PowerShell’s New-Object -Com Creates a Shortcut
The purpose of this page is to explain how to create a shortcut on your desktop. The method we will be using is, New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell.
Topics for PowerShell Creates Desktop Shortcut
- PowerShell’s New-Object -Com
- Create the Object (WScript.Shell)
- Create a Functioning Shortcut on Your Desktop
- Another PowerShell Shortcut Example
- List Start Menu Shortcuts
- Summary of Com Shell Objects
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PowerShell’s New-Object -Com
All PowerShell COM objects are rely on the basic command: New-Object -Com. For our mission to create a shortcut we need a WScript.Shell type of comObject. As usual, I will take you step-by-step through the method.
1) Assuming You Have Installed PowerShell
Launch the ISE (GUI) or if you prefer, the PowerShell command line; then issue these commands:
2) Create the Object (WScript.Shell)
It is convenient to create an object and assign it to a variable, for example:
# Windows PowerShell Com Object
$WshShell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
3) Research the Methods with Get-Member
Creating the com object is like creating a shortcut shell, next we need to supply properties using the correct .method.
# Research WScript.Shell Methods
$WshShell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
$WshShell | Get-Member -memberType methods
Learning Points
The above is how I discovered the .CreateShortcut method. Let us now see how we can build a shortcut on the desktop.
4) Build a Shortcut Shell
Problem: This example below merely creates a shell, we are going to need properties for a fully functioning shortcut see 5) Create Shortcut.
# Build a Shortcut Shell
$WshShell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
$Shortcut = $WshShell.CreateShortcut("$Home\Desktop\MyFirstShortCut.lnk")
$Shortcut | Get-Member -memberType Properties
Learning Points
Note 1: $Home\Desktop specifies the location for the shortcut, this translates to the desktop of the current user.
Note 2: Here are the shortcut properties some of which are vital to build a functioning shortcut.
Arguments Property
Description Property
FullName Property
Hotkey Property
IconLocation Property
RelativePath Property
TargetPath Property
WindowStyle Property
WorkingDirectory Property
5) Create a Functioning Shortcut on Your Desktop
This example uses PowerShell to create a shortcut for calc.exe on your desktop. You could substitute the name of another executable, or if you prefer type the full path to the program you want to launch via a desktop shortcut.
# Create a Calculator Shortcut with Windows PowerShell
$WshShell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
$Shortcut = $WshShell.CreateShortcut("$Home\Desktop\Calc.lnk")
$Shortcut.TargetPath = "Calc"
$Shortcut.Save()
Note 3: Nothing much happens unless you append the .Save() method.
Note 4: It’s essential to put the name of the application "Calc", or the path, in double speech marks.
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Another PowerShell Shortcut Example
The purpose of this script is to create a different shortcut, one which allows you to remove USB hardware quickly, but safely.
PowerShell Script to Create a Shortcut
$AppLocation = "C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe"
$WshShell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
$Shortcut = $WshShell.CreateShortcut("$Home\Desktop\USB Hardware.lnk")
$Shortcut.TargetPath = $AppLocation
$Shortcut.Arguments ="shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll"
$Shortcut.IconLocation = "hotplug.dll,0"
$Shortcut.Description ="Device Removal"
$Shortcut.WorkingDirectory ="C:\Windows\System32"
$Shortcut.Save()
Note 5: This example employs more properties, for example, .Arguments and .IconLocation.
- Create Shortcut Function
- See more on safely removing hardware.
- See more on create a shortcut with PowerShell.
- How to Create a Windows 8 Metro Tile
Troubleshooting PowerShell Create Shortcut
The secret of troubleshooting PowerShell in general, and shortcuts in particular, is to have a manual walk-through of the process.
- Right-click on the desktop.
- Select ‘New’.
- Select ‘Shortcut’
- Type Calc
- Next
- Finish
Another source of troubleshooting a shortcut that PowerShell did not make correctly is to compare the failure with the properties of a shortcut you successfully created manually. My idea is to match up the properties as researched with Get-Member with boxes such as Target, or Start in.
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How to List Shortcuts
Here is a script to list shortcuts on Microsoft's Start Menu
# List all .lnk files and their image paths
Clear-Host
$Path = "$Env:ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs"
$StartMenu = Get-ChildItem $Path -Recurse -Include *.lnk
ForEach ($Item in $StartMenu) {
$Shell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
$Properties = @{
ShortcutName = $Item.Name
Target = $Shell.CreateShortcut($Item).targetpath
}
New-Object PSObject -Property $Properties
}
[Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($Shell) | Out-Null
See more PowerShell COM Object tasks ยป
Summary of PowerShell Create Shortcut Script
I have employed the New-Object cmdlet to mimic what you do manually when creating a shortcut on the desktop. Because it’s trickier than you might suspect, I have built-up gradually, in particular, I explained how to research the methods and properties.
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See More Windows PowerShell Examples of Real-life Tasks
• PowerShell Tutorials • PowerShell Examples • Get-Counter • IpConfig • PowerShell v3 Ipconfig
• Monitor Performance – PowerShell • PowerShell Create Shortcut • PowerShell Function Shortcut
• PowerShell Restore Computer • PowerShell Temp • PowerShell Get-Item Env: • PowerShell NetSh
Please email me if you have a better example script. Also please report any factual mistakes, grammatical errors or broken links, I will be happy to correct the fault.
