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 = @"C:\Program Files (x86)\TestApp\TestApp.exe";
    string commonStartMenuPath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonStartMenu);
    string appStartMenuPath = Path.Combine(commonStartMenuPath, "Programs", "TestApp");
    // TODO: create shortcut in appStartMenuPath

I'm targeting Windows 7.

Answer 1

Using the Windows Script Host (make sure to add a reference to the Windows Script Host Object Model, under References > COM tab):

using IWshRuntimeLibrary;

private static void AddShortcut()
{
    string pathToExe = @"C:\Program Files (x86)\TestApp\TestApp.exe";
    string commonStartMenuPath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonStartMenu);
    string appStartMenuPath = Path.Combine(commonStartMenuPath, "Programs", "TestApp");

    if (!Directory.Exists(appStartMenuPath))
        Directory.CreateDirectory(appStartMenuPath);

    string shortcutLocation = Path.Combine(appStartMenuPath, "Shortcut to Test App" + ".lnk");
    WshShell shell = new WshShell();
    IWshShortcut shortcut = (IWshShortcut)shell.CreateShortcut(shortcutLocation);

    shortcut.Description = "Test App Description";
    //shortcut.IconLocation = @"C:\Program Files (x86)\TestApp\TestApp.ico"; //uncomment to set the icon of the shortcut
    shortcut.TargetPath = pathToExe;
    shortcut.Save(); 
}