Java code to run .exe shortcuts

Question

Is there any way that I can open notepad or other application from shortcuts?

Here is my code:

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;

public class acrobat {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
         String[] notepad = {"C:\\Users\\Desktop\\notepad.lnk"};

         Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(notepad);
         p.waitFor();
    }
}

I want to open application from shortcut, but I am getting error..

    Exception in thread "main" java.io.IOException: Cannot run program "C:\Users\robert\Desktop\notepad.lnk": CreateProcess error=193, %1 is not a valid Win32 application
    at java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Runtime.exec(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Runtime.exec(Unknown Source)
    at acrobat.main(acrobat.java:11)
Caused by: java.io.IOException: CreateProcess error=193, %1 is not a valid Win32 application
    at java.lang.ProcessImpl.create(Native Method)
    at java.lang.ProcessImpl.<init>(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.ProcessImpl.start(Unknown Source)
    ... 4 more

If I only write notepad.exe than its working but, with path its not working. Is there any way that I can open with shortcuts?

Answer 1

The shortcut you see in your desktop is actually a file with the extension .lnk. It's real full path is, then:

C:\Users\Desktop\notepad.exe.lnk

Trying to run it through exec() will yield a "CreateProcess error ... is not a valid Win32 application" error.

Fortunately, you can run those as well through the ProcessBuilder utility class.

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
  ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder("cmd", "/c",
                                      "C:\\Users\\robert\\Desktop\\notepad.lnk");
  Process p = pb.start();
  p.waitFor();
}

---

If you must use Runtime.getRuntime().exec(), you can open the lnk file through rundll32:

Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("rundll32 SHELL32.DLL,ShellExec_RunDLL " +
                                      "C:\\Users\\robert\\Desktop\\notepad.lnk");
p.waitFor(); // watch out

But keep in mind, by this approach, the p.waitFor(); and similar method calls may not have the expected result: As you can see, the created process is the rundll32, not the shortcut's (notepad.exe).

Answer 2

Look at Desktop.open(File) and associated methods.

• There is more point to opening the default editor of a text file, than there is in loading a 'naked' program.
• It will work for all files for which there is a file association.
• It will work on OS X & *nix.
• It won't alienate the user who prefers to edit text files in TextPad, or MS Word, or..

---

However, if you really must open links..

Read (and implement) all the recommendations of When Runtime.exec() won't. That might solve the problem. If not, it should provide more information as to the reason it failed. Then ignore that it refers to exec and build the Process using a ProcessBuilder. Also break a String arg into String[] args to account for arguments which themselves contain spaces.