PowerShell create shortcut to network printer

Question

I am trying to create a shortcut to the network printer.

Here is the PowerShell script:

$DesktopPath = [Environment]::GetFolderPath(\"Desktop\")
$cre         


        

Answer 1

I can't find the documentation for it (good old Microsoft) but essentially you need to set the value of Arguments:

$DesktopPath = [Environment]::GetFolderPath("Desktop")
$create_shortcut = (New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell).CreateShortcut
$s = $create_shortcut.invoke("$DesktopPath\ConnectPrinter.lnk")
$s.TargetPath = "C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe printui.dll,PrintUIEntry"

# add this
$s.Arguments = "/y /in /q /n ""\\192.168.1.205\printer1"""

$s.IconLocation = "imageres.dll,76"
$s.Save()

I'm not sure whether printui.dll,PrintUIEntry should be part of the TargetPath or Arguments

Answer 2

For reusability, I wrote a helper function some time ago to create new shortcut files.
As a bonus, it also allows you to set the 'Run as Administrator' checkmark (not needed for this question though)

function New-Shortcut {
    [CmdletBinding()]  
    Param (   
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
        [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
        [string]$TargetPath,                # the path to the executable
        # the rest is all optional
        [string]$ShortcutPath = (Join-Path -Path ([Environment]::GetFolderPath("Desktop")) -ChildPath 'New Shortcut.lnk'),
        [string[]]$Arguments = $null,       # a string or string array holding the optional arguments.
        [string[]]$HotKey = $null,          # a string like "CTRL+SHIFT+F" or an array like 'CTRL','SHIFT','F'
        [string]$WorkingDirectory = $null,  
        [string]$Description = $null,
        [string]$IconLocation = $null,      # a string like "notepad.exe, 0"
        [ValidateSet('Default','Maximized','Minimized')]
        [string]$WindowStyle = 'Default',
        [switch]$RunAsAdmin
    ) 
    switch ($WindowStyle) {
        'Default'   { $style = 1; break }
        'Maximized' { $style = 3; break }
        'Minimized' { $style = 7 }
    }
    $WshShell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell

    # create a new shortcut
    $shortcut             = $WshShell.CreateShortcut($ShortcutPath)
    $shortcut.TargetPath  = $TargetPath
    $shortcut.WindowStyle = $style
    if ($Arguments)        { $shortcut.Arguments = $Arguments -join ' ' }
    if ($HotKey)           { $shortcut.Hotkey = ($HotKey -join '+').ToUpperInvariant() }
    if ($IconLocation)     { $shortcut.IconLocation = $IconLocation }
    if ($Description)      { $shortcut.Description = $Description }
    if ($WorkingDirectory) { $shortcut.WorkingDirectory = $WorkingDirectory }

    # save the link file
    $shortcut.Save()

    if ($RunAsAdmin) {
        # read the shortcut file we have just created as [byte[]]
        [byte[]]$bytes = [System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes($ShortcutPath)
        # $bytes[21] = 0x22      # set byte no. 21 to ASCII value 34
        $bytes[21] = $bytes[21] -bor 0x20 #s et byte 21 bit 6 (0x20) ON
        [System.IO.File]::WriteAllBytes($ShortcutPath, $bytes)
    }

    # clean up the COM objects
    [System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($shortcut) | Out-Null
    [System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($WshShell) | Out-Null
    [System.GC]::Collect()
    [System.GC]::WaitForPendingFinalizers()
}

You can use it like this

$props = @{
    'ShortcutPath' = Join-Path -Path ([Environment]::GetFolderPath("Desktop")) -ChildPath 'ConnectPrinter.lnk'
    'TargetPath'   = 'C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe'
    'Arguments'    = 'printui.dll,PrintUIEntry', '/y', '/in', '/q', '/n', '\\192.168.1.205\printer1'
    'IconLocation' = 'imageres.dll,76'
    'Description'  = 'Connect to Printer1'
}

New-Shortcut @props