Get target of shortcut folder

Question

How do you get the directory target of a shortcut folder? I've search everywhere and only finds target of shortcut file.

Answer 1

I think you will need to use COM and add a reference to "Microsoft Shell Control And Automation", as described in this blog post:

Here's an example using the code provided there:

namespace Shortcut
{
    using System;
    using System.Diagnostics;
    using System.IO;
    using Shell32;

    class Program
    {
        public static string GetShortcutTargetFile(string shortcutFilename)
        {
            string pathOnly = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(shortcutFilename);
            string filenameOnly = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(shortcutFilename);

            Shell shell = new Shell();
            Folder folder = shell.NameSpace(pathOnly);
            FolderItem folderItem = folder.ParseName(filenameOnly);
            if (folderItem != null)
            {
                Shell32.ShellLinkObject link = (Shell32.ShellLinkObject)folderItem.GetLink;
                return link.Path;
            }

            return string.Empty;
        }

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            const string path = @"C:\link to foobar.lnk";
            Console.WriteLine(GetShortcutTargetFile(path));
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

In windows 10 it needs to be done like this, first add COM reference to "Microsoft Shell Control And Automation"

// new way for windows 10
string targetname;
string pathOnly = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(LnkFileName);
string filenameOnly = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(LnkFileName);

Shell shell = new Shell();
Shell32.Folder folder = shell.NameSpace(pathOnly);
FolderItem folderItem = folder.ParseName(filenameOnly);
if (folderItem != null) {
  Shell32.ShellLinkObject link = (Shell32.ShellLinkObject)folderItem.GetLink;
  targetname = link.Target.Path;  // <-- main difference
  if (targetname.StartsWith("{")) { // it is prefixed with {54A35DE2-guid-for-program-files-x86-QZ32BP4}
    int endguid = targetname.IndexOf("}");
    if (endguid > 0) {
      targetname = "C:\\program files (x86)" + targetname.Substring(endguid + 1);
  }
}

Answer 3

If you don't want to use dependencies you can use https://blez.wordpress.com/2013/02/18/get-file-shortcuts-target-with-c/ But lnk format is undocumented, so do it only if you understand risks.