnk.Arguments; while (targetPath.EndsWith(".lnk") && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(arguments)) { ShellLinkObject linkedLnk = (ShellLinkObject)shell.NameSpace(targetPath).Items().Item().GetLink; targetPath = linkedLnk.Target.Path; arguments = linkedLnk.Arguments; } string finalTarget = targetPath; // Use finalTarget as the resolved target for the shortcut } }
Heiko 1,291 Reputation points

2023-06-05T10:25:00.66+00:00

Thank you. But it's not a case of recursively linked shortcuts.

Answer 1

Castorix31 88,051

MsiGetShortcutTarget + MsiGetComponentPath

Heiko 1,291

Thank you. MsiGetShortcutTargetW() and MsiGetComponentPathW() work for some lnk files. But in case of 'Adobe Reader XI.lnk' I get the GUIDs for product code and component code from MsiGetShortcutTargetW(), but MsiGetComponentPathW() returns -1 (INSTALLSTATE_UNKNOWN). The documentation about MsiGetShortcutTargetW() says that GUIDs for product code and component code will be returned. The documentation about MsiGetComponentPathW() says that a product code and a component id are needed as arguments. So far I assume that component id and component code are the same GUIDs, or could these both have different content?

[DllImport("Msi.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, SetLastError = true)]
private static extern uint MsiGetShortcutTargetW([MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string shortcutPath,
												[Out, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] StringBuilder productCode,
											//	[Out, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] StringBuilder featureId,
												IntPtr featureId,
												[Out, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] StringBuilder componentCode);

[DllImport("Msi.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, SetLastError = true)]
private static extern uint MsiGetComponentPathW([MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string productCode,
												[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string componentId,
												[Out, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] StringBuilder path,
												ref uint bufferLength);

internal static string TryGetRealShortcutTarget(string lnkPath)
{
	if (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(lnkPath))
		return null;

	StringBuilder	sbProductCode = new StringBuilder(39),
				//	sbFeatureId = new StringBuilder(39),
					sbComponentCode = new StringBuilder(39);

	uint	res = MsiGetShortcutTargetW(lnkPath, sbProductCode, IntPtr.Zero, sbComponentCode);

	if (res != 0)
		return null;

	string	productCode = sbProductCode.ToString();

	if (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(productCode))
		return null;

	string			componentCode = sbComponentCode.ToString();
	StringBuilder	sbPath = new StringBuilder(4096);
	uint			len = (uint)sbPath.Capacity;

	res = MsiGetComponentPathW(productCode, componentCode, sbPath, ref len);

	//{
	//	INSTALLSTATE_NOTUSED      = -7,  // component disabled
	//	INSTALLSTATE_BADCONFIG    = -6,  // configuration data corrupt
	//	INSTALLSTATE_INCOMPLETE   = -5,  // installation suspended or in progress
	//	INSTALLSTATE_SOURCEABSENT = -4,  // run from source, source is unavailable
	//	INSTALLSTATE_MOREDATA     = -3,  // return buffer overflow
	//	INSTALLSTATE_INVALIDARG   = -2,  // invalid function argument
	//	INSTALLSTATE_UNKNOWN      = -1,  // unrecognized product or feature
	//	INSTALLSTATE_BROKEN       =  0,  // broken
	//	INSTALLSTATE_ADVERTISED   =  1,  // advertised feature
	//	INSTALLSTATE_REMOVED      =  1,  // component being removed (action state, not settable)
	//	INSTALLSTATE_ABSENT       =  2,  // uninstalled (or action state absent but clients remain)
	//	INSTALLSTATE_LOCAL        =  3,  // installed on local drive
	//	INSTALLSTATE_SOURCE       =  4,  // run from source, CD or net
	//	INSTALLSTATE_DEFAULT      =  5,  // use default, local or source
	//}

	if (res != 1 && res != 3 && res != 4 && res != 5)
		return null;

	string	path = sbPath.ToString();

	if (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(path))
		return null;

	return path;
}

RLWA32 47,616 Reputation points

2023-06-05T10:56:38.4733333+00:00

Take a look at the Remarks section of the docs. It comments on why the function might return INSTALLSTATE_UNKNOWN.

Answer 2

RLWA32 47,616

From the description it sounds like the shortcut on the desktop is what is known as an "advertised" shortcut created by the Windows Installer. Raymond Chen's blog at Why do some shortcuts not support editing the command line and other properties? explains that "Shortcuts to advertise applications and shortcuts to items in the Games folder are not shortcuts to executables. They are shortcuts into the shell namespace for various types of virtual data. An advertised application is a shell namespace object that represents “an installed application”. It is not a pointer directly to the executable, but rather a reference to an entry in the MSI database, which in turn contains information about how to install the program, repair it, update it, and run it. The shell doesn’t even know what the command line is. To launch an advertised shortcut, the shell asks the MSI database for the command line, and it then executes that command line that MSI returns."

Heiko 1,291 Reputation points

2023-06-05T10:26:11.9966667+00:00

Thank you very much for your explanation.
Brian Wengel 16 Reputation points

2024-02-24T10:15:02.5066667+00:00

Nice.....now we're half way. How to you manually get these information from the msi database so you can get the execution path?
Heiko 1,291 Reputation points

2024-02-24T13:26:50.4966667+00:00

I use the same method TryGetRealShortcutTarget() as described in my answer above. If I get no result, I use item.GetLink.Target.Path. private static string TryGetRealTargetPath(string lnkPath) { if (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(lnkPath) || !lnkPath.EndsWith(".lnk", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)) return null; string path = TryGetRealShortcutTarget(lnkPath); if (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(path)) return null; // References to registry entries begin, for example, with '00:' or '21:', whereby // the exact structure of the reference and the registry entry is not yet known. // See https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/msi/nf-msi-msigetcomponentpathw // if (path[0] >= '0' && path[0] <= '9' && (path.Length == 1 || path[1] == ':' || path[1] >= '0' && path[1] <= '9' && (path.Length == 2 || path[2] == ':'))) return null; return path; } // Add Reference to 'Microsoft Shell Controls And Automation' from COM area. Shell32.Shell shell = new Shell32.Shell(); Shell32.Folder folder = shell.NameSpace(@"C:\Users\Heiko\Desktop"); foreach (Shell32.FolderItem item in folder.Items()) { if (item.IsLink) { string targetPath; targetPath = TryGetRealTargetPath(item.Path); if (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(targetPath)) { Shell32.ShellLinkObject lnk = item.GetLink; Shell32.FolderItem target = lnk.Target; targetPath = target.Path; } } }
Heiko 1,291 Reputation points

2024-02-24T13:29:09.65+00:00

I didn't remove the line breaks in the code, they were removed by Microsoft.

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How to get the real target of a shortcut?

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