How to create start menu shortcut

Question

I am building a custom installer. How can I create a shortcut to an executable in the start menu? This is what I\'ve come up with so far:

    string pathToExe          


        

Answer 1

By MSI setup, you can easily create Start Menu Shortcut for your application. But when it comes to custom installer setup, you need to write custom code to create All Programs shortcut. In C#, you can create shortcut using Windows Script Host library.

Note: To use Windows Script Host library, you need to add a reference under References > COM tab > Windows Script Host Object Model.

See this article for more info: http://www.morgantechspace.com/2015/01/create-start-menu-shortcut-all-programs-csharp.html

Create shortcut only for Current User:

string programs_path = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Programs);
    string shortcutFolder = Path.Combine(programs_path, @"YourAppFolder\SampleApp");
    if (!Directory.Exists(shortcutFolder))
    {
        Directory.CreateDirectory(shortcutFolder);
    }
    WshShellClass shellClass = new WshShellClass();
    string settingsLink = Path.Combine(shortcutFolder, "Settings.lnk");
    IWshShortcut shortcut = (IWshShortcut)shellClass.CreateShortcut(settingsLink);
    shortcut.TargetPath = @"C:\Program Files\YourAppFolder\MyAppSettings.exe";
    shortcut.IconLocation = @"C:\Program Files\YourAppFolder\settings.ico";
    shortcut.Arguments = "arg1 arg2";
    shortcut.Description = "Click to edit SampleApp settings";
    shortcut.Save();

Create Shortcut for All Users:

You can get common profile path for All Users by using API function SHGetSpecialFolderPath.

using IWshRuntimeLibrary;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
---------------------------------
[DllImport("shell32.dll")]
static extern bool SHGetSpecialFolderPath(IntPtr hwndOwner, [Out] StringBuilder lpszPath, int nFolder, bool fCreate);
const int CSIDL_COMMON_STARTMENU = 0x16;

public static void CreateShortcutForAllUsers()
{
    StringBuilder allUserProfile = new StringBuilder(260);
    SHGetSpecialFolderPath(IntPtr.Zero, allUserProfile, CSIDL_COMMON_STARTMENU, false);
    //The above API call returns: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
    string programs_path = Path.Combine(allUserProfile.ToString(), "Programs");

    string shortcutFolder = Path.Combine(programs_path, @"YourAppFolder\SampleApp");
    if (!Directory.Exists(shortcutFolder))
    {
        Directory.CreateDirectory(shortcutFolder);
    }
    WshShellClass shellClass = new WshShellClass();
    //Create Shortcut for Application Settings
    string settingsLink = Path.Combine(shortcutFolder, "Settings.lnk");
    IWshShortcut shortcut = (IWshShortcut)shellClass.CreateShortcut(settingsLink);
    shortcut.TargetPath = @"C:\Program Files\YourAppFolder\MyAppSettings.exe";
    shortcut.IconLocation = @"C:\Program Files\YourAppFolder\settings.ico";
    shortcut.Arguments = "arg1 arg2";
    shortcut.Description = "Click to edit SampleApp settings";
    shortcut.Save();
}